Ever get the feeling when you are playing Limit Hold Em that no matter how well you play, and how bad your opponents are, they just seem to get rewarded time after time for hyper-aggressive bad play? One thing that players often think is that it is easier to beat a good player than a bad player, and while this may be true in a particular hand against a player who folds, you won earn nearly the profit that you would when playing against people chasing that two-outer. The bottom line is you want as many poor decision making players at your table as you can get. You may not win pots as frequently, however when you do, they will be much larger. The key to making these players go from making you want to beat your head against a wall, to making you smile while you drag their chips in is all in how you play against them.
There are many scenarios in which you will be forced to play against a hyper aggressive maniac, lets take a look at a couple of main points you will want to consider.
If the table is primarily playing tight, and there is one person playing crazy and raising the majority of hands, you will want to be slightly cautious playing hands such as small pairs and any suited connectors. The reasons for these plays are that you are not going to often have enough players in the pot to get the odds to be cold calling 2 bets. When you get dealt non-paired big hands, they become a stronger holding with a hyper-aggressive player; however you must also remember that the remainder of the table will be playing solid as well. You do not want to end up with a weak hand after the flop, and become trapped out of position against another good player at the table. Just because you can play differently against the maniac, does not mean you can do so against other good players at the table. When you are dealt a premium hand, you want to try and isolate against the maniac. Take a big hand as an opportunity to re-raise and get as many of the idiots chips as possible.
If you find yourself at a table full of maniacs, you are going to want to take a slightly different approach, as this is where many people will have trouble. The swings that you take at these tables will be large, however if you are a better player, your swings should be primarily up. At a crazy table, you should avoid marginal drawing hands when possible. If you are close to having pot odds, then fold, you will save yourself the money.
When the table is full of hyper-aggressive players and you get dealt a suited connector hand, or a medium pair, they become much stronger. The reason for this is that your implied odds (the money you will be able to earn in a hand if you hit) are very high. When you hit your hand you stand to rake a very nice pot. Your big pairs become slightly weaker at a table like this. You have to still raise and attempt to protect your hand, just be aware that it wont work quite as well as usual. If the board gets frightening, be able to dump the hand without a second thought. Folding a winner against some crazy drawing hand isnt the end of the world. In Limit Hold Em, this will save you money.
Another important thing to remember is your table image. You do not want to appear as too tight of a player and let them do all of the betting. You need to find the right spots to do so, as to isolate the bad players, as that is who you want in the pot with you.
Good poker players can win at any table, against any type of player, and this is the level you want to get to. This is just one piece of poker knowledge that may help you be successful; applying it well is up to you!
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