can someone reccomend some good videos covering playing against manics, I constantly keep getting into sticky situations against some really bad players doing crazy plays such as raising 6x preflop then when I 3 bet they shove. or 3 betting every time I raise therfore making it very difficult for me to control the pot size then end up with me having to go all in with second pair. sometimes im starting to think i play better against winning players since most of thier moves actually make sense
This is just my opinion...
You want to keep the pot small, so limp in, let them build the pot.
Don't 3 bet with anything you don't want to get in. Some maniacs won't fold after raising big pre-flop
so don't even bother 3-betting, just shove (with hands you want to be called with), they'll call with some weak stuff.
Raise your really premium hands from the button as some maniacs wont fold.
If they're super aggro I limp hands like suited connectors, broadways low pairs & A2s-AJs, A8o-AJo. I'm limp raising my big pairs & either limp shoving or limp flatting AQ+. I fold out everything else pretty much.
I cant think of a specific video but I'm pretty sure one of Cogs videos covers this off as to what strategy to use.
yeah i will try your advice out
Do you mean you limpcall your small suited connectors, low pairs and small suited aces? Many times the maniacs like to bet big against a limp and you know he is going to continue betting on any flop so you basically have to hit. I get to frustrating situations with these hands. It is hard to find an optimal strategy against these players if you are at all carddead. Well,patience and more patience I guess.
Search "maniac" up on our tool bar. It should point to some other threads about maniacs, as well as a few videos (to get a list of videos relevant to this, type in "aggressive" in the search filter and look for videos with that tag).
I'll make it a priority to have a few new videos up against maniac opponents soon.
I agree it is frustrating sometimes, but I allow them to build the pot rather than inflate it preflop & miss post. Your chips will go further this way & sooner or later you will hit & you can punish the villain, just make sure you get max value in spots where you are ahead, pick up on his patterns. If he is willing to fire on every street you may have to call light sometimes but if you pick your spots patiently it'll pay off eventually.