Don't talk

[kyro]

Something occurred to me a little while ago.

My best reads are on those who either make a stupid play against me...

or never shut up in the chat.

I'm working to cure the dire need to talk to people when I'm playing. I wonder if I give anything away???

[pergesu]

Since it's way too late/early and I'm bored, I'm curious as to what reads you pick up on people through their chat.

[kyro]

I am drawn to THEM specifically. If there is a lot of chatter, my mind automatically focuses on that table, (usually because I'm chatting with them.)

Therefore, I have a better read on those specific players, and to a lesser extent, the rest of the table.

[Toro]

Whenever I chat, it seems my results suffer. Good observation.

The strong and silent type of player is always the "coolest".

I especially love it when other players call me a bot because I don't respond. Or when they say "He never talks and barely plays, he is a rock".

[Sabrazack]

I have chat turned off. But sometimes when i feel like dropping some stupid one liner, i will turn it on, say something like "Nice Call" and then turn it off.

[hyde]

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Whenever I chat, it seems my results suffer. Good observation.

[/ QUOTE ]

I second the motion.
I don't think I give anything away, but my focus is distracted from the cards.
Twice recently I made a raise I would not have had I noticed short stack yet to play.

When players are talking about their hands or how to play poker in chat or along those lines then you know they suck.

I did notice when I turned off chat for sometime my game seemed to get better? Not sure if this was really a +EV thing or I was just on a winning streak. BUT, when I turned chat back on and engaged in conversation my game started to hurt some. This transition was over several months time.

[bigt439]

You're losing something, but nothing huge in the unobservant Party games. Just don't do it though. Unless you enjoy the social aspect, and are willing to sacrifice a couple bucks. If it's to berate a fish, you deserve to lose money, because you're costing all of us cash.

[Jbrochu]

[ QUOTE ]
Whenever I chat, it seems my results suffer.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with this... At the very least, it offers a convenient excuse for my poor finishes in the Trout tournaments.

[MegaBet]

If you play a lot of live games as I do, the chattier the person, the more likely they are to bluff. A quiet person is concentrating on the game and is probably a solid player.

Basic poker tells theory.

[Rambino]

Occasionally I see one player really go after another in chat, and often the attacked player plays poorly in an attempt to show him up, or something of the kind.

Do any of you guys ever intentionally insult other players to force them into poor play?

The idea is a bit distasteful to me, but I can see how it might be +EV in the correct situation.

[microbet]

Good point. Sometimes I have chat off, but if I have it on I inevitably end up paying some extra attention to people who chat.

[kyro]

This wasn't meant to be a "don't educate the fishes" post. There are hundreds of those threads.

It was meant to show that by going out of your way to make yourself unique (i.e. chatting in the box) you are drawing attention to yourself, attention that could lead people to conclusions that they may be able to use against you in the future. You want people to know as little about you as possible.

So I suggest, that you keep the chat on for observation purposes, but don't actually chat in it, friendly or otherwise. It's something I will be forcing myself to work on.

[rbear]

occasionally, after a bad beat when blinds are still low, I will say something to the effect of "I can't believe this site", or something else that looks like I'm tilting. That way when I push the JJ+ I get hopefully get soon, fish are more likely to call. Too tricky? It seems to work, and then if I don't get a hand like this, by push/fold mode they realize I'm not on tilt...