Vegas Trip Post #1: Why Not to Get Mad When Bad Players Win

[DrewOnTilt]

Hi all! I just got back from a weeklong trip to Vegas where my pals and I did nothing but play poker and blackjack for 8 straight days. I played 73 hours of poker – wow! My net gain was $320 – I had a crappy last day, but a great trip overall. I had lots of fun and even had the pleasure of railbirding a bit while our very own David Sklansky played in a high-limit game [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Needless to say, I have a good number of questions and comments about my trip. Rather than post one long trip report, I will break down my trip by incident and hand question, and I will post in the General rather than the Small Stakes forum since most of my questions are in regards to general poker concepts rather than small-stakes play.

My first post is about why not to get mad when bad players win. There have been numerous posts on this site about this very subject, but I would like to provide a personal example as to why this is good advice.

I sat down in a low-limit game at about the same time as Mr. Fish. We both bought in for $100. Two hours later, I was into my second Benjamin, while Mr. Fish had about $700 in chips rimming the table. He played every hand and hit time and time again. Other players marveled at his good luck, and he just smiled, laughed, and sucked it all up.

Mr. Fish put a number of beats on me. At first I took it all in stride, fully knowing that his good luck streak could not last forever. But when he beat my pocket aces with 6 3 offsuit, I absolutely lost it [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] When he turned over a rivered 2-pair at showdown, my options were:

a. nicely say, “Wow, you are on FIRE! I’m no match for you!”
b. sigh, say “Nice hand – it beats mine”
c. say nothing, quietly fold my hand, and wait for the next opportunity

Instead, I chose:

d. fling my cards face-up on the table, snarl “You are un-f$#&ing real!” at Mr. Fish, ball up a dirty napkin and throw it hard at the floor, and stomp out of the poker room like a spoiled brat.

During my mandatory 15-minute anti-tilt walk (or, in my case, 15-minute stomp) around the parking lot, I thought back to all of the posts here on 2+2 that advise against such behavior. I WANT people to go up against my aces with 6 3 offsuit, and getting angry at them might cause them to leave. Furthermore, I had really been a jerk to Mr. Fish. He was a nice guy who was out to have fun. He just happened to be a terrible poker player, and I had no right to act the way that I did.

I returned to the cardroom and apologized to Mr. Fish for being such a jerk. He accepted my apology, and it became a table-wide joke that one should raise with the powerful hand of 6 3 offsuit.

Shortly afterwards, Mr. Fish’s luck began to change. Over the next three hours or so, he slowly bled away his huge stack, and I gradually recuperated what I had lost. When the game finally broke, I was about $23 ahead. Mr. Fish was still ahead, but only by $80-$100.

The funny thing is, Mr. Fish never seemed to care whether he won or lost. He was there to play cards, drink beer, and have fun. That’s all!

If it’s been said once on these boards, it’s been said a million times, and it should be said a million times more: do not act like I did when a bad player beats you! Don’t tap the glass, or you might scare the fish! I not only tapped the glass, but I damn near broke the aquarium. If Mr. Fish had been offended by my impression of a 2-year old, he would have left the game with his winnings, and I might not have recuperated my losses.

Learn a lesson from me, my friends. When your aces lose to 6 3 offsuit, fold and wait for the next time. The fish won’t have his money for long.