The Next Level

So I've gotten impatient and moved up to .25/.50. Here's what I can tell you so far:

Players are borderline maniacal. 4-betting K7 when you missed the flop completely is not out of the question at all.

The swings are much bigger. The average pot is far bigger and almost every flop is 3-bet at the least. It is never folded to the button, there is always a raise beforehand.

I'm trying to follow all of the good advice: play tight. Only draw when you have odds. Bet big hands pre-flop when you have pot equity.

But I'm sitting next to a true-blue maniac, and I feel I have little choice to but to call him down with top pair, only to have him show me some preposterous rivered straight or flush. He just won a huge pot with Q2 offsuit when the cards came K J T 9 8. This guy must be doing something right. He's sitting massively deep, like 500x the big blind in a game where the average person is holding about 60x. He just went all the way to the river with 34o with a board something like this:

Q 6 4 8 5

Wow!

Also the player to my left, who is ultra-tight, seems to raise every time I limp in with a weak small blind completion. He never raises except in the BB when I'm small. (Or so it seems)

OK, I finally took down a pot with pocket 9s. The maniac went all the way with 76o on a board reading

Example:

I just raised under the gun with KQo. I was promptly raised and re-raised with 86s and A7s. I folded my KQ on the flop when a raising war broke out, and 86s took the pot! I'm just not flopping well, I can tell, my good hands are all coming OOP which is a recipe for big losses. I haven't played a hand on the button yet, I keep finded T5o or J2s.

People are getting some sick flops. I raised with AJo, a guy re-raised with 75s, and the flop came 689. I had a draw to the nut flush and a pair of jacks on the turn, and lost a huge pot.

The maniac is down huge and doesn't seem to care at all. It's a state of mind.

I'm down 15 dollars but not feeling at all bad about my play. I haven't flopped a single big hand and for the most part I've been rivered out of medium strength ones and forced to pay off one bet at the end because the pot is so large.

The maniac just flopped a straight to 54o. Amazing...