The Maniac
Bets everything, over the pot off dry boards; your raises sort the range.
The Maniac plays almost any two cards and bets and raises all the time, for more than the pot on any board that isn't dry. Their bets look scary, but because they bet with everything, a bet from them tells you almost nothing. What tells you a lot is how they react when you raise.
In short
- Check and call with your medium hands: they bet every street, air included.
- Raise your strong hands: every top pair and every draw jams over your raise.
- Call their jam with top pair: it's mostly draws, overcards and backdoor flush draws.
- Bluff their dry-board checks with half pot or more: a caller's check is nothing.
Before the flop
The Maniac never limps. They raise a lot from every seat, and more the later they sit:
They 3-bet about 8% of hands from under the gun and the hijack, and 15% from the cutoff on:
If you limp, they raise 46% of hands and never just call.
If you 3-bet them, they 4-bet the first grid below, call with the second, and fold the rest: 68% of their button raises.
If you go all in, they call with the grid below.
A call from them is capped: from the cutoff on and in the blinds they 3-bet everything in the cutoff grid above, so a call never holds TT+, AT+ or KJ+. From the big blind they call 35% of hands against a button open.
After the flop
As the raiser, they bet every flop with every hand. On the turn and river they bet everything again, with one exception: on a blank (no overcard, no flush or straight card, no pair on the board, and no new flush draw) they check hands with no pair, no ace and no draw.
The 81 that check are king-high, queen-high, jack-high and ten-high with no pair and no draw.
As the caller, when they're first to act they lead into you with any pair, with ace-high, with any draw and with two pair or better. Only plain nothing checks. On the river they also lead with a missed draw. When you check to them, they bet every hand, on every street.
Say the Maniac called your button open from the big blind:
The 33 that check are shown below. Bet 2/3 pot into them and the 21 with two overcards or a backdoor flush draw raise; 12 fold.
In a limped pot they bet every flop first to act, with any two cards, as if they had raised. The turn and river then play by their caller rules above.
Say you limped the button and the Maniac checked the big blind, which they do with the 720 combos (just over half of all hands) they don't raise over a limp.
Behind a raise, the 216 combos of plain air would check.
Facing a bet, what they do depends on the hand and your bet size:
| Their hand | Small | Medium | Bigger |
|---|---|---|---|
| Any pair or better | Raise | Raise | Raise |
| Any draw, flop or turn | Raise | Raise | Raise |
| Two overcards or a backdoor flush draw, flop or turn | Raise | Raise | Fold |
| Any air, scare-card turn or river | Raise | Raise | Fold |
| Other air | Call | Fold | Fold |
A small bet is your 1/3 button; medium is up to 2/3 pot. Their raises are three times your bet. A scare card is an overcard, a flush or straight card, or a card that pairs the board.
Facing a raise, what they do depends on the hand and the street:
| Their hand | Flop and turn | River |
|---|---|---|
| Two pair or better, top pair, overpair | All in | All in |
| Any draw, two overcards or a backdoor flush draw, with no pair | All in | Fold |
| A smaller pair, with or without a draw | Call | Call |
| The rest | Fold | Fold |
The other 114 are smaller pairs that call; none fold. Raise their button c-bet instead and 520 of 742 go all in, 162 call and 60 fold.
On a dry board more of their range is plain air, so their checks and folds mean more:
Bet 2/3 pot into the check and 60 raise (two overcards or a backdoor flush draw) while 176 fold. Bet 1/3 pot and those 176 call.
How to exploit them
- Check and call with your medium hands. They bet every street, air included. Checking lets them keep bluffing; calling lets them pay you with it. Only a blank turn or river slows their air, and only the part with no pair, no ace and no draw.
- Don't raise your medium hands. Raise their bet and every top pair jams, every draw jams, and almost nothing folds. Call instead and let the next street come.
- Raise your strong hands. On 9-8-5 with two diamonds, a raise of their lead gets a jam from 252 of 366 combos, a raise of their c-bet from 520 of 742. That's how you get their stack.
- Call the jam with top pair. On 9-8-5, K9 has 61% equity against what they jam over a raise of their lead and 63% over a raise of their c-bet. Their jams are mostly draws, overcards and backdoor flush draws.
- Believe their raise, a little. A raise is a pair or better, a draw, or air with two overcards or a backdoor flush draw; on a scare-card turn or river it can be any air. The one raise that's always strong is a re-raise all in on the river: top pair or better.
- Bluff their checks on dry boards, with a medium or large bet. When they check as the caller, they have nothing. On J-6-2 rainbow, 176 of the 236 combos that check fold to half pot or more, but call a 1/3-pot bet.
- In your reads, don't narrow the range when they bet: it's still everything they started with, minus a little air on a blank turn or river. In a limped pot their flop bet removes nothing at all. Your raise does the narrowing: a jam is top pair or better, draws and air with two overcards or a backdoor flush draw; a call is a smaller pair.
What this leak is worth. A huge edge, with big swings. On K-T-6 with two diamonds they bet every combo of their button range still possible on that board, all 731, for one and a half times the pot. If you raise, 405 of them go all in.
What their bet sizes tell you
Nothing about the hand. The full pot on a dry board, one and a half times the pot otherwise, on every street, with the nuts and with seven-high alike. Raises are always three times your bet and every re-raise is all in. Big bets are their style, not a signal.