The Clueless Loser at the Table

[Emperor]

[ QUOTE ]
They are your best friend. Make sure they have fun. Even if they draw out on you and you actually give them some money it just ensures they'll be back to lose more later. Don't belittle them. Don't make them feel bad. They want to gamble. They are on vacation. If it's a fun community game rather than an individual game. Make them want to stay and give more away. Make them want to come back to the hottest game in town. They are your profit.

[/ QUOTE ]

Great Post... I was playing in Vegas one night where there were 2 guys from Mexico City playing. They spoke very little english. They played every hand to the river no matter how many bets and showed down every hand. This went on for about 10hrs. There was a higher limit game breaking, and a couple of the guys there were trying to get the guys at the lower limit table to change the stakes and play the higher limit. They were being beliggerant about it. When the two men from Mexico City refused to play the higher limit, no one wanted to leave the lower limit table. (of course) So the higher limit players continued to be belligerant until I said, "Listen, these guys are down double digit racks. They are beginners, and they dont want to move. Why don't you fill in the rest of the seats here."

Needless to say the higher limit players shutup and sat down. I played a 15hr session that afternoon/evening/morning. In the morning the only players left was a dealer, me, and one of the higher limit players. I was running over the other two, and about the time the higher limit player is burning through his last bill in his clip, I ask him "You wanna raise the stakes?" I thought he was going to explode.

We had been giving each other a lot of crap playing 3 handed, and he just laughed it off after the initial moment of being stunned. Quite an enjoyable evening that could have been ruined if no one had stood up for those nice men from Mexico City.

[MicroBob]

[ QUOTE ]

What's their problem?

[/ QUOTE ]


not having a single clue about how to play poker doesn't have to be a 'problem'.
some people just don't know how to play and don't care.

incredibly enough, MOST people have no interest in sitting around and reading a bunch of poker books....but some of these people DO actually like to play.

(similar to a former roommate of mine who I thoguht could be a REALLY good chess player if he put his mind to it...I recommended a couple of books to him...he said 'Hey...I like to play...but I don't want to waste my free-time reading about it.')


first time i played casino poker was in 1997 when I was driving through Biloxi.
Didn't even know what 'hold-em' meant. So I played stud (probably 1-5 I'm guessing).
Had no idea what i was doing. After a couple of hours it occured to me that a lot of the other players were folding a LOT more than me.
I think I played almost every hand.
And stayed in there on most hands on the off-chance that I might 'catch' something.

I was having fun, winning some, losing some, and it never even occured to me that my strategy was so terrible that I had virtually no chance of winning long-term while some of my opponents did.


Next time I played poker was Feb, 2003 on Pokerstars.
I still couldn't remember if a flush beat a full-house or vice-versa.
I bet that I played around 80% of my hands.

i also didn't understand what the 'NL' or 'limit' or 'PL' desgination next to the games in the lobby meant.
Then I noticed the slide-bad and started to figure it out little by little.


Just a few of my total-noob experiences.


Some people like to take bad-odds on the craps table, or play ANY bet roulette (they're all pretty bad) or make -EV plays on the BJ table (like standing on their 15 vs. a T...much less the guys who 'have a hunch' and double-down on their hard-13).
Other guys like to play poker my 'hunch' without really actually 'thinking' too much about it.


If you want to know what the deal is with poker-players who just don't know how to play very well and don't care then I suggest looking around the casino at ALL the other customers having a good, or not-so-good, time at all the other -EV games in the place.

[lefty rosen]

In two years you went from retard bad to multitabling 5/10 good, wow...... [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[somapopper]

Maybe their problem is you not tipping is putting them on tilt.

"I don't understand why this guy thinks he's so special that he doesn't have to chip in like we all do."

They get so mad they just have to play 94o. Good strategy.

[BarronVangorToth]

At least speaking about the $5-$10 through $20-$40 limits, I can't remember the last time that there were fewer than 3 people that were "clueless" at a full-table.

Table selection ahoy!

Barron Vangor Toth
BarronVangorToth.com