Playing head up vs a maniac

The last post in this blog covered playing a conservative adaptive player by switching gears.

It also mentioned how to play the conservative card player if you end up heads up against them. Usually this is only in free or very low buy in tournaments, as conservative players are too easy to play, so you don't usually encounter them late in tournaments.

However, sometimes you meet the opposite player heads up. A player who plays too many pots and is too aggressive. This player can mow a conservative field, but is slow to get out of hands when a tight player displays an obvious hit by calling their huge bets. They begrudingly respect huge raises.

When you meet this player, be prepared for a lot of large pre flop raises. Instant all ins to your pre-raises. Aggression.

The first thing I do is start keeping a mental tally of all ins, compared to hands played. If they go all in 1 in 4 hands, then I have a good idea that their range is at least any ace, most if not all pairs, any two face cards and 10s, possibly higher suited connectors. 1 in 3 and almost any single face card comes in.

Other than that, the name of this game is patience. For now only, switch back to playing the cards, remembering that heads up much lower hands are in play now, such as K 5.

If you are in 30 or greater bb range, you can afford to pick your spots. You loose the least on weak hands folding pre-flop in the small blind. Do so.

When you do get a strong hand, let the aggressor handle the raising pre flop.

So, with K 5 in the bb he raises to 5x bb from small blind. You call.


Flop 1. You hit the king.

When you hit big on the flop, you check. Allow the other players aggression to get his chips. Go all in to take the hand after their raise.


Flop 2. You hit the five, low pair.

Chances are, you are still ahead here, but no check raise. Bet immediately at the pot a bet that is close to pot size. They begrudginly respect big bets so most likely will fold unless they have hit.


Flop 3. You hit nothing.

Two choices here, use the same play as #2 for the bluff with the potential risk that goes along with a bluff, or fold to their raise.


Sometimes just a few of these hands can determine the match, as they loose way too many chips finding out that you actually have a hand.

Smarter aggressive players however will start to back off on bet size and raise size, because they don't get much when you fold, and when you do call, you are probably going to have a decent hand.

When they do tighten up in response to your tighter play, you can now start the usual analysis of determining current range, what they still raise with, what they call. Sometimes, behind all of this aggression, you find a weak player, and can take advantage of that fact.

Keep in mind that this type of player is just bursting to get out the big bet, so, even at this slightly slower pace, when they DO hit, they will go all in on the spot.

Unless they hit harder than top pair, which will most likely be slow played. A big hit can usually be spotted because a check to them on the flop will result in a check back, after a longer than usual time period.

As with all head up play, keep a constant eye on how often they go all in, and adjust your range appropriately.

So, when you do find yourself in heads up play with a maniac, picking your spots and using their predicatable playing pattern can deliver a few huge pots, if not the win.