Playing versus a few maniacs

Hi guys,

I've been playing poker for about a year now, but only lately have I been researching about the game to learn tells and way to defeat my opponents. I usually play heads-up or a table of 3 versus my friends. The problem I am having lately is that I can't seem to be winning ever since I started looking for tells and only playing good cards. Before, I would just call preflop. Now, I try to raise, fold as much as possible if I have bad hands and limp in or try to slowplay.

This is causing me a lot of problems because my opponents simply have no idea behind the idea of raising and limping in, slowplaying aces, etc. Thus, when I raise preflop, usually everyone will call even if they have 2-7, and I never ever get reraised. I'm having trouble becasue when I do seem to get something, such as top pair or two pair, they fold as soon as I bet... I mean, they don't even know what a tell is, and when I let them know for example that I can tell when they have good hands or not, they think I'm crazy even tho I do call exactly what hand they have, they think I just get lucky and that "you shouldn't fold all the time".

Should I change my play around a bit more and prehaps be more aggressive? Play a broader range of cards such as connectors? For example, call 6-7 t-J, raise TT-AA incl AK AQ etc, and fold anything like 53, 83, Q3, J8, etc? Or should I just limp in with thoses.

EDIT: I forgot to add that when I try to bluff, which is rare, I obviously get called and lose to a high card because they call anything. Should I only bet with an Ace high or a low pair?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Marc

You have to modify your play to beat loose-passive bad players.

They aren't going to fold KTo if you raise PF and bet the K high flop repping AK. Better to make a good hand and value bet them to death. Don't bluff. Play lots of hands cheaply (22+, suited connectors, suited gappers, broadway) and don't continue past the flop unless the flop hit you well (strong draw or good pair hand, set, etc). Don't fall in love with your hand, and don't let it bother you whean they beat your set with a flush they didn't have the odds to call for, bad players will call any bet on a flush draw.

My $.02

well you can beat maniacs by playing tight *sometimes*, but it's much better to open up your raising standards and play more hands with him, especially if he is a terrible post flop player.

The exception to this is if he is an obviously better player than you, in which case that's about the worst opponent you can face in NL holdem. A strong, smart loose aggressive player.

Sometimes against maniacs it is actually good to open up your play a bit. With such passive players you should add some hands that have good value against many players. Additionally, with little raising being in early position isnt as bad. You can add more hands to what you play up front. Also, reading your opponents becomes nearly impossible as they play rags and monsters exactly the same so wait til you get a great hand (like 2 pair a set flush straight etc) and just punish them. Good luck!

Originally Posted by donnybaker

You have to modify your play to beat loose-passive bad players.

They aren't going to fold KTo if you raise PF and bet the K high flop repping AK. Better to make a good hand and value bet them to death. Don't bluff. Play lots of hands cheaply (22+, suited connectors, suited gappers, broadway) and don't continue past the flop unless the flop hit you well (strong draw or good pair hand, set, etc). Don't fall in love with your hand, and don't let it bother you whean they beat your set with a flush they didn't have the odds to call for, bad players will call any bet on a flush draw.

My $.02

Wow, couldn't have said it better. Especially the part about continuing hands. See the flop then make a "new" decision.

Thanks for the all replies guy, very appreciated. But please, keep the suggestions coming! I'm always on the lookout to learn more!

Cheers,
Marc