advice

[Limpn2win]

Lately a poker buddy and I have been arguing poker. go figure, huh? The arguments themselves are irrelevant (last time he told me I played my aces 'wrong'), and basically boil down to differences in style. I believe there are many different styles of poker; none of which are more 'right' or 'wrong' than any other. with the bottom line being success. he believes there is only two ways to play poker; the 'wrong' way, and sklansky's way. that style is just different ways to apply sklansky's theory of poker. the bottom line being having 'the best of it' over a long timeline, regardless of success. an example in the extreme is a good illustration: by my reasoning, theoretically a 'gambler' who consistently wins can be considered a good player, by his reasoning, theoretically a player who always has 'the best of it' yet consistently looses, can still be considered a good player. but I digress, because my point here isn't to debate the merits of style, or theory, or philosophy. my point here is about advice. personally I cant understand why anyone would ever willingly give sincere advice to an opponent - unless the opponent is a very good friend -perhaps. and I have to seriously question the motives of someone who writes a 'how to' book about poker. unless the author plans on retiring soon. especially considering what happened to Doyle Brunson. but if one asks for advice, or if one feels the need to advise, please consider this: don't use the terms 'right' or 'wrong'. instead, I recommend pointing out potential pros and/or cons to a given situation, or action. try listing causes and effects that may be subtle or overlooked. saying an action is 'right', is certainly going to prove otherwise eventually. and no one ever reacts favorably to being told they're 'wrong', regardless of the advisors sincerity. im sure my buddy means well, and I believe he is trying to help me. but his method could use more tact. and after reading these forums for as long as I have, I think most could benefit from MY advice here now.

thanks for listening.

best regards.
Limpn2win