Breaking the Rules

Online, I have found myself in card games where I couldn't tell up from down.

Games where the bets seemed to have no basis -- players betting AS IF they had a full house when the most the flop offered was two pair or trips.

Huge bets, or raises, out of nowhere.

All-in's immediately after the flop. Sometimes before.

It was like the worst example of players using play money. Going bezerk.

In most poker games, players follow an unstated set of rules. If there's A-7-2 on the flop, you expect a player to bet more for matching the Ace than matching the two.

It's as if they are saying "Since you've been watching me awhile you should know if I bet this amount it means one of my pocket cards is an Ace". They're "broadcasting.

(sometimes to throw people off I'll toss out a bet midway between my medium and large bet).
I don't want to be TOO predictable.

Play with that person awhile, and you can pretty much know what they're saying. 90% of the time the're telling the truth. I don't know if that's because most of us are basically honest, or if it just provides a framework for an enjoyable game of poker.

Not so in these games. Some of the players seemed to be insinuating they had matched every Ace, had made every possible straight or flush.

I found it impossible to come up with a strategy to win in this game. It was too unpredictable.

Huge sums of money went back and forth across the table. One or more players was all-in on every other hand.

I suspect it was simply because I hadn't played with any of these characters before. I didn't know what their favorite bluffing situations were. I didn't know what they considered a small, medium, or large bet. I had no way to "read" them.

If you find yourself in a game gone wild, players out of control, sit out. Watch. Tighten up to playing only royalty, and staying only hands that are the nuts after the flop.

Otherwise you're gonna lose.

Because if there are no rules, you get no clues about how to play.