Do you take pleasure in watching fish bust?

[DRD66]

[ QUOTE ]

The ultimate cliche...

"You can shear a sheep forever, but you can only skin him once."

Fish busting sucks, they might never come back

[/ QUOTE ]

And a bad cliche. Sheep live a long time, fish come and go. Busting a fish isn't killing him; it's just throwing him back in the pond. He'll be back on the hook soon enough, or one just like him. There will always be fish, and in unprecedented quantities at the moment. It won't always be this way, bust them while you can.




edit: Wow, I'm in a dark, cynical mood. Reckon I've been sucked out on disproportionately lately?

[TomBrooks]

[ QUOTE ]
At the table, you could warn everyone that you're a better player than them and they should stop playing poker if they're losing.

[/ QUOTE ]
Most of the not just big, but biggest losses I've suffered on any particular table have been at some of the fishiest tables I've played on. This doesn't usually happen, but it has on occassion. Also, playing at a table with a maniac can be difficult, and more than once I've wound up losing there.

Most of the biggest losses I've had to any individual player have been to the fishiest players. I would be glad to play with them again; but in the short run, they have sometimes been able to take the most money off me with all their draws and suckouts.

I don't take it for granted that I'm sure to win at any table; even the ones where I'm clearly one of the better, if not one of the best players there.

[POKhER]

I think of it like this...

1, A compulsive gambler will lose all his money eventually,
2, You are not forcing any fish to play, they chose to bet and raise... even sit down.
3, You play good poker, You may intentionally chase fish but the aim of the game is to take chips from your opponents... is it not?

Win or lose, The fish will play when they chose to.

A few things that may be morally wrong however are:
1, Intentionally buddy listing fish and stalking them.
2, Egging on bad play by the fish "Nice hand" "dam well played"
3, Encouraging them to rebuy, be it "Dam you won loads, Rebuy so you can play more... you just got unlucky".

Anyhow, i see it as:

Ive not forced them to play. Sitting to their left is for no other reason than liking the view... and the seat is warm. I buddy listed them because they amuse me, and i gamble for fun... its not to take their chips by stalking them.

Encouraging them to rebuy is because the table is full of fish, They may be one of the fish... but playing is fun... i want them to have fun.


But i dont fool myself into thinking i've morals.

[kapw7]

I did my best and kept my mouth shut the last 2 days. (The bad beats didn't stop though). So there was that maniac at one of the tables that actually scared off the weak-passive fishes. At some point he challenged me for a heads-up and although I have never done this before, I said yes.
I was 200 down (3/6 game) until his luck stopped and then I kept hammering him until I was up $270. He disappeared from the table only to find him at a 10/20 table! Today, right now, he is playing at 0.25/0.50...

That made me feel a bit bad as he must be clearly a compulsive gambler. I can't post his full name here (N*****4 at Absolute) but PM if you think you know the guy. (Just hoping he's not thefather of 3 children that was gambling his monthly paycheck)

[benkath1]

OK, I've been playing online poker for almost 2 years. About one year as an educated not so fishy player. This never crossed my mind until I read this thread.

As I sat in church last Sunday, I thought, "Now that I don't need the poker money, maybe I should do something good with it." I like the 25% donation idea.

Thanks Wook, NH.

As far as the fish goes. I don't mind seeing them win. I guess busting out is kind of disheartening. I never frown when they re-buy. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[bravos1]

this should really be in the psychology forum.... you'd get a much better response.

Personally I don't mind taking their money. I don't mind giving some of mine away either, especially when it comes back to me 3 fold [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[ QUOTE ]
NH Wookie.

I do agree that the majority of the players online play for fun. (As do we all, right? RIGHT?!) I know that at any level, there are players for who the money is unimportant.

No offense to UATrewqaz, but the line that they'll lose their money anyway is a HUGE copout. That's like my friend who stole someone's CDs from on top of their car because "Someone was going to take it anyway." No - he could have taken it, left a note, and waited for the person to contact him. At the table, you could warn everyone that you're a better player than them and they should stop playing poker if they're losing. Somehow, I get the feeling that it would be a -EV move, though. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

I think we all have to find a balance. How we find that balance is up to each individual.

[/ QUOTE ]


Yes, you tell them this and they pay more just to prove you wrong. I can see this happening.

But if it backfires, great!

[Benoit]

Yeah fish got lucky and rivered two pair against my pocket aces on a 0.25/0.50 table. I lost like 4.5BB on that one, but same guy a few orbits later helped me win a 14 BB pot.

[donkeyradish]

I do feel bad if the fish go bust.

Unless they reload, then I feel fine.

[TomBrooks]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
At the table, you could warn everyone that you're a better player than them and they should stop playing poker if they're losing.

[/ QUOTE ]Yes, you tell them this and they pay more just to prove you wrong. I can see this happening.

[/ QUOTE ]
This can be the case with any competition. It's called trash talking and it's quite commonly employed in sports. I don't know how much it's used in live poker because I don't have much experience there. You tell your opponent you are going to beat them, they can't hold a candle to you, etc. etc. blah blah. It usually won't come off well on internet chat though, because absent the tone of voice, inflection, emphasis, facial expression and body language etc., it is likely to just come accross as just rude or condesending or otherwise unpleasant.