What we say at the tables and more

So today I went out to the casino to play a little poker. Had to put my name on a list since all the tables were full. There were nine of us on the list so the house said they would start a new table as soon as a dealer returned from break. So it wasn't long and we were seated at the table. It was immediately obvious there were a few regs.

So I sat and listened. I hear two fellas talking and it becomes obvious the one fella is an internet player and he took great pride in talking about it. Now don't get me wrong he wasn't bragging really but he was giving me good info! He was seated next to me so I just asked a few questions here and there and he was happy to tell me things such as he plays 24-24 tables of 6max, 50nl-200nl (although I call BS on the 200nl) etc. I felt like I really got some good info that may have cost me a lot in lost chips had he just sat down and played. The entire time we spoke he never asked once asked me anything at all, he was content impressing me!

Another fella let me know he has played all over the country over the years. He was showing how he could spin a chip into the dealer slot and when question about it stated "I've actually done it thousands of times!" Well guess what again thank you sir for the info.

This all got me thinking about several things such as what is said in the chat box etc. How many times do we see somebody else or maybe we ourselves tell somebody how much we play or that we're just playing at 25nl cuz were talking a break from our regular 50knl game etc. I also question the wisdom of having our VIP status displayed. Is that giving up info we shouldn't? I think so.

Doesn't every piece of info we can collect help us? Well if it helps us then it's only fair to say it may help them!

Thoughts and other examples would be great!

good post.
first time i played live was great. It was in gothenburg, sweden - one guy at the table was also talking a lot about online poker. Funny, cos i figured out who it was on FTP during the course of his conversation. Nobody knew i had played online.

chip tricks are cool. They're a good read. They're hard to learn quickly if you've never handled chips before. Trying out a couple that the regs were doing - and failing miserably - plus an early string bet (oops) probably contributed to two sessions at those tables paying for my two weeks holidaying in norway and sweden..

i'm guilty of chatting too much online sometimes - i need to stop that. If you see me at it, please call me out on it!

Very nice post.

I totally agree re the showing vip status @ stars. If I've only got a couple of sit&goes running the people who are showing their silver/gold -stars @ 5 to 10$ buyins are always getting sharkscoped and given credit where due if they are winners. If I haven't seen them before I usually wouldn't know if they were good or not and stack off lighter / play differently.

Free info is good

one of the most tilting things in the world is idiots at 10nl who seem to get an ego boost by talking together in the chat about concepts they think that most of their opponents won't know about. vpip/pfr ratios and spr considerations etc. please don't ever do this. we put in the hours behind the scenes, learning about all the different concepts and strategies of poker, so that we win the money from those who don't.

nice post harley. i play live a fair bit, and there's definitely a lot more you can pick up because you can see physical movement in your opponents. even if they're not chip-shuffling flat out, you can quite often pick who has done their time on the felt and who hasn't by the way cards/chips are handled and how in tune a player is with casino procedures/rules (davens string-betting example is a good one. i know you did that on purpose btw. fake tells ftw)

as for online chatting i feel like all regs just shutup and keep quiet all the time. I do the same (probably cause im multiing a bunch of tables), but all i do is just take note and mark all the tilting fish that flame the chatbox o.O

I usually have the chatbox off. I've found that to be very +EV.

Let’s say you wanted to make it more likely that you will make misclick mistakes. And that you wanted to increase the probability that you will be distracted from the game and miss something important. And let’s say you wanted to disclose information to your opponents about yourself that will help them play better against you. How might you achieve all these goals with one action? Chat.

-Tommy Angelo, Elements of Poker

Originally Posted by spoonitnow

Let’s say you wanted to make it more likely that you will make misclick mistakes. And that you wanted to increase the probability that you will be distracted from the game and miss something important. And let’s say you wanted to disclose information to your opponents about yourself that will help them play better against you. How might you achieve all these goals with one action? Chat.

-Tommy Angelo, Elements of Poker

Tommy Angelo acknowledge as well you don't want to be that douchebaggy kid whos too good to even open his mouth

Proof :-

I was in a live real 2 table tournie last night. The first 5 people out started their own side table.

Any way , (after the tournie ended and I collected the chips and put them in the chipbox , and collected up the cards and packed them away too....). I sat down to watch them play .

There was this one chap , he was waffling all the time , not saying how good he was, just using all the appropriate terms ,"UTG this , in the cut off that " .

He came out with , I play tons of cash games online, If I had A6 in cash , its auto fold. In a tournie. It could be an all in depending on the stack sizes....." .

Im not even playing and Im getting free reads on this skin.

Being banned from chat has its benefits.

lol. what did you say ?

just kept putting "jaajajajajajajajajajajajajajaj!"


everytime i won a pot

Sat at a table today with a guy (who I have a ton of hands on) who is UTG when I am on the button. If he limps UTG it is ALWAYS gonna be a limp/reraise with a tight range.

Twice he open limps and I limp behind with a low pair. Both times the unobservant player in the BB raises, UTG reraises big and everyone folds.

I don't usually chat but was tempted here. +EV to say something to BB or not?

I would think not, you say something to the BB and UTG catches it, and changes his pattern that you have picked up on and can use... If he adjusts, then you have to adjust, whenever we have to adjust we are making no/less money than if we did not have to make the adjustment.

Yeah, I wouldn't say anything. Not supposed to share reads in the chat box (or at a live table for that matter). You might as well just type "UTG {JJ+, AK}" in there.

Plus, you'd never want to let on that you know what UTG is doing. Let him limp his big hands like a retard, then hope he gets stacked by someone who happily limped behind.

Originally Posted by StarGrinder

You might as well just type "UTG {JJ+, AK}" in there.
.

Probably half of the table wouldn't even understand this.

I wouldn't discuss anything poker related with people at the tables. I mean this isn't a popularity contest. You can discuss sports, the weather, or anything other than how you're the greatest and you play online.

Just not +ev if you do.

LOL...had to share this with ya. I violated the basic rule and got involved in a chat which ended with this:

Hello Glock45ACP,

We are writing to inform you that we have suspended your chat privilege for 3 hours as a result of your chat on 2010/10/02.

The use of vulgarity when addressing another player is not allowed.
When asterisks are seen during chatting, it is a warning that what is being put into the chatbox is not allowed. Using spaces or other characters, or otherwise defeating the censor is a violation of the Card Room Rules.
Your chat privilege will be reinstated automatically once the suspension period is over. There is no need to write to support.
Our goal at PokerStars is to be a fun place to play, where everyone can feel comfortable. Abuse and other disruptions to the games takes away from everyone's enjoyment, and therefore will not be tolerated.
We thank you for your cooperation.

Regards,
PokerStars Chat Moderation Team

The following chat was observed
cuz your a c u n t
anything to get away form teh beatch

lol -ev

I suppose you were discussing theology with him?