Yet another plea for Paradise "poker instructors"

It happened again last night - early position raiser, all fold to BB who calls.


Flop rags - check, bet.

Turn rag - check, bet, check-raise, call.

River K - bet, raise, call.


EPR's AKo loses to BB's 72o, which flopped two-pair.


The trash-talking, "challenge to play at 20-40" commences, and Mr (or Ms) 72o plays about 3 more hands and leaves the table.


Why - oh why - do these people insist on killing their own action? (And in this case, the AKo was behind the whole way!)


To paraphrase Jack Nicholson: "You WANT those people in the game...you NEED those people in the game!"


Yell at the monitor, throw something across the room...whatever. DON'T berate someone that's calling heads-up in the BB with 72o into leaving!

The BB called a raise with 7-2? Yeah, no doubt keeping someone like that in the game would be priority one. Some guy at my tourney table last night was raising every single hand. Then all of the sudden he got disconnected or left, and left $500 on the table. So I got the bright idea of stealing his BB each time it came around to him, but apparently a couple others did too, because a few of them beat me to it. Anyway, I'm rambling...

And EPR played it perfectly too...no offense intended, but when the AKo is CR'd on the turn, with rags on board, and you have nothing, and you are playing in .5-1 thru 5-10 online, whether heads up or not ---> you will not win more than 1 time in 20 and you will probably get stuck for even more when you are 'lucky' enough to get that A or K on the river. Just my experience playing about a million hands online (just kidding, but it is a lot) and working my way up to winning at 5-10. And getting out early AT THESE LEVELS when they show serious strength and JAMMING when ahead wins. It always amazes me when I raise pre-flop with (let's say) AA, and I can ram and jam with the nuts (let's say trip Aces) or a FH, and people do not believe. And yes, I miss out on a pot sometimes, when I would have been lucky on the river too, but thems the breaks.


Oh, and listen to this one about 72s: I got QQ, raised preflop, got about 3 callers. Flop came Qxxs. I said I better bet. I bet, got a raiser. I said, ok, someone has a good hand. Turn came a Q. I do get lucky sometimes too. I bet, got capped b4 it returned! And capped on the river. I won, but there were 2 other good hands (fh and high flush). Worst hand of the 4 total was the guy who was betting the most aggressively with his 72s...and he moaned and groaned. I just consoled him, 'better luck next time'..but jeez, anyone dumb enough to play 72s for all these bets deserves what they get.


(yawn, the 'you' in my message was general, I wasn't referring to your play; since you did not say 'you' were EPR)


Mark

That might be a great money maker for the MH. I'll scour the low limits, play crap heads up and pump the raisers until they challenge me to 20-40 where I unsheath my real game and carve them up.....


Exxxxxccceeeelleeeeeeeent........

I missed the part where you provide evidence that the person left *because* of the criticism. I got the flu during the last full moon....does that mean one caused the other?


And let me guess, no sooner did that person leave than Phil Hellmuth came in and took that seat, right?


I'm sorry, I'm all for not abusing other players, but I think you guys spill way too much cyber-ink over this issue. The truth is that criticism has little net effect on the quality of a person's play. Some may start to play better, some may start to play worse, and many will tend to turn into predictable calling stations. For the most part my observation has been that players tend to play worse after being levelled with criticism. They get angry, confused, confrontational, stubborn, etc etc, none of which does their game any good. And I don't believe for a second that it really drives people away either. 90% of the players out there really suck and are criticized all the time for it, but they return day after day to donate. And even if by some chance a person does in one particular instance leave because they were criticized, the overwhelming probability is that the person that takes their seat will be every bit as bad a player. I've said it before, but I liken your argument to one that says "don't swat mosquitos lest they become extinct" I've been playing for thirty years now, and have listened to bad players being criticized on a daily basis, and I have yet to notice a shortage of bad players or an overall improvement in the quality of play.


I think this criticism thing is one of the bigger fallacies in poker.

You need help my friend. I have great experience at getting people like you the help they need. Send me an e-mail.

I was serious, although I didn't fully expect you to take me up on my offer. I'm not a psychologist or psychiatrist, but many of my clients exhibit emotional problems and I am trained to spot them. I think you need some help, and what's more I think you know you need help. Talk to your doctor. It takes courage but you can do it and you will thank yourself for it.


Best wishes,


Bill