Thursday, October 15, 2009

Pot Limit Omaha Poker: Having A Maniac On The Table

By Parthalan Marek

Having a maniac in the PLO table will bring out different reactions from the participants. Some will enjoy the maniac's aggressive play while others will not be too happy having that kind of player in their midst. Well, lots of people have seen the rebellion coming, it's just many poker players don't want to get into a raising war with a maniac unless then have the coveted AAxx hand. They are not willing to welcome such behavior in their table and they show their difficulties as they complain about the maniac on the loose.

In the subsequent instances, we will be using this maniac profile: A player who always raises first on the initial round of the game and have the guts to re-raise 95% in one hand. This maniac personality tries to get the pot before the flop opens.

How you fine-tune you game play to a maniac while playing should be done deliberately -like any other poker verdict you make-you require eliminating of any fixed views you have about loosening up, trying to isolate, or any other fine-tunings you have heard of, and look at it from an assortment of diverse viewpoints.

Here are the three issues that should go into your strategic adjustment:

Your position relative to the maniac The adjustment of other players How you deal with large swings

The first two issues go together, and need to be discussed as one.

You have position against the maniac and the other players loosened their play.

While sitting on a maniac's left the distinctive way of thinking is to segregate with re-raises. Yet, if the other players in the game grasp on to what you're doing you'll have to alter your play significantly, because they'll begin re-potting and you'll find yourself folding 10BB's, or in a 3-way all-in with little fair play.

If the players started to loosen up due to the presence of the maniac on the table then you'll need to be careful of your next steps in order not to find yourself and the maniac by the other occupants.

You have position relative to the maniac but the other players has not adapted to his presence

If the other players don't mind that you and the maniac go head to head then it's the right moment for you to raise and re-raise as you like it.

But be careful if somebody will re-raise you aside from the maniac. This only means that that person has a great powerful hand and that person is letting the loose cannon make the betting.

The maniac has position on you, and the table has loosened up

In order to best the maniac who has position on you is to let him do the betting - which essentially can trap others into the pot. This is one of the best moments you'll have while others would argue that having position over a maniac can help in isolation - this is a better alternative - limping-in and let the maniac do the raising. This will get you a number of callers and at the right moment you can gamble a big raise to isolate the maniac with a large pot sitting on the table.

The maniac has position relative to you and the table has not adapted to his presence

If the players have not adjusted due to the maniac's attendance then it's up to you to raise and just hope that the maniac will re-raise which should isolate most of the field. Then if you have a powerhouse hand, you can go all in or take a flop with enough amounts of chips behind.

In Pot Limit games it's better to keep your raises and re-raises lower most especially in the subsequent circumstances: You don't want to flipping against a maniac with no AAxx of KK/QQ in hand. It will be better if you established a considerable pot then get the best of it after the flop. In this instance, you won't be regretting if you have to fold your hand when the flop is not favorable.

For example, you're playing $2/$4 stakes in PLO where the buy-in would $400. The usual raise on this stake would $14. What you should do is to open up with $8-$10 or you can re-raise the minimum amount so that you won't be betting too many chips before the flop is shown.

So if the maniac decided to open a $14 bet then I would re-raise the minimum of $28 which will make me a choice to let go of the hand if a locksmith re-raise after me, then I will call the maniac's 3-betof $90 heads-up or $118 if there is another caller - resulting in a $300 money left in my hands - then I can re-pop the bet to $276 or $300 going to an all-in bet.

Alternatively if you were to re-pot the maniac's opening raise (making it $48) you would be handing over 10% of your stack. If a locksmith re-raises you'll need to fold, and if you want to call the maniac's 3-bet it will be to $150 which is a fat fraction of your stack.

Clearly these are just rules for dealing with a maniac at a PLO table, and each of them ought to be taken care of in varying ways -in any case, there are numerous stages to being a maniac!

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