Moral Dilemma

[Danenania]

Alobar hits us. [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[RunDownHouse]

Everyone think of your favorite buddylister, the guy you pray you can sit with every session. Out of nowhere, he asks you if you have any advice for him, or can help him out. Do you really link him here?

[StellarWind]

I fail to see the dilemma.

Did you ask for his help? Are you friends? Are you members of some community where people are supposed to help each other?

It's pretty obvious that you don't owe this person any help improving his game. He's your opponent in a poker game. You have an obligation to play the game fairly and very little else.

All of this means ... you can do whatever you want. Help him if you want to. Don't help him if you don't want to. There is no moral choice to be made.

[EvanJC]

i disagree with this. these forums have taught me 13221lk3jl132 times what SSHE did, and SSHE was a great poker book.

[krishanleong]

I vote who cares.

FWIW I know of Nick and he could do very well at the game if he learns of 2+2. He is an ex MTG player.

Krishan

[Monty Cantsin]

[ QUOTE ]
i disagree with this. these forums have taught me 13221lk3jl132 times what SSHE did, and SSHE was a great poker book.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, me too. But we're not necessarily a good sample. Not everyone has, or can develop, the particular skills of getting the best value out of the forums. Think about a random person dropped into this chaos of conflicting advice, unspoken conventions, confusing buzzwords/acronyms/numerical reads and general As-the-Flop-Turns psychodrama. What percentage of them is going to have the persistence and dedication and lack of life needed to pull the golden needles out of the blatherstack?

SSHE, on the other hand, is an articulate condensation of the forums' core conventional wisdom and approach with 100% less noise.

No question that these forums provide a deeper and ultimately more advanced form of engagement and continuing education, but if my goal was to help them improve their game I would always start a 2+2 virgin off with the fundamentals as expressed in SSHE, HFAP, TOP, etc.

/mc

[4thstreetpete]

If he was legitamently trying to be nice and help you then it wouldn't be close. I would definately chose A to return the favour to help his game.

[Schneids]

The other thing to consider in this question is this:

The guy thinks you need help. Now, a few of us propose to turn it around on him and offer our own advice. Most people who feel superior to someone (in the case of this guy he must believe he's better if he's trying to flat-out show you his "secrets") rarely accept advice from those they consider inferior.

So, I think most the people would not even listen to you any way, yet I rest better knowing I did the right thing.

For the record, I would help someone like that at 5/10, but at 100/200 if a fish was asking me for help or the situation was identical I would probably find a way to avoid giving him any specific help other than some vague stuff like "there are books and sites you can find." Basically, different size player-pool equates to different circumstances for me, so I'm not a total end-all "nice guy."

[StellarWind]

[ QUOTE ]
dude, the fact you are even contemplaiting this question raises serious red flags about your mental capacity as a poker player.

The answer is B

You can put me down on record as saying anyone who says A in this thread, or even thinks about saying A in this thread, is a complete moron

[/ QUOTE ]
Successful poker players recognize their own limitations and account for them. They don't routinely put themselves in situations where they cannot succeed because of their own weaknesses. In some sense this is the only trait that a winning player absolutely cannot do without.

Winning poker players are not robots devoid of human emotions. It can be hard for many players to constantly exploit the weak without paying a price. Trying to be the perfect robot can backfire badly in the long run. Doing this little altruistic thing for one of many thousands of online opponents has virtually no impact on EV in the long run. If harmless little social gestures like this one allow a player to feel better about himself and remain productive over a long period of time, then they are well worth it.

OP really should do whatever he wants and not worry about it. He doesn't owe this player anything. Equally well he doesn't owe it to us to keep this guy in the dark. It's his choice and I advise him not to overthink it. Do what comes naturally and move on.

[kidcolin]

I agree that this isn't really much a moral dilemna. It's one guy. Tell him whatever you feel like. If you don't tell him about 2+2, you're not a prick. If you tell him about it, big deal.