[WVHillbilly]

In our local game there is one guy who will call/bet almost any holding. This would normally be great but here lately he's the guy walking away with all the $$ at the end of the night. There is no way to put him on specific hands and thus far I've found no way to consistently win against him. Here is a specific hand from Friday night (.25/.50).

I'm in BB. Maniac in small blind.
3 limpers and small blind completes.
I look down at A A and raise to $3.00 (this was late in the night and several of the stacks (not mine) were quite large so a $3 raise isn't huge but it does say "I have a hand").
Folded around to SB (maniac) who calls.
Flop is 2 2 2.
SB checks.
I raise $5.
SB calls (I'm putting him on a middle pocket pair or a strong A).
Turn A (yeah!).
SB bets $5.
I think for a minute and push the rest of my stack in (@ $22).
He instantly calls and turns over 2 5.
No miracle A on the river and his 4 deuces take down the pot.

Now I realize that I'm going broke on this hand no matter what, but what's your best advise on playing someone who will call 6x BB with 5 2? Do I just have to wait for his luck to turn around?

[99%evil]

You play carefully, fold when you don't have a really strong hand if you are put to all your chips and wait to trap him into something. Play tight and change gears once in a while and put him to the test.

I only play premium hands so I have no idea what it's like to play almost any two cards....

[FL70]

Originally Posted by WVHillbilly

Now I realize that I'm going broke on this hand no matter what, but what's your best advise on playing someone who will call 6x BB with 5 2 out of position? Do I just have to wait for his luck to turn around?

Fixed

Nothing you can do against that guy except continue to play tight when he's involved.

[guinness]

Originally Posted by 99%evil

I only play premium hands so I have no idea what it's like to play almost any two cards....

At least I think you play tight.

[tomb1]

Good advice from 99%. When you have a monster, let him bet out and hang himself. Re-raise him once in a while if you have a good hand or even a draw. Let him know not to mess with you and he'll set his sights on other players (maybe).

The hand you posted is probably not a real good example of how to play or not to play. Looks like you did everything right and he got real lucky.

[99%evil]

Originally Posted by guinness

At least I think you play tight.

I wouldn't call you a maniac, gambler yes(LAG), maniac no. There's a difference.

You know I will gamble with you, but not always willing to commit to a big raise with absolute crap. Suited connectors, big ace, or just any two connected cards, yes I'll play. If they are completely disjointed, I can't play them. And this only applies if it's very shorthanded.

I don't know what kind of player I am, I think I try and change it up a bit, so I'm not sure.

[TheDuke]

Just play solid and bet for value. Forget bluffing - if he's willing to call all the time there's no need to bluff. He'll pay you off.

I host a small stakes home game where one player in particular plays wild. For a few sessions I was getting a bit frustrated as I was seemingly losing every pot I was up against him. But rather than get frustrated and open up my play and call him down with marginal hands - I decided to just play straight. One night his luck finally did run out big time and I won ~$1100 off of him.

Originally Posted by WVHillbilly

In our local game there is one guy who will call/bet almost any holding. This would normally be great but here lately he's the guy walking away with all the $$ at the end of the night. There is no way to put him on specific hands and thus far I've found no way to consistently win against him. Here is a specific hand from Friday night (.25/.50).

I'm in BB. Maniac in small blind.
3 limpers and small blind completes.
I look down at A A and raise to $3.00 (this was late in the night and several of the stacks (not mine) were quite large so a $3 raise isn't huge but it does say "I have a hand").
Folded around to SB (maniac) who calls.
Flop is 2 2 2.
SB checks.
I raise $5.
SB calls (I'm putting him on a middle pocket pair or a strong A).
Turn A (yeah!).
SB bets $5.
I think for a minute and push the rest of my stack in (@ $22).
He instantly calls and turns over 2 5.
No miracle A on the river and his 4 deuces take down the pot.

Now I realize that I'm going broke on this hand no matter what, but what's your best advise on playing someone who will call 6x BB with 5 2? Do I just have to wait for his luck to turn around?

[TheMightyJim2k]

BTW that player isn't a maniac. he is a loose-passive calling station. The epitome of bad poker. My suggestion is to make sure he is always in the game. Sit to his left. Make hands and value bet him to death. He'll call down with random crap all of the time. Don't do too much bluffing, semi-bluffing, or making big continuation bets against him. Just bet it when you got it and check it when you don't. He'll have the worst hand the majority of the time and in the long run he'll become your personal atm.

this sounds like a bad beat story disguised as a strategy post. This guy is the ultimate fish and you want him in the game whenever possible.

[WVHillbilly]

I think his thing with me is that he knows I usually only play premium hands so he's more willing to call my bet preflop and hope the flop hits his mess, and thus be guaranteed to miss mine. I was thinking that maybe I need to open up a bit to keep him guessing but that really goes against my general style of play.

I also realize that the hand posted wasn't the best example to get advise on what I should have done differently, but believe me it stuck in my mind all weekend. I really just wanted to see if anyone had any similar players in their games and what they do to combat it. When this guy is cold he'll burn through 3-4 buy-ins in no time, but when he is catching cards lookout (and for the past few weeks he's been unstoppable).

TMJ2K is right. This was a bit of a bad beat story but I really do value the advise given. I was ready to loosen my game, but it sounds like everyone feels that's the wrong play. Thanks.

[Colquhoun]

Originally Posted by WVHillbilly

When this guy is cold he'll burn through 3-4 buy-ins in no time, but when he is catching cards lookout (and for the past few weeks he's been unstoppable).

Sounds like he likes the chase. If you know he'll call almost anything preflop, pound him with big raises when you have premiums. The fact that he is willing to blow through buy-ins is a great thing, indeed.
Like you said, he can certainly catch cards, but if you can minimize losses and maximize when you have the best, you'll stay way ahead. Sounds like his last few weeks can be chalked up to variance.....enjoy it when the "poker pendulum" swings back.