Amen, Brutha

From poker pro Bill Gazes, during his online chat at ESPN.com:


Paul (Lakeland, FL)
Bill how would you recommend playing against maniacs online who see almost every flop regardless of raise?

BILL GAZES
Never say anything bad in the chat to them. Always be nice. Compliment them profusely. You have to give the manaics action. Don't make the mistake of playing too tight against them. Show them some action, but not too much. Gotta give action to get action. Throw them some action back or they will cut you off some times.

...
I wish people would heed this advice. Too many times, I see players get pissed when a maniac has beaten them by playing something like 75s and then hitting bottom pair on the flop, sticking around despite any raises, and eventually making either two pair or trips on the turn or river. The beaten players starts cursing and insulting the maniac endlessly.

The last thing you want to do when there's a maniac at your table is scare him off. If he stays at the table long enough, he will give all his money back. Just say, "nice hand" and continue to play your game (assuming 'your game' is a winning style). If you scare him off, there's no way you're getting those chips back. I also like his advice to loosen up a bit (at least heads up against the maniac). If your opponent is going to stick around with bottom pair or 3 to a flush or a small pocket pair that misses the flop, then you shouldn't fold 2nd pair, or possibly even two overcards. Just don't get too caught up in the madness where you become a maniac yourself and you lose everything to an observant player at your table.