Ethical Question

[jordanx]

It seems like what you did was outside the scope of playing cards. You probably feigned being a nice guy and otherwise appealed to his emotions to convince him to fold. Seems like a con to me, rather than a bluff.

My gut tells me it's not ethical, but it's definitely not very smart:

It won't work very often, people will hate you for it and take great pleasure in seeing you lose. It's better to be the guy that people like to lose to than people like to beat.

If you do it to the wrong guy, then he might just wait in the alley for you w/ a sock full of quarters.

[ricdaman]

[ QUOTE ]
It seems like what you did was outside the scope of playing cards. You probably feigned being a nice guy and otherwise appealed to his emotions to convince him to fold. Seems like a con to me, rather than a bluff.

My gut tells me it's not ethical, but it's definitely not very smart:

It won't work very often, people will hate you for it and take great pleasure in seeing you lose. It's better to be the guy that people like to lose to than people like to beat.

If you do it to the wrong guy, then he might just wait in the alley for you w/ a sock full of quarters.

[/ QUOTE ]

Excellent point in all regards. If only I hadn't gotten all excited and flipped over my cards this post would never have been made.... if only.

Most of the people in the cardroom enjoy playing with me, but there are those who hate the way I play and refuse to sit at the same table as me. Right now, I'd say it's about 50/50 amongst the regulars. Almost all of the non-regulars enjoy playing with me, but that's probably because they haven't seen the times that I tricked someone into folding. I have always pretended to be nice, while really only caring about taking people's money.

What I need to start doing is actually being nice instead of pretending to. In the long run, it's the only way to go. After all, who wants to play in a cardroom where everybody's out to get them? It's always a lot more fun when people get up from the table busted and shake my hand and say, "It's been a pleasure playing with you. I had a lot of fun." Needless to say, nobody said it on the night referred to in this post.

[Hellmouth]

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Unethical? That's poker. Your only mistake, other than playing the hand, was showing your cards.

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Agreed. Dont rub it in. Keep the table atmosphere good. You will have a lot more "friends" and a lot more loose betters that way. I would only ever do that if I was trying to put someone on tilt in a tourney.

Greg

[Hellmouth]

[ QUOTE ]
Thank you for your reply. That is what I was looking for.

And as far as playing the hand poorly, or my intentions, or showing or whatnot...

I believe I played the hand perfectly, as my intention was to bluff and win the pot without the best hand and I did just that.

I showed my cards by accident out of excitement. Yes it was a bad move... although an unintentional one.

My only intention was to win the pot. I had not intended on putting the table on tilt, though I did get a lot more callers the rest of the night.

All in all, it was bad that I showed my cards because the guy who folded ended up leaving the table. He's a regular, and he's money, so him hating me is a bad thing. I really liked it when I played with him. Now he requests a table change the second I sit down at the same table as him. He's not the only one btw. What happens if nobody at the table wants to play with me? Will I have to find a new cardroom? Take a break? I can't move up in limits; I'm already at the FL max (a whole $2). My choice for the time being has been to play straight, showing the nuts when people fold. I'm giving people some time to cool off before I start getting tricky again.

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Thats the right way to look at it. I let the last post slip before reading the whole thread.

Greg

[chief444]

On top of playing the hand poorly, I think this is a pretty dumb thing to do at a live game. For one thing, I'll talk about hands but never in this way and no one usually believes me anyway unless they get to see. I get called more not less. Just keeping your mouth shut and betting probably accomplishes the same thing here. For another thing, it's just not smart to piss the whole table off. And of course this will.