Poker Player's Ego

[Guernica4000]

Maybe just a rhetorical question or just a start to my rant but Why do so many Poker Players have the need to stoke their own egos by putting down other players ?

Here are some recent quotes from posts on 2+2:


“Saturday night I played a $20 buy-in, .10/.20 blinds NL Hold Em home cash game with 3 really, really horrible players.” bennyblanco

“Friend hosts a weekly home game at which Hero is a regular. Boss wants to play so Hero invites him. He turns out to be one of the worst player Hero has encountered at home, casino or online games. Boss is LPP and a huge donator.” jnh24

“I just got back from a game held at a guys house who is friends with one of my friends and he invited over a buncha people he knew. These were some of the most horrible players ive ever seen which is fine and dandy and all...” Python49

“This weekly game is with friends who are not poker players. They are there to have fun, and they are, in general, relatively poor players.” THWAP!

These are just some quick example but it seems to me that everyone posting here is always IN with the best hand, has the right read and plays perfect poker while all their friends or players on-line are fish and complete idiots.

Anyone that plays on line has seen many times when the “know it all” player starts insulting another for calling or raising with junk. (Ah… if only everyone played perfect poker… but that is for another post)

I don’t ever recall playing a game of pool, going bowling with friends, playing tennis, Basketball while insulting other's play.
-You call that a top spin?
–What a horrible passing shot.
- Jumping like that you are lucky to dunk.
-You may have gotten a strike but your form was horrible.
- Good luck making the 8 ball you pool fish.

So again:

Why do so many Poker Players have the need to stoke their own egos by putting down other players?

[bernie]

[ QUOTE ]
I don’t ever recall playing a game of pool, going bowling with friends, playing tennis, Basketball while insulting other's play.
-You call that a top spin?
–What a horrible passing shot.
- Jumping like that you are lucky to dunk.
-You may have gotten a strike but your form was horrible.
- Good luck making the 8 ball you pool fish.


[/ QUOTE ]

Based on this post, this isn't what those posters are doing. They are not directly insulting poor players but giving a setting for the situation they are in. None of your examples shows them insulting their opponents during a session. That's not to say there isn't a little crossover in what you are saying, but it is much different.

Poker is a very ego driven, predatory game. When they do it out in the open, then I think it's much more to bring attention to themselves. Which makes them look like idiots if they do that. But I don't see that in the examples you gave.

b

[DCWGaming]

You've never heard insults thrown while playing basketball?

Uh...ok. You must not play with people who care too much.

[Bodhi]

What you describe is not ego-stroking, but a description of the facts. Some people think it's arrogant to point out the poor play of others, but if the description is factually correct, then the accusation is nonsense.

The reason why no one ever gets mad in the other games you mention is because you can't play them poorly and win short-term like you can at poker.

[Guernica4000]

OK I do admit my examples were poor, but I think you can get the point of what I meant.

My point is that many players that post here, in other sites (but none as good as 2+2) /images/graemlins/smile.gif or talk about poker always seam to be (at least in their minds)the best players in game "x" and it is a game filled with fishes and idiots.

Maybe I am just not good enough or I play in the wrong games. But a typical night of poker for me, whether at a friends house, a B&M or on-line is a game with good players and bad ones. Sometimes I feel like I can do no wrong and some others times I can’t read a player if he shows me his cards.

I have played tournaments where I have come in first and I have also been out on the second hand. I have lost with AA and I have also cracked them.
I have gone in with the best hand and with the worst. I don't win every coin flip nor do I lose them all.

And Bodhi,

What you describe is not ego-stroking, but a description of the facts. Some people think it's arrogant to point out the poor play of others, but if the description is factually correct, then the accusation is nonsense."

Yes I agree that my quotes are descriptions. But do you really believe that these posters are really playing with "really horrible players", "one of the worst player Hero has encountered at home, casino or online games" and "These were some of the most horrible players ive ever seen" or is it their subjective look at the game and their abilities that makes them THINK those statements are true?

[Guernica4000]

I was hoping for some further discussion on this topic in the Psychology forum so I will stroke my own ego and bump my own post.
I figure that if "Possible cheating (long-ish) please help" gets 24 replies the topic of Player’s Egos should be interesting to some.

As I mentioned in my previous post, my examples in the OP were poor, but I am sure that anyone who has been playing poker anywhere can relate to what I am saying.

So……. Sorry but "Bump"

[captZEEbo1]

A poker player without a big ego is not a good poker player. If you are afraid of all your other opponents, you should find a new table. So (hopefully) most of the time people are playing tables where they are not playing scared money and feel like they are the worst player. Otherwise their game selection sucks and they should play a new table.