Stalking a player?

I was just watching a Grinderschool vid and Spenda starts stalking this big fish. Is this ethical or is this something you should do by going through your logs each day on PT and finding people like this to play?

If you find a fish that's willing to pay you off, then why not stalk him and take his money before someone else does? I think it's a good practice to keep a fish list. This is just the nature of poker, that strong pick on the weak. Finding games which have the best players in it isn't going to make you as much money than games with weak players.

If this big fish is dumb enough to keep playing and he is comfortable with donating his money to the poker econonmy, then I don't see anything wrong with following him around.

If you would spend your time avoiding players better than you, then there's no reason not to take note of who's worse. Remember that this game is all about trying to win someone elses money. By buying in for a game, you're unofficially signing a waiver that it is okay if you lose.

Good points there. Any one have a system they use for doing this. Wake up and log on and just start searching or what?

Is there a Sharkscope equivalent for cash games?

I just look over PT on amount won from player, and see how they paid me off. For example,there's this one guy stacked me off with K high when I over pushed him all in on a flush board! If they played really bad, I make it a habit to jot their names down on notepad. I also tend to keep table notes on those players too, so they're easier to spot when you're looking for a quick game. Other than that, I pretty much just use player search to find tables where I can get position on a big fish and jump in.

I actually just brought this up in another thread I think yesterday. I follow baddies around all the time, and wasn't sure if I was the only one. PokerStars keeps track of players you've searched for, so usually whenever I find someone I'll type their name in - that way, whenever I next log in I can just chain-search for all of the bad players on my list before picking a table.

It's kind of awkward when they notice but it's worth it when they call your all-in with 2nd pair

There's a buddy list feature on table ratings

Originally Posted by Taicho

It's kind of awkward when they notice but it's worth it when they call your all-in with 2nd pair

LMAO this is hilarious. But yeah, there's no rule saying you can't play in position to another player. And if I don't take his money, someone else will! No breach of ethics imo.

Wow Micro, your BR is doing pretty good.

Yeah Micro...jeez.

"It's immoral to let a sucker keep his money." - Canada Bill Jones

Originally Posted by ArcadianRock

Wow Micro, your BR is doing pretty good.

the operation banner doesn't accept decimal points
he has $375.62 in his account

There are no ethics in poker. It's either within th erules or against them. Take every advantage they afford you in online poker without cheating. This is about the smartest wins, nothing else.

I see no problem with stalking a player. If they don't notice you after so long and adjust or get up and leave, then that's their problem. Even if they're not fish, I prefer to sit at a table that I have stats/notes on at least one player.

Originally Posted by jyms

There are no ethics in poker.

I disagree respectfully. There are lots of things you can do that are legal, but just asshole things to do. Like talking shit to the fish and making them leave the table. It screws over the other players on the table. I'm sure people can think of other examples that won't get you banned from the site but will incite massive amounts of hate from other players.

What does talking shit to fish have to do with "the smartest wins, nothing else" I am talking about winning at poker and using everything available within the rules, not being a douche and fucking up +EV situations.

Originally Posted by jyms

What does talking shit to fish have to do with "the smartest wins, nothing else" I am talking about winning at poker and using everything available within the rules, not being a douche and fucking up +EV situations.

OK, let me rephrase it:
there are ethics in poker
but this doesn't go under ethics

I mean running in to 25/50 and stealing one blind and quitting (if the guy is sitting with post blinds checked on the BB) is probably super profitable when you do it the first time (expect 70%+ folds), but it's also a gay thing to do

this isn't a gay thing to do because you're guaranteeing the fish lots of action

lllllloooooollllll about that operation banner...

Haha!

Thought you won a big MTT or something.