Its important to have a killer instinct

[davet]

Way I figure it, is that if they like you, they will play honestly. There is nothing like sitting down at a table and your opponents smiling.

There is some sort of comradery at live games I don't think is present online. Since we are all local, we see each other all the time. We've been through all these battles, but we still respect each other.

Also, when a person thinks I play well, they become curious, and will call me to the river because they want to see what I am playing, because they feel like they may be gettig a bit of education.

Insulting your opponents in a live game is the worst thing you can do. If you sit down, the bad players will play better, or get up. You may be stuck only playing the best players, and this is going to be very bad for you.

Personally, when I am at the table with an a- hole, the pots become too small to contest, but really, I am waiting to destroy this maggot. I think that people who insult others are not really good players, and the only way they can win is if they can put the entire table on tilt.

[SNOWBALL138]

Hi Bluff. I am always friendly. I will say nh (mainly live) or say nothing at all. If a player complains about bad luck, I try to console him. If someone berates me, I have almost never retaliated. The issue is what is going on in your mind when you are playing shorthanded. I contend that if you have any object short of destroying your opponent, you are giving up an edge.

I think in ring games, its a little different. Ring games are mostly more straightforward with a lot of automatic plays, and multiway pots. Its not really a very aggressive experience.

[SNOWBALL138]

Last time I played live, the guy next to me showed me his hand on the river, which saved me a bet. Buddying up at the table rules.

[SNOWBALL138]

Hi Davet,

I can name at least three players off the top of my head who are rude at the table: Stu Ungar, Mike Matusow, and Phil Hellmuth.

Whether it is advisable or not to insult players is a little off topic to the OP, but I think the case was best summarized by Barry G. in his book. He says that rudeness at the table can have good short term effects of tilting the enemy, but in the long term its usually bad for poker because it drives people away from the game (or at least from playing at your table).

[davet]

Many "friends" are not good players and they know that, trust me if they tought different, they would quit their day job.

Just because you are friends doesn't mean that you can't take their money. In Gambling Theory, Mason Malmouth writes about this topic in "The adventurer and the Bull Frog."

There is also a belief in martial arts that you must "protect your enemy," or help them up after you kick their ###.