ON THE BUTTON: Dealing With A Maniac Part 1

He plays a lot of hands, raises with nothing, and bluffs constantly, he's the poker maniac, and I'll tell you how to beat him.

Dec. 13, 2006

By Nick Lanteri
Bodog Nation Contributing Writer

The biggest challenge for me in online poker is playing against big fields in no limit holdem tournaments. Although they continue to see a rise in popularity, the level of play can sometimes border on insanity, especially in the beginning.

For instance, how do you deal with a total maniac at your table in Level 1 of a tournament who does things like playing a lot of hands, raising with nothing and bluffing constantly?

Do you re-raise him with nothing and put the maniac in his place, or do you wait him out and trap him, knowing he will bet anything and everything. Do you start taunting the maniac in the chat field, telling him you’re going to take all his chips if he keeps playing like that? That can be fun sometimes, unless he catches a hand and busts you, which easily can happen if you choose to play for all your chips against him with a marginal hand.

I played in a tournament recently where such a scenario developed, and it was so comical from the start that I had no choice but to keep track of the proceedings. For me, logging hand numbers and taking notes for this column soothed the savage beast inside me that wanted to smash my computer screen while the maniac consistently raised pre-flop, and two or three players continually timed out every time the bet was on them.

It happened to me in a $7,500 guaranteed Bodog tournament at 3 p.m. EST on Dec. 8th. The buy-in was $30+3, and 261 players entered. A key ingredient: this was a “super stack” tournament, which means everyone started with 5,000 chips instead of 1,500. And while some might think the starting chip count could play in a factor in how to deal with the maniac, it really should have no bearing on the strategy employed in the early levels. The blinds started at 5-10 just like a regular tournament, then went to 10-20, 15-30, 20-40 and 30-60 before we reached the first break.

Want to laugh? Here’s how the tournament started. First hand, blinds are only 5-10, and remember, we all start with 5,000 chips. Someone with the screen name cardseducer4 raises pre-flop to 260! You’ve got to love online poker, that’s only a 26-times-the-blind raise. And he gets a Caller! So now cardseducer4 bets out on a ragged flop and takes the pot.

Hand #2: This time the maniac raises the bet pre-flop to 280. No one calls. And I’m thinking to myself, “Thank goodness this lunatic is to my right.”

Hand #3: The maniac didn’t raise this time because he timed out, but he made up for it on the very next hand by raising pre-flop to 865!!! Ugh. No callers.

So let’s get back to the point of this column, which is when, and with what type of hand, do you take on the maniac. For me, early in a multi-tournament, it’s best to wait until you get a monster hand. It sounds obvious when you read that, but a maniac will put a few players on tilt and an opponent’s impatience will show itself. Instead, wait until you wake up with a big hand, raise pre-flop before the maniac if possible (most maniacs will just call pre-flop because they know the raiser has a hand and he will try to out-flop you instead), check any flop that you hit, because you know the maniac is going to bet it every time, and probably get you involved in a hand for most, or all, of your chips.

But here’s an example of what happens when someone decides to take on the maniac with a marginal hand, such as A-9 offsuit.

Blinds are 5-10. Maniac (cardseducer4) makes another one of his standard pre-flop raises to 370. Only this time a player named ‘jrite’ decides to flat call with A-9 offsuit. I hate this play because the blinds being so low, there is no reason to invest so many of your chips with a hand like A-9 offsuit.

OK, so two players to the flop, which comes 7h, Qh, 3c. The maniac bets out 895. Remember, you can’t put this player on a hand because he has yet to show his hole cards since we’re only about 10 minutes into the tournament. But ‘jrite’, holding A-9, flat calls again, even though he badly missed the flop. The turn pairs the board with a 7c. Maniac bets 385, and ‘jrite’ calls. The river is an Ace of clubs. Maniac bets out 845 into 3,315 pot. Now ‘jrite’ absolutely cannot fold here, he has too much invested, he is getting almost 5:1 odds to call 845 into a pot size of 4,160 chips, and he has made his hand because the Ace spiked to give him aces and sevens. A must call. So ‘jrite’ does make the call and we see the maniac’s cards for the first time. The maniac is holding A-J of spades.

Splitpot.

As I feared, it wasn’t the maniac who got lucky but rather ‘jrite’, who was behind from the start by deciding to take on the maniac with a marginal hand such as A-9. He was out-kicked because his opponent was holding A-J. But 'jrite' got lucky when the Ace hit on the river which caused a split pot because the board was paired and both players used the Queen kicker.

Remember, although the maniac raised to 370 pre-flop when the blinds were only 5-10, he DID have a hand, which was the first time his opponents got to see his hole cards during the first 10 minutes of the tournament. From that point, I knew I had to be patient, and wait to pick up a premium hand to deal with this maniac.

NEXT MONTH: We continue to sweat the maniac, who lasted past the break in this tournament and then actually changed gears on the players at his table. Who would bust first, me or the maniac? And where do you think the maniac finished?

PHOTO: Dealing with an aggressive poker player online can make any player Psycho. (Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures)

Nick Lanteri is a freelance writer based in Long Island, N.Y.