Blaiming the internet for bad play

[TaoTe]

Roy Cooke's Article

This is another article I found at the cardplayer website. It's from their current issue and it really irked me because the writer is just whining about a losing session, how he played horribly, then blamed it on internet poker. Cooke claims he was telegraphing and had some tells which effected his ability to play. This may be true. Perhaps he has huge tells written over his face. Hey, maybe he flips his cards over during a hand and then makes a bet, but he claims to have started playing poker live. He should have known better if he has been playing in live games for years, switches to the internet for a few months then goes into a casino. He also began his article describing that some of the players seemed like they had limited poker experience. By all regards this should have been great for a seasoned veteran to find a game full of live ones. It wasn't and instead of blaiming his poor play on his bad decision making, he uses the internet as a scapegoat. Instead of blaiming internet poker for his poor play, he should lay the blame soley where it belongs, on himself.

[AKQJ10]

I suppose it's in the eye of the reader, but I read that as him blaming himself for not taking the adjustment seriously enough. The last sentence is, "Don’t screw up like I did at Wynn Las Vegas."

[SheridanCat]

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It's from their current issue and it really irked me because the writer is just whining about a losing session, how he played horribly, then blamed it on internet poker.

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There is actually good advice in that article, Tao.

Roy Cooke is a highly respected player and teacher and is one of the few players you'll hear Mason Malmuth say complimentary things about. He knows what he's talking about.

He's simply using his own experience as a springboard to talk about adjusting to game textures and searching out the right game. I found the article self-deprecating, which is kind of nice in this current poker climate.

He says:

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I left the game slightly stuck and felt that I deserved it. I had failed to adjust to the situation. I didn’t adjust to my own lack of feel arising from my live-play rustiness.

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Doesn't sound like a whine to me. It's just a place to start his article. It's also instructive.

Regards,

T

[TaoTe]

Obviously, I didn't read the article carefully enough. I read a week ago and haven't done so since. But does the internet make you a worse live player? Many top pros play online. I know Phil Ivey, Daniel Negraneu, Gus Hansen, Thomas Keller, Scott Fishman, etc. all play online frequently and they're all great live players as well. Actually, I believe I read another cardplayer article (will search for it) that said that many pros who refuse to play online are missing out on a great source of income and an opportunity to improve leaks, or learn new games/limits/structures etc. I felt as though his article was just blaiming bad play on his internet play.

In some regards I can understand this. For example, playing online has a very limited time to make a decision. I often find myself yelling at the the clock as it starts to tick away on me. It forces players to make quicker decisions. This could translate into live play as well, though when I play live games I breathe a little sigh when it's my turn as I'm given as long as I need (at least until everyone starts complaing) to make a decision. I miss playing at Stars were you can request more time because I often need it. The time limit is one place where live play far outstripes internet play. Unless you have ADD and can't stand to wait a minute for someone to make a decision.

Tells and telegraphs rarely exist online. I say rarely because there are online tells that anyone who has played online for an amount of time pick up easily.

My argument is in the idea that online play can weaken someone's live play. An online pro and a live pro may have difficulty switching between the two but that is if they have never played the other way. But for someone to argue that playing online for awhile hurt their live play is unsound, especially since Cooke has been playing for years and years in casinos, as far as I know.

[Mooski]

It's a good article and I really should start going to that site and reading more articles.

I think what he was getting at was more that his recent focus has been more on Internet play than live, his live skills (ie reading tells) were rusty, more than him saying online play was bad for his live play.