Champion of Poker

What is the best way to play against a hyper-aggressive player in a cash game?

Personally, I love playing against the super aggressive maniacs at the table. They are very frustrating in general, but really are the simplest to play against in a cash game. If I am at a table with a maniac, especially one that is in almost every pot, I tend to become what I like to term “uber-rock.” Essentially you will be so tight that people will assume you are new to poker or just utterly card dead.

To start, you are going to play strong hands almost exclusively. The only exception to this might be in limit Holdem in multi-way pots or pots where you are the big blind. Also, in addition to strong hands, I am going to try and see a flop with most any pair and A-J or A-Q. I am not going to tend to raise A-J, but I might A-Q depending on whether we are playing limit or No-Limit. If you play small pairs, you almost prefer a multi-way pot to give you some odds.

How I play on the flop is dependent on how strongly I hit it. If I have a big pair and the board is babies, I may play it fast. If I have A-K and flop a draw, I will play according to the action at the table. I will not invest more than 1 bet on the flop on a draw unless the pot is multi-way in Limit and I will not play past the flop on a draw without pot odds or great implied odds.

If I flop a set with a small pair, I will check the board out for any straight or flush possibilities. If there are none, then I will let the maniac do the betting for me on the flop and will likely check-raise him on the turn. The exception may be when a maniac bets and there are players between myself and the maniac that call. Then I will start trying to extract bets. Granted, I may lose that player, but after the flop, I want the pot heads-up unless I have the nuts.

If I flop the nuts, I am going to do my best to extract every bet. That means I am going to play passively on the flop and then check-raise on the turn. I am also hoping that the player hits some type of a hand that will force him to commit bets. Then I will try and extract some additional bets out of him.

The tricky part comes when you do not have a nut hand but feel that you may be ahead. For example, let’s say you have pocket jacks on a board of Q-6-2-8-5. Your jacks may be good, and you may be beat. At this point, I look at how much money is in the pot. If there is 3 bets or less in the pot, I am going to probably fold in Limit Holdem. If there are 4 bets or more in the pot, I am going to likely call here. There are times that there will be 4 big bets or more and I will fold, but that is based on read. However, if the pot is 7 bets or more, I am calling even if I am certain I am beat due to the pot odds.

No-Limit causes a little more of a problem with mediocre hands. Since you stand to lose a lot of money if you call down with a mediocre hand and are wrong, you want to stay out of making calls for large bets unless you have a very strong reason to believe you are right.

In regards to playing a maniac, the old adage of “tight is right” applies. Rock up and you will find that over the course of the game, this player will allow you to chip up. Good luck to you at the tables.