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Dealing with Players Who Go Off Early

By launchpoker, May 30, 2008
Dealing with Players Who Go Off Early


  Over the decades there have been dozens of attempts by private citizens and corporations to build the sort of rockets that could jettison somebody beyond the atmosphere and into space. What they would do up there besides marvel at the beauty of the planet and wonder how the hell they are going to get down is still up for debate. It will be no surprise that most of the people trying this sort of thing are middle aged men whose formative years coincided with the run of the television show Star Trek. It will also be no surprise that most of these homemade rockets blew up early before leaving the launch pad. If asked, most of their wives would not only have not been surprised by this outcome, but would probably have mentioned something about it reminding them of their wedding night. While going off early is probably not a good formula for rocket science, or a relationship for that matter, it is something that can be exploited when it happens during Texas Holdem.



  There are a lot of players out there who, like the amateur rocket scientist, find themselves going off early. You will see that a lot of players will show some severe aggression pre-flop and post-flop, but when they get to the turn it will seem as though they have shot their wad, and have nothing left in the tank.



  By having no stomach for continuing a bluff beyond two-rounds, they think they are cutting their losses. This is a good idea in the short term, but they are forgetting what this tells their opponents about them. It screams that if they have not made a top pair or a legit hand by the turn card they will simply bail on the hand and not invest anything more.



  Opponents need only keep pace with someone who has exposed this pattern of behavior. At the third round of betting you will know if they continue to bet, that they have probably made some sort of hand and are under the reasonable impression that they can compete successfully for the pot. You can react accordingly to this knowledge.



  The one point of warning is that if you are bluffing, and fold every time they bet during the third round, you will also become predictable and they may start betting after the turn just to make you fold.



  Good Luck!