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What can you do?

Byron Jacobs take a look into the wondeful world of heads up poker - is it best to simply avoid certain players?

I like to think that I have a very logical approach to poker. I am a decent player (quiet, please) and I look for games where the opposition seem to be worse than me. I take the attitude that if I play well, against weaker players, then the money will take care of itself. I know about volatility and fluctuation. I like to think that I can remain objective through the lean periods.

I know very well that I can sit in games where I have a big edge, play perfectly good poker and still get taken to the cleaners. It has happened plenty of times before and it will happen plenty of times in the future. So, when some idiot draws out on me for the umpteenth time in a row, I just take it in my stride with a serene smile on my face... yes? Actually no. Usually I get wound up and annoyed and determined to get my own back.

Last week I was in heads up game with a fully paid up card-carrying member of the maniac school of poker. As we all know, maniacs get killed in full ring play and even in 6 max they don't really have a chance. However as games get shorter and shorter their style becomes increasingly successful. My experience is that they are still very beatable in four player games. With three players their style is probably going to work unless the opposition take effective counter-measures. Heads up, playing like a maniac is basically fine. I play a lot of heads up and - against certain players - it can be the most effective way to play.

However, I quite like facing maniacs in heads up play. The basic plan is quite simple. You have to give up a lot of small pots; you have to play your draws passively (they don't respect re-raises - they expect them) and you have to call down a lot with not much of a hand. However, whenever you do get a real hand you can get paid off big time.

However, this particular session did not go well. I had a pretty strong sense of what he was doing but it made little difference because he was running so well. I wanted him to go through a bad run. Not so much because I wanted to get my money back (although you won't be surprised to hear that this was part of my motivation), but more because I wanted to get a feel of whether I had a long term edge against him and I couldn't really do that while he was getting all the cards. We ended up playing for an hour and a half and rattled through about 400 hands. He ran well more or less the whole session and did me over for about 80-90 big bets - not much fun at $25-$50.

A couple of days later he sits down to play me heads up again. Right, I'm thinking - you've had your fun and this is where I hit back. You can't simply bet every time you breathe and expect to win. I am going to call down your bluffs, push you off pots when we both have nothing and get paid off big time when I hit my hands.

On the very first hand I get dealt A-9 in the small blind. I raise, he three bets and I just call. The flop is 9-4-4. OK. Great start - I know he will play this hard because he assumes I have nothing. He bets, I raise, he three bets and I call rather than capping because I want him to bet the turn. The turn is 9-4-4-4. He bets, I raise and he three bets. Now I am annoyed. I am thinking that he has a 9 with a worse kicker and now we are going to split the pot. I call. The river is a blank. He bets and I call, expecting to see something like 10-9. Instead he shows up with 5-4. Now I'm very annoyed.

I would like to be able to relate that I now calmed down, adopted my serene smile, played excellent poker and won big. Unfortunately that didn't happen. Two minutes later I got A-K, the flop was Q-Q-6. He raised me on the flop. Now I KNOW he's got nothing. He nearly always has a go at these paired flops. I absolutely totally and utterly know he's got nothing. I should three bet or, if I don't three bet, I should raise on the turn because I KNOW HE'S GOT NOTHING. I even say it out loud as if seeking confirmation from the monitor ("He has got nothing, hasn't he?" - "How should I know - I'm just a monitor. Your call buddy").

And then the doubts come. I KNEW he had nothing (or at least not a lot) on that previous hand. And look what happened there - he had quads. That's not exactly nothing is it? So, I just call and the turn is Q-Q-6-8. He bets. Now I really, really should raise. However, I know from the previous session that he (knowing that I might not have much) would be perfectly capable of then three-betting with no hand. The pot would then become very big indeed. Am I really going to get involved in a huge pot with ace high? No, I'm not, but no way am I folding so I just call. Oh God. Why can't I just have a proper hand like K-Q so I can teach him a lesson?

The river brings Q-Q-6-8-10, he bets and I call and, when he shows up with 10-3, I feel ill. If I had raised at some point - as I knew I should - I would probably have won the pot. Now I make my only good decision of this short session and sit out. The thing is that I still have no idea if this player is very strong or just very lucky. What I do know is that he is not scared of me and that it is going to be very difficult for me to play well against him after that start.

What can you do...?

What would you do? Am I a total wimp or is this a good practical decision?

• Poker