our global life
Nov. 24th, 2005 07:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
peterbirksAbout 20 years ago I doubt that I would have even known that it was Thanksgiving weekend. Nowadays it affects most of my life. News is thin on the ground (Malawi ground-nut drought insurance anyone?) at work, but in online poker, the poor players online all come out to play. Certainly last night it seemed remarkably easy. Then again, the game is always easy when things go according to plan. It's a long weekend and it's a good idea to get in as many hours as possible. Last night I saw one player who saw 100% of flops and did not raise preflop with anything. Tended to call flop and turn with one overcard or any gutshot and then would lay down on the river if he had failed to pair. This went on for about 100 hands and, somehow, he didn't lose all that much money.
I tried to make both my tables as light and chatty as possible, but there was the predictable minority of alpha-male-wannabees who were more concerned with convincing the table that they were the best player than they were with keeping the social players happy.
I particularly liked the line from one of the social players in response to the comment "f u loser". She said:
You mean that you do this for a living? My, what a terrible life. I do sympathize.
Not really much that the wank-pot could say in answer to that.
+++++
One of my beefs in life is players showing cards after winning a pot to show that another player has folded the winning hand. Now, as far as I am concerned, any strategy that has plus EV meta-game implications is fine. I don't happen to think that showing cards usually has these implications, but that is not the point of my argument. My beef is, nearly all players who show cards will claim that they did it "to loosen up the game" or (with more dubious long-term value) because they "wanted to put the other guy on tilt" (I say dubious because this might gain over one session, but it is also likely to stop a guy wanting to play with you for future sessions or, indeed, wanting to play at all).
But it's my opinion that this is not the real reason that they are showing their cards. The real reason is: "Look at me, I'm a better player than you. I've just pushed you off a hand, and I want the rest of the table to know it".
Yes, we are back to alpha-male land and attempting to establish psychological dominance in a group.
Now, once we know this, the mere act of a player showing cards when he has bluffed someone off a pot tells you a lot about that player. You understand his psychological needs, what gives him subconscious pleasure and what is likely to subconsciously disturb him (being "unmanned"). Oh, plus the fact that he probably bluffs very rarely, so making a laydown is usually the best move when he puts in a big bet.
I tried to make both my tables as light and chatty as possible, but there was the predictable minority of alpha-male-wannabees who were more concerned with convincing the table that they were the best player than they were with keeping the social players happy.
I particularly liked the line from one of the social players in response to the comment "f u loser". She said:
You mean that you do this for a living? My, what a terrible life. I do sympathize.
Not really much that the wank-pot could say in answer to that.
+++++
One of my beefs in life is players showing cards after winning a pot to show that another player has folded the winning hand. Now, as far as I am concerned, any strategy that has plus EV meta-game implications is fine. I don't happen to think that showing cards usually has these implications, but that is not the point of my argument. My beef is, nearly all players who show cards will claim that they did it "to loosen up the game" or (with more dubious long-term value) because they "wanted to put the other guy on tilt" (I say dubious because this might gain over one session, but it is also likely to stop a guy wanting to play with you for future sessions or, indeed, wanting to play at all).
But it's my opinion that this is not the real reason that they are showing their cards. The real reason is: "Look at me, I'm a better player than you. I've just pushed you off a hand, and I want the rest of the table to know it".
Yes, we are back to alpha-male land and attempting to establish psychological dominance in a group.
Now, once we know this, the mere act of a player showing cards when he has bluffed someone off a pot tells you a lot about that player. You understand his psychological needs, what gives him subconscious pleasure and what is likely to subconsciously disturb him (being "unmanned"). Oh, plus the fact that he probably bluffs very rarely, so making a laydown is usually the best move when he puts in a big bet.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-24 03:25 pm (UTC)chaos