Low Limit No Limit Part 3:
The Wildman at the Low Limit No Limit Table

BY: Ashley Adams
Contact at: (Asha34@aol.com)
Author of Winning 7-Card Stud

You've seen him. He may not have shaggy hair, a long beard and ferocious looking eyes. But he's easy to spot. He's the wildman. Every low limit no limit table that I've played has one -at least for a short while. He plays fast and furious. He goes all in with Aces and with nothing. He doesn't seem to care at all about losing or even about winning. He's about action. And he may be insane when it comes to cards.

I played in a game just the other night. I had pocket Jacks in early position. The blinds were $2/4. The buy-in was limited to $100. Naturally, I raised. I raised to $20 I think - a bit on the heavy side for these blinds but I didn't want to have a lot of callers. Too easy for someone to hit an Ace, King or Queen on the flop.

Well, this wildman didn't let me draw. He raised it to $60. Boom. He had a stack of $300 or so, having been playing for a while when I sat down (and I guess he must have been winning). I figured that he was either bluffing or had a higher pair. I didn't want to spend the rest of my stack by calling his $40 raise and more on the Turn and River to find out. I folded.

Very next hand - I'm still in early position and get A-Q spades. I raise to $15 - again trying to thin the field and hoping not to get much action. He calls me. Flop is K-Q-9 no spades. I'm second pair top kicker. I bet $30. He pushes all in (actually it would have just set me all in to call - he had a much larger stack.). I paused. I thought a minute. Could he have started with a King? Sure. K-T, K-J, even K-9 might be a calling hand. So would K-Q. He could have had a pair of 9s? Or he could have been making a ballsy bluff raise. I folded again.

Two of the next three hands he raised pre-flop and won the pot. On the third hand he folded pre-flop. Fourth hand someone raised; he re-raised setting the initial player all-in when he called. They turned over their hand. The first player had a pair of Queens. The wildman had A-8 suited. He hit an Ace on the River to win the hand.

His play remained like this for about an hour. He lost a couple of hands and may have even conceded a few he had initially stabbed at. But he normally won either uncontested or by getting a nice turn or River. When he showed down his hand he usually had very speculative hands.

How do you play against a guy like this? I've developed a few techniques that have helped me.

First of all, a guy with this almost manic raising style is very well suited to these typically tight and passive low limit games. He steals many, many blinds. He steals many initial bets by timid players. And if he is running good, as this player evidently was when he was in my game, he can draw some good hands and get a lot of action - further enhancing image as a winning player that people back away from in a fight. So he has an air of invincibility around him that is formidable.

But there are counter measures. First of all, let him lead. Since this player will frequently initiate betting or raise action that is before him you don't have to. You can check into him, going for check raises or even slowplays when you have a very strong hand.

Second, try to isolate him. You have to be careful about this because you don't want to be lured into playing truly substandard hands for a lot of money just to get heads up with him. But, on the other hand, if you have a hand that you think is stronger than what he is likely to hold, don't be afraid to re-raise him to get it heads up. Here's an example of what I mean. It happened last night as well.

I had a pair of powerful looking black Kings in the large blind. Two players called the $4.00 and he raised to $20.00. The small blind called the $20.00. The action was to me. I raised to $60. The wildman just called and everyone else folded. The turn brought 3-7-10 two suited. I went all in. He called me. He had A-10. The turn and the river were a 7 and a Queen. I won.

A few hands later, after I had picked up another pot against another player who ended up leaving, I had A-J of clubs in late position. The wildman was in middle position and raised to $12. I called, as did two other players. The flop came 7-8-J with two clubs. Check to the wildman who bets $40.00. I went all in. He called and the other two players folded. He turned over Q-7 of hearts. No Queen came on the Turn and River and I took down a nice pot. He left the game shortly thereafter when he won a huge pot with three other players, two of whom were all in.

So don't be afraid of these guys all the time. You can't always credit their aggressive action to very big hands. But you can usually count on them to call you when they have committed a large amount already to the pot.

Another consideration. These guys are maniacs so they sometimes think other players are maniacs. Yeah, it sounds hokey, but I find that these guys can be goaded into calling when you have a monster. Really solid players will either ignore the coffehousing or figure you out with it. These guys often see in-your-face type words as a gesture that they have to answer with their chips.

So let's say you have a pair of nines pre-flop, the wildman raises five times the big blind and you (and only you) call. The flop hits you super hard with a 9-6-2. Against normal opponents you'd slow play this monster. But against the wildman you can trap him by betting a small amount if you're first, letting him raise, and then coming in over the top with an all in bet as if to say "in your face". More often than not this guy isn't going to back down and you've gotten all of his chips. Same thing if he initiates the bet. Just look at him, say, "let's see your heart man" and throw all the chips in. Expect a call.

One last thing about wildman. Don't let them throw you off your solid game. There's a temptation, often hard to resist, to play garbage against them - or to play really aggressively without thinking about other players. Either one could spell a quick end to your stack. You've got to pay attention to what other players might have. And you can't just play junk because he's wild. You won't have to have the same standards as you would against a tight/aggressive player, but you'll still need to have some kind of a hand. Wait for those opportunities when you think you are strongly in the lead. It may take extra patience as you see all the chips that are flying around the table when he's playing. But wait for the strong hands before you try any of your own moves against this guy.

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