Low-limit holdem, you are on the list and scouting the potential games you might be seated at. You notice at one of them, a maniac raising blind pre-flop, and betting and raising anything all the way to the river. As luck would have it, two people leave the game, and a seat directly on either side of him is now yours for the choosing. Do you sit directly on his right, or directly on his left? I can think of good reasons for taking either seat and would be interested in what you all would do.
Answer 1:
It depends on how loose/aggressive the rest of the table is. If the table tends towards very loose, then a seat on his right gives you more control of the betting on the flop, when it counts. Traditional wisdom says sit on his left which will give you more control of the betting pre-flop. If you’re on his right, and the game is very loose, then you can check raise and trap the table in for two bets on your very strong draws but can bet and have him raise on your weaker top pair flops making the others face two-cold with their weaker draws. It really depends on the rest of the table. At most loose tables, having the seat to the left won’t really let you control the pre-flop betting all that much anyway, which is the only real benefit from that seat (isolation).
Answer 2:
I would choose to be on his right. Since he is a maniac, knowledge of what he does is worthless, it gives you no insight. However, by being on his right, you get to see what everyone else does in reaction to his moves. By being on his left, you are constantly going to be the one who has to react to his raises first. On his right, you get to sit back and watch what everyone else does. I don’t see much reason to be on his left. I think of it like this, when you are on the left of someone who bets, you are temporarily under the gun, when you are on the right, you are on the button.
Answer 3:
You can always tell a good question about Poker, because all good Poker questions have the same answer: it depends. Your general strategy if sitting to his left will be to isolate him by making it 2 bets cold to everyone behind you whenever you decide to play. If sitting in front of him, it’ll be easier to trap people by letting them call his bet and then popping it. Think of it this way: you can target the maniac from anywhere – who ELSE at the table can you put at a disadvantage by the way you play off the maniac? So, what’s the rest of the table like? Are 5 people calling a capped pot? If so, it doesn’t matter where you sit, but trapping is going to be slightly more likely than isolating, especially on later rounds. Are 6 people calling for 1 bet but only 3 or 4 if there’s a raise? Sit to his left and control the number of players. Are 4-6 people calling one or two bets normally, and capped occasionally? Sit to his right and control the pot size.