Did I play this right?

Or should I say, "How badly did I f--- this up?" I was in the final three of a small (six guys) tournament at a friend's house. Blinds are 30/60. I am BBwith about 700, SB has about 700, button has about 800 (can't remember exact stacks, but it was almost evenly split with button holding slight chip lead). I'm looking down at KK. Button (a maniac who almost always is one of the first two guys out, but has been catching his cards tonight) puts in a 5x BB raise. SB folds. I call. Flop comes 268 with two hearts and a diamond. I bet the pot. Button looks at it for a minute and then pushes all in. I call and turn over my kings, he turns over Th4h. Of course you know what came in on the later streets, but could I have played this another way? I was thinking that if I reraised all-in preflop with my likely (and as it turned out actual) big advantage, he might have folded. BTW, about 3 hands prior to this, the same guy cracked my kings with Ace-rag when an Ace came on the flop. Twice in as many hands leads me to believe I am the problem, not his maniacal play. Any comments would be helpful and much appreciated.

Originally Posted by A10Chief

but could I have played this another way?

yes, re-raise all in pre-flop

Originally Posted by A10Chief

BTW, about 3 hands prior to this, the same guy cracked my kings with Ace-rag when an Ace came on the flop. Twice in as many hands leads me to believe I am the problem, not his maniacal play. Any comments would be helpful and much appreciated.

You are probably not the problem. Remember, luck is a big part of Poker, and this maniac has just as much of a right to get lucky as you do. Your pocket King story is simply a case of good luck for the maniac. Don't tilt.

IMHO, maniacs don't do as poorly as their wild play would indicate. Their play knocks more conservative types off their game, causing them (me included) to make wrong decisions. Once the maniac gets the large stack in a tournament, then you have a real big problem.

It's no secret that poker rewards patience. If you are disciplined enough to not get pulled into a 'wild-west-shootout' with a maniac, then your patience will pay off. Let someone else be the "Sheriff".

Wait for the cards, and time your aggression when you get them. Don't get sucked into the wild players game, instead look for a way to exploit it. In the long run, the solid, disciplined player will beat the maniac.

Originally Posted by Staresy

Originally Posted by A10Chief

but could I have played this another way?

yes, re-raise all in pre-flop

Smooth call into a maniac with KK is not the worst thing to do. I'd have probably done it as well.

Putting in 80% of your stack on a flush draw is a little silly (the maniac, not the hero)

Originally Posted by Staresy

Originally Posted by A10Chief

but could I have played this another way?

yes, re-raise all in pre-flop

I'm not sure I agree with this play, short handed against an overly agressive player. If he truely is a maniac, I would rather smooth call, then let him bet himself right into the ground on the flop and turn. You are such a huge favorite with KK that you can afford to push this edge I think, as long as you can make a read and let your kings go on those rare occasions when he outdraws you.

I would reraise preflop, not neccessarily all in, I would raise it probably 5bb more, because I would want a call or preferablly a reraise

Your post flop play was fine

Reraise his raise amount or smooth calling are both good options. I would probably only AI if I thought he might call with a semi-strong hand like Ax or a PP, or if I had been pushing alot and thought I might get called becuase of that. As the hand played out , just a run of the mill bad beat.

Depending on how you played the earlier Ax vs KK hand, that could also be a bad beat but can't tell without details.

To be quite honest i'd push all in and laugh if he called.
KK is a great hand no matter who your playing against or how many cards somebody else is catching. I'm quite willing to pay off AA and i'm very angry but still willing to pay off the odd guy who calls with Ax and catches.
Once in a while you have the chance to give a maniac a good spanking and KK or AA even QQ are the right hands to do it with. Push and if he wins cry and remember that the other 6 or 7 times you do it you'll seperate him from his stack of chips.
As they say, get all your chips in with the best hand, much more often than not he pays you not the other way.
Also, imo opinion if he knows your coming over the top with big hands he might be a little wary of you, but thats just my tactic against maniacs and its nice and variable.