Don’t Tap the Glass

If the fish are sleeping, why would you want to wake them up? So many times I have seen a player lose to an absolutely ragged hand, that had not business being in the pot, while holding a premium hand that hit the flop hard. You have all seen similar situations and had it happen to you. You have AK suited with diamonds. The flop comes with two spades and a king of diamonds. There is not straight potential and you not only have top pair and top kicker but you have the nut flush draw. Oh and did I forget to say that you were in position and that the weak player, that is about to beat you with a hand that should have gone immediately into the muck, is under the gun? Well you bet out on every street and this terrible player calls you down to the river. And his 7 2 of diamonds hit runner runner diamonds to make a flush and beat your hand.

What do you do when this happens to you? So many times I see players begin to criticize the other player for playing badly and every time that I see that I wonder to myself, why in the world would he be doing that? Don’t you want him to continue to do that? Do you want to embarrass him so that he will leave the game or even worse, change the way that he plays? Listen, I can understand being upset. I usually take this situation as a good time to get up and take a little walk. But that is just me. Sometimes all I hear the losing player say to the bad player, in that situation, is “Nice Hand”. The problem is that this is meant and taken sarcastically so it is almost as bad as out and out ridicule.

Since I am assuming that you are a good poker player, then you know that the mathematics of the game is the holy grail, and that over time, the person that plays those weak hands and makes those calls on such a long draw, will lose. You know that because that is why you don’t do it. So, I ask you, why would you want to stop a player from playing badly? If your ridicule chases the player away or changes his play, then what you have done is stopped the mathematical progression right after you lost against the long odds and now that you have either chased the player away or changed his play, you will not be able to get your money back with a profit, over time, as the mathematics of the game says that you would.

So, my point here is, never ridicule another player, If they are playing badly, let them continue to do so happily. Hopefully they will remember this hand and keep drawing from behind because, after all, isn’t that what you really want to happen?

This article was provided by playingpokerlive.com, be sure to check out their excellent article on string bets here.