Chasing Fish (A couple of live 1-2nl hands from Vegas)

Slash/ED

I was playing the 1-2nl game in the Mirage on Monday (Which incidentally has got to be the softest game at that level I ever played). Anyway, in my few hours there, one played stood out in particular as being the cream of the crop of awful. In a few hours there, he must have sunk around a grand into the table and didn't seem to want to slow down. He was hyper aggressive, insanely loose and generally had no idea. Some history...

Called an all in with ace high against two different tight players (Prompting two reloads). Insta-called a check-raise all in against a tight player with pocket kings on an ace high flop, hit runner runner flush. Generally will triple barrel with absolutley nothing, and has barely folded pre flop once in the entire session. It's hard to stress how awful he was.

My question is, when sitting at a table with someone like this, how much do you let one individual player alter your playing style entirely? After a while, on a soft enough table, I was almost playing just against him trying to get in pots with him. Should I do this, even if he is that absolutely awful? And if I should alter my typical game as I'd assume most would agree I should, how exactly do you play against people like this?

I've two hands I'd like comment on my play in, I'll put results in later.

Hand 1: I went for a food break and came back, tables had broke but I saw this bloke and immediately sat down on his table. I'd just bought back in for 200, and was immediately on the big blind. He covers, but only by around a tenner.

Get dealt pocket queens, one limper, he calls on the button, SB completes. I make it 15 on top to go (An overbet, but he's calling, so I'm making it expensive for him, disguising my hand isn't an issue). Sure enough he's the only caller. Flop comes down 9 6 2 rainbow. I check, he bets twenty, I think and raise to 50 (Too little usually, but I know if I can represent a scared ace king or something he'll bet again, this is how most of the table would play ace king here). He calls. Turn is another 9. I check, he goes all in.

Comments on play so far and action? Again keep in mind what an absolute loon the man was, a nutjob, and if he thought I'd missed overs he's making this play all day long.

Second hand, I'll try remember the details as exact as I can. I'm on the button here, and the BB in this case is an extremely tight player who rarely seems flops but c-bets 100% of the time. Makes a stab at nearly every pot he sees, and is pretty short stacked at this time. This is just after maniacs runner runner flush, later in the session, stacks are something like the following...

Maniac ~400
Me, button ~450
BB ~70

There's one or two limpers to the maniac who raises to 15. I call on the button with ten-eight suited (Comments on this? Who likes a 3 bet? Or should I fold this? Given the stacks, anything half playable was seeing a flop to a raise by the maniac when I'm in position, is this the wrong way to play here?). BB thinks for ages, genuinely thinking not hollywooding was my read, and calls. One of the limpers also calls.

Flop (63 or so) is 10-7-5, another rainbow I think. BB studies for ages, and moves all in. I'm nearly certain I'm ahead here, I'm very sure I have him beat both based on physical reads and the way he plays (Any hand from him usually checks to maniac here) He did not look comfortable, it was more a case of he felt he had to shove, I felt, and he was behind to a weak top pair. The other limper folds. Action round to the loon, and he insta shoves.

Does anyone like anything other than a fold here? Maniac is not the kind of player smart enough to use his image to make dramatic overbets on something like a set and get paid off, I also don't think he's drawing. An easy fold, right? But what is he shoving all those chips in the middle with? He probably has a similar read on the BB that I do...I suspect if he has me beat, unless it's maybe a ten with a weak but stronger kicker, he doesn't shove here...

So basically, how do you usually adapt to this kind of donater at your table playing the way he is, and how would you play those hands against him?

Hectorjelly

why does a raise preflop and then a almost min check raise represent a scared AK?

Slash/ED

I know taken out of context the moves seem odd, but that's how soft the game was. People with hands like that would usually check, then think the other player was bluffing, and make a feeble raise after they we're bet into, not planning a check raise if you get me. It had happened alot, and I was very sure he'd read it as weakness, and weakness if him throwing more chips at me. Again this is me playing way different to my normal game because I'm against such a fish.

Mr.Plough

hand 1 is pretty read dependant. i probably call if hes totally insane.

hand 2 - given history hes isolating with all sorts of draws, 88/99/Tx. Probably could include 7x and 5x in this guys range aswell. im pretty sure if he hit a set or 2pair he'd flat call, so i call. also i don't like 3betting pf against this guy.

nut peddling against these guys seem to work for me

Slash/ED

That's what I was doing, but I thought these we're interesting spots none the less. Results, if anyone was interested are...

Hand one, thought for ages, called, was shown queen-high and my queens held up. Second hand, thought for ages, reluctantly folded. Knew I'd regret it. Was afterwards shown ace-five by the BB and pocket sixes by the maniac, neither improved. That was the hand I was mainly interested in. Every instinct said call, but I felt I should wait for a better spot and talked myself into a fold. Should you, given how inept the player is, or should you take chances in spots like this to double up when you feel you're ahead?

valor

I dont like your line in hand 1, just bet the flop yourelf. As played its a really really easy call vs the player described.

I would fold hand 2