Playing against maniacs

[Chipless Wonder]

There was a complete maniac at my $235 WSOP deep stack a few days ago. In the first hour he busted four different people at our table, including me. Let me see how many of the hands I can remember...

1. In the first hand, an old man raised UTG to 10x. Everyone folded except the maniac who called from the small blind. The flop came 8-9-2 rainbow, and the maniac checked. The old man bet double the pot, and the maniac called. The turn was a Q and the maniac checked. The old man went all in (which was a huge overbet in the first level of the tournament), and the maniac called with J-10o. The old man showed A-A of course. I realize that the old man's play was terrible, but this hand set the stage for the next hour.

2. The maniac loved to limp, and he would call almost any raise. He had to see flops. In the next hand that I remember, he was UTG and limped. Someone in last position raised and he of course called out of position with Q-3 suited. I don't recall the action, but he made a flush on the river, and check-raised all in. The raiser called him, mucked his hand and left disgusted.

3. I wanted to play hands against this guy in position, because he now had triple the starting stack about twenty minutes into the tournament. In one case he limped UTG, and I isolated with K-T suited. The flop came T high. He checked and I c-bet. The turn completed a possible flush. He checked and I fired again. This time he check-raised me all in for about ten times the size of the pot. I folded.

4. About an orbit later, he limped from middle position and I isolated again, this time with 8-6 suited. He called OOP as usual. The flop came Q-9-3, all in my suit, so I had flopped a flush. He checked and I bet the pot, knowing he would call with any draw. The turn was a blank, he checked, and I bet pot again. He check-raised me all in and this time I called. He had also flopped a flush with his K-2 suited, and I was out.

Sometimes it seems unreal how good maniacs can run...