Playing with very live ones

Marcus Bateman / Marcus Bateman / 11 December 2008 / Leave a Comment

I was recently playing a bit of $.50/1 no limit hold'em when a true maniac sat down and started to play.

This individual was playing a style that is effectively the quickest way to lose money in no limit hold'em - it is the optimum strategy to lose as much money in the shortest time as possible. He would open for 10x the blind. He would usually open shove any flop if called. As you may imagine, this style is extremely volatile, and he managed to actually run up a stack a few times by sucking out on peoples hands.

I won nearly 12 buy ins from this player before he quit, far more than anyone at the table. After he left players at the table started remarking about how lucky I was to have got all the action, when in reality they had all been making key mistakes in dealing with this player. They were all sitting back, waiting for hands and trying to just trap him with a monster. I was playing basically any hand every time he raised.

This is because against a player like this poker ceases to have any real mathematical relevance. Your only concern with a player like this is implied odds. If they seem to just be happily shoving every flop if checked to, you can simply call with anything pre flop, and just fold if you miss. As an example of this, the biggest pot I won from this player was when we were both sitting 500bb deep, and he raised to $10 under the gun. I defended the button with queen five of hearts and flopped a queen. He open shoved, I called, he had ace nine and somehow I held.

The point of this hand is that if you are playing with someone who happily makes massive over bets on any flop, you can call even pretty large bets pre flop with total junk, simply because the pay off whenever you hit is so enormous. Although they will pick up a few $20 pots when you miss, they lose lots of $200+ ones whenever you hit.

Always remember that against really wild players you have to just get in there and gamble. By sitting back and trying to just pick up monsters you are missing out on huge amounts of money that you could be getting if you are playing lots of hands with them. This also keeps these sort of players at the table, as they have no interest in just picking up lots of blinds - they are there to gamble hard, and to keep them stimulated and in the game as long as possible you have to be prepared to get your hands dirty. Focus on the implied odds, try and see as many flops as possible, and don't be afraid to get it in with pretty marginal holdings if your opponent is playing like a complete madman.

Related Readings

Playing against the serial raiser - Scott"ShaaBoom" Boyle
Avoiding certain players - Betfair Poker
Switching from tournaments to cash - Cloud Poker
Who is the best? - Marcus Bateman
Changing seats to gain position - Marcus Bateman
Beating weak games - Marcus Bateman

Get 40% rakeback at Betfair Poker