Pre-flop betting...

[nmailey]

Hi all...

I've put on a house game of Texas Holdem. As we're just learning the game, we've put in place the following rules:
We ante in, get our first two cards, have a betting round.
We get the first 3 cards on the flop, have a betting round.
After each consecutive card for the next two cards we have a betting round.
As we're just starting out, we play a 50 cent ante with a $2 maximum raise per person. So, I can only bet a max of $2 but if it comes back to me with someone raising, I can raise another $2 (max).

The problem is, one of the guys bets the max before the flop, bets max after the flop, and just keeps doing this everytime, which makes things kind of boring because its so predicatable. Is there any way to combat this type of play? We'd prefer not to use an 'all-in', but I'm up for all suggestions. Thanks.

[ballbp]

All you can do is wait until you get good hands and then play right back at him. Let him get away with it until you have a strong hand and then raise him back.

[krakajak]

Ballbp is right, that's all you can do, but then again, here's what usually happens when I find myself in that situation. I pay a few rounds of blinds waiting for that good hand to bust him with. I get AK, flop comes rags. He'll raise with anything so I believe he may have one of those rags so I fold when he bets. I pay a few more rounds of blinds waiting for a killer hand, and get jacks. Pay his raise and A, Q, 7, flops. Just casue he's a maniac doesn't mean he cant have an A or Q, so I fold again. I pay a few more rounds of blinds but no good cards come, and I get tired of waiting, so i decide to call him with JTo. Flop comes K, T, rag. I say screw it, he doesn't have a king, so I re raise him all the way to the river and he turns over K rag to beat me.
If it were my game, I just wouldn't invite him.

[nmailey]

I see. I had another discussion about it with one of the other players and we both concluded to the same thing ballbp mentioned.

Let him get away with it until you have a strong hand and then raise him back.

The other solution is for all of us to bet the max each time, but what would that serve? Yet another solution I realized last night after posting is to not have a limit...which... would turn the game into something more serious than it's worth for a bunch of rookies.

I share your frustration krakajak...although I'm not sure what a "rag" is, that's the point that I got to when playing. I think we're just going to learn how to play around him somehow... I guess it'll be the only way we get good at the game.

thanks for the input... much appreciated...

[Replic]

The only way to combat it is the above suggestions and simply raising the limit. The reason he does that is because he knows you fear the bet and that the stakes don't matter to him.
Make it matter, kill that fear.

[madmark27]

Does this guy actually win? I would think, unless he's a moron, he would surely ease up after getting beat and losing money after awhile.

[krakajak]

rag is just pokerspeak for a crappy card. Lets say the flop came 3c, 6d, 8s, you would say that rags flopped. and since, in this instance, the rags were all of different suits, you could say they were rainbow rags.
You can also use it when you hold bad cards in your hand. Like, if you have and ace and a 6, you can say "I had ace rag."