$5/$10 omaha hi/lo, nine-handed

i'm MP/LP with A 10 8 2 .
EP open-raises, i three-bet, EP caps, i call. (everyone else gets out of the line of fire.)

EP's stats over 40 hands (he's clearly VL/A-P):
VP$IP - 90%
PFR% - 48%
PAF - 0.79

(9 SB) 10 8 7
EP bets, i raise, he calls.

(6 BB) J
EP checks, i bet, he calls.

(8 BB) 9
EP checks, i bet with the intention of calling a checkraise, ...

note that i HATE bare A-2-x-x hands, especially ones that are rainbow and have two middle cards. honestly, i fold them in early position and fold them against raises, but here, i felt that folding would pass up too much of an edge heads-up against the maniac, and that three-betting to isolate was MUCH better than cold-calling, even though my hand works better multiway (it does, right?).

let's talk about the river. value bet good? (note that i have a non-nut straight with no low possible on a three-flush board.) i also planned to call a checkraise since now he could have the same straight as me.

aseem

I don't know if I like that river bet. Although he's a maniac, would he call there with anything that doesn't either split the pot with us or have us beat?

well, he has 90% VP$IP. doesn't that say something?

aseem

That's true; I overlooked that. Against a more reasonable player, though, it's a check there, right?

very much so.

but i think here, he'd call with even a bare pair, or heck, maybe even ace-high, i have no clue.

this IS a value bet against a guy with 90% VP$IP, right?

aseem

Yeah, definitely.

I wouldn't have gotten involved in the first place (again...maybe I'm a poosey?)

Good bet on the river there. 8)

Aseem, I see you may have a leak playing against maniac, you don't want to fight fire with fire. A lot of time check-calling against a maniac is the best strategy.

I am a maniac at PLO8, the difference between me and the other maniacs is I know what I am doing! And if you think I am a maniac and you feel disgusted and want to fight back against me, you lost.

Let me show you few hands I played last night (I am at work now so I can't access the hand history here, this is from my memory).

At $200 table, I played solid hands for the first hour, however, I raised each time with them preflop for value. So other players saw me played aggressively but they did know that I played good starting hands.

Then I played some junk hands comfortably later on (I had built my stack to a little over $350).

Hand 1
I limped in UTG with K 5 K 7 (this was a hand I would never play it UTG before, in fact in my early stage of PLO8 playing I folded them all the time no matter what my position was). But because I had this maniac image, I got a lot of callers and no one raised me from behind.

The flop was Q 9 5x. A round of small bets of $4 (You can see how weak my opponents were).

The turn was a small card. I initiated the betting for $2. Every one called.

The river was A . I bet $10 and got 3 callers. Only one of them got 23.

Hand 2
I was at late position limped in with 9 J J K (This is NOT a junk hand at LP). Button called and we had 5-way action (Be aware that Button and BB were solid players, won't leave home without an Ace).

The flop was A Ax T . Every one checked to button who bet the pot $10, BB called.

I immediately knew both of them got Ace, the problem was, did anyone of them have a piece of T? Could I out play them later on?

Before I called, I typed, "hmm.... we have five aces?"

The turn was Q . BB checked and I checked. Button bet $25, BB thought and thought and laid down his Ace.

I minimum-raised button to $50 and he just called.

The river was another T and I knew I had him, the problem was how much should I bet to make him call.

I bet another $80 that seemed like a value and he called. He had only trip.

Hand 3
I limped in with QQT2 ds (another junk hand) with 3 callers so it was a 6-way action.

The flop was K Q Qx. I broke two guys, one of them got KK, one sucker was chasing for nut flush.

Hand 4
I got something like 45xx at BB, three callers, 4-way action.

The flop was 9K2, no action.

The turn was a 3, I potted it, every one called except SB.

The river was another K. I potted it again and everyone folded, I showed.

...

When the cards were against me, I wouldn't make those kinds of play. But when I am up and sailing, playing junk hands brings much more profit to me, especially when other people think that I am maniac and they hate me .