FULL TILT POKER BLOG

#293 – Part II – Shut Yer Yap

Posted by Editor | Filed under Uncategorized

The flaw I can most easily identify in a large number of semi-skilled/semi-successful young players is a need to express themselves when they see someone play in a way they consider different and therefore inferior. It is frequently though not exclusively directed at me. I take great advantage of this flaw, though it has never to my knowledge been revealed in an instructional book or article.

It seems in Full Tilt tournaments when a player suffers a big loss or is eliminated by a worse starting hand, it has somehow become a requirement that the losing player complain. If they move all-in with A-K, are called by A-Q, and lose when a queen hits, they have to say something nasty to their conqueror. If they reraises all-in with J-J and the raiser calls with Q-9s and makes a flush, they unload. (That’s usually when I get it.)

I call it The Reverse Schwartzenegger. Arnold’s trademark was to make some snickering remark after dispatching the bad buy. (My favorite is when he shoots Sharon Stone, who plays his wife in TOTAL RECALL, between the eyes. “Considuh dat a divorrss.”) Except on Full Tilt, the vanquished for wants the last word as he swirls down the drain.

Sometimes, these players complain even when they win. Many times I’ll make a call with an inferior hand, lose, and the guy who wins says something like, “7-6s? Idiot.” Or “Some pro.” Or “Good move loser.”

There are three reasons why behaving like this is a bad idea, but the 2 reasons usually given, though having some merit, pale in importance compared with the third. First, it shows a lack of self control, which poker players need. Second, it’s bad to tell players their flaws. And third, the REAL reason, the UNSTATED reason, is that it informs smart players about how the complainer plays.

SELF CONTROL

I admit that it’s fun to make an uptight nit go on tilt by crippling him with a weak starting hand, but the guy doing the pissing and moaning probably isn’t hurting himself too much in that way. First, if he’s crippled or eliminated, there isn’t really much you can get AFTER you put him on tilt. Second, some players complain so regularly that they have integrated it into their playing style and their table image. I try to take advantage of anyone I sense going on tilt, but the players constantly complaining about how stupid everyone else is generally don’t tilt.

DON’T TAP THE AQUARIUM

It’s accepted wisdom that it’s bad form to tell a bad player about his bad play. The reasoning goes that he may become self-conscious and quit the game (not an option in tournaments) or wise up and play better.

I agree 100% with the sentiment, but I can tell you from several years of experience that it’s almost never true. I think it’s bad manners and inexplicably WEIRD to criticize a guy for playing the way you WANT him to play. I do everything I can to discourage people from behaving that way, but not really because I think the bad players are going to learn from these outbursts.

THE REAL REASON

I think most online tournament players, even those who have had some online success, play too tight. They don’t steal enough or bluff enough or call raises on their blinds enough or make plays with less-than-premium starting hands. I know this is a generalization and maybe I do these things too much – a tight, unimaginative strategy works better online than live and, schooled by the players I was schooled by, my style started as one geared to live tournaments.

But the guy who complains about how I play is usually complaining about a style of play that emphasizes those things. In doing so, he makes crystal clear to me that he is NOT that sort of player. He is NOT going to raise with Q-Js in early position or even middle position. If he moves all-in from the blind, it’s NOT because he suspects I’m raising to steal.

This information is hard to come by. Playing as I do, I constantly suspect my opponents are putting moves on me. (Partly, because they should be doing that sometimes and partly because I do it so much, my instinct is that others are doing it or are doing it to me in retaliation.) One of the hardest things for me to do online is believe my opponents.

But the guys who vocalize their strategy, emphatically deriding someone plays in any way other than playing premium cards in a straightforward fashion, TELL me that aren’t putting moves on me. I have a lengthy list – I won’t disclose it because these are basically solid players who might eventually get it in their heads that they are hurting themselves not only by playing so unimaginatively but by advertising it – of players who beat me early (or who I beat only because I got lucky) who have lost pot after pot to me. It is entirely because they have told me how they play.

That’s why I generally don’t mind when players harass me. When I say, “It’s good for business,” people think I mean it’s good for Full Tilt that I let players blow off steam and behave how they want to behave. What I mean, though, is that it’s good for MY business, which is making money in tournaments.

I have always thought the great majority of players I admire comport themselves in an exemplary fashion. I have patterned my strategy after men like Chris Ferguson, Andy Bloch, Howard Lederer, and Ted Forrest. Some of the finer points in strategy are probably beyond my ability to imitate but behaving like them is easy. I think they know what they’re doing.

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