PokerPlayer Quiz: Playing against maniacs

Q1. Traptastic

Players: 6 Blinds: $1/$2 Your stack: $200 Your hand: A♠-Q♣

Action
You open raise to $6 from the cutoff with A♠-Q♣, the button calls and a really aggressive player in the big blind decides to three-bet to $26. You call and the button folds. The flop is Q♥-2♦-6♠. The big blind leads out for $32. What is your best course of action?

Decision
a) Fold
b) Call
c) Raise to $72
d) Move all-in

Q2. Hang tough

Players: 2 Blinds: $0.50/$1 Your stack: $100 Your hand: Q♥-T♥

Action
You raise to $3 on the button and the big blind calls. The flop is T♣-4♣-5♠. The big blind checks, you bet $4 and are now check-raised to $14. What do you do?

Decision
a) Fold
b) Call
c) Raise to $32
d) Move all-in

Q3. In his eye

Players: 6 Blinds: $1/$2 Your stack: $200 Your hand: A♠-4♠

Action
It’s folded to the maniac in the small blind who raises to $6. You three-bet to $20 with A♠-4♠ in the big blind. The maniac now four-bets to $46. What should you do?

Decision
a) Fold
b) Call
c) Re-raise to $100
d) Move all-in

Q4. own the barrel

Players: 9 Blinds: 100/200 Your stack: 10,000 Your hand: 5♣-5♥

Action
It’s early in a $33 tournament when an aggressive pro raises to 600 in the cutoff. You call with 5♣-5♥ on the button. The flop is 2♣-T♠-6♦. The raiser bets 700. What should you do in this spot?

Decision
a) Fold
b) Call
c) Raise to 2,100
d) Move all-in

Q5. 1, 2, 3… draw

Players: 6 Blinds: $2/$4 Your stack: $424 Your hand: 5♠-6♠

Action
It’s a tough aggressive $2/$4 game and you call a $12 raise on the button with 5♠-6♠ against a tough pro. The flop of 2♠-K♠-8♥ gives you a flush draw. Your opponent c-bets $22 into the $30 pot. What should you do?

Decision
a) Fold
b) Call
c) Raise to $66
d) Raise to $104

Answers

1. b) Call. An aggressive player is likely to be squeezing a wide range in this spot. If you raise you will only fold out bluffs, which comprise the majority of your opponent’s range. Also, if an Ace falls on the turn or river an aggressive player is likely to bet again.
2. c) Raise to $32. Against an aggressive opponent heads-up you should view your marginal top pair as the nuts on this flop. Aggro players will be check-raising worse tens, straight draws, flush draws and air alongside the few times where you are beat. By raising small here we give our
   opponent a chance to jam his draws.
3. d) Move all-in. This is a high variance play but you must sometimes take a stand against very aggressive opponents when they are unlikely to have a big hand. You have blockers to big A-x hands and will have 33% equity if your opponent calls and turns over a big pair like K-K.
4. a) Fold. You probably have the best hand on this flop against an opponent with a high VPIP. However, it will still be very difficult for you to win the hand without risking a huge amount of your stack. It’s better to just fold now rather than wasting chips before folding to a turn bet.
5. c) Raise to $66. Despite only holding a low flush draw you should still raise here. By raising here your hand will often look like a draw and aggro players may re-raise light to try and make you fold. If you are raised to around $140 you now have a great stack size to ship over the top.

Your score

0-2 Cry baby
You desparately need to man-up and stop whining.

3 Nice try
A good effort, but you need to start toughening up if you want to win.

4-5 Tough guy
Nice one. You don’t let yourself get pushed around on the tables.