Yes, live players are THIS bad!

[Ghaleon]

I'm playing at a small, local card room, in one of their daily donkey-tournaments. It's small stakes, mostly for fun. Blinds are 300/600 and I have about 14K. There are four or five limpers and I shove on the button with 77. I get called by QJs and lose.

There was some discussion at the table and some woman who was not in the hand interjected and stated that calling with QJ was the right play. Someone tried to explain to her that it was bad and she just insisted "He won! How could the play be wrong?"

After I went busto, I picked up one of the rag poker magazines that they put out and found these two articles. Just read it, you'll LAUGH.

Featured column :: Rockingham winner knows the value of a poker hand

I would like to take a poll to determine what the best part is. The nominees are:

[spoiler]
1) "After 11 hours the four remaining players agreed to a chop"
2) Limping AJs UTG with less than 10 BB's
3) Player in BB min raises limpers
4) Hero flat calls the min-raise, leaving himself with about 6 BB's
5) Hero flops about as good as he could ever hope for and open-shoves
6) "Whenever I have pocket aces and get called, I am uncomfortable"
[spoiler]

Here's another article that just made me want to puke. I mean, the first one was just a donkey playing low buy-in donkey-tournaments. I've been to that particular room, and it's pretty much got 300 people just like that guy. But this second article is from a supposed PRO who is PAID to write articles on spoker strategy. It's disgusting

Featured column :: Poker isn't always about getting in a value bet

Nominees for my favorite part
[spoiler]
1) Poker strategy columnist and pro player since the 70's is still playing $1/$2

2) Raising $11 to steal $3 in blinds.

3) He "put" his opponent on top pair/big kicker but called a 1/2 pot bet with a gutshot when his opponent only had $64 left.

4) Author says this "My image at the table is that of a tight player, which couldn’t be any further from the truth. However, I enjoy this image, which makes it easier to expand my range of hands in late position and steal small pots with small bets."

Then literally a dozen words later, he says this "If I miss the turn I can fold face up to show I’m capable of playing any two cards"

5) "My total investment into the hand is $21 of which $2 was my button blind, a small price to invest to keep opponents off guard"

6) "I tried to justify my play with several different reasons, none of which would or could be understood by these players; which is my intention."

7) The smorgasbord of nonsense surrounding the author's argument for not betting the last $24. He "didn't want to change anything at the table", but presents absolutely no logical reason why the dynamic would change in the future if he made that last value bet.

If he wants the other players at the table to think that he sucks, then they don't really have to look farther than the time the author called $10 on the flop with a gutshot and then only got $40 for it when he hit.
[spoiler]

[Ghaleon]

PS, if someone could tell me how to make the "spoiler" buttons, I would appreciate it.

[baudib]

Please don't try to explain to bad players why bad plays are bad. Just nod and agree.

[Ghaleon]

One more funny little tidbit. Literally, on the next page after the second article I posted, there is an article by Mike Wolf and he says

"The most crucial aspect of being a successful live cash-game player is betting hands for value. Sounds reasonable right?"

I guess it sounds reasonable. But what if some players start thinking you're good and then don't want to play with you anymore?

[bikes]

lol live lol donkaments lol 1/2 lol just this entire thread

It's small stakes, mostly for fun.

DOUCY it doesnt matter wtf other people do and why? they just wanna have some fun. take their monies and make it enjoyable for them

[deadstraddl3]

3) He "put" his opponent on top pair/big kicker but called a 1/2 pot bet with a gutshot when his opponent only had $64 left.

56 on J78 is an open-ender, unless you're worried about J10, or 1010

I'm with ya though, this guy is a total idiot. If homeboy rebought for 200 after the hand he wasn't going anywhere if he lost the 24$ anyway...nonsensical garbage.

edit- and if you want it to seem like you arent paying attention, bet 60$ or something and act like you didn't notice villians stack size...same effect and you still get ur monies.

[Ghaleon]

I stand corrected on the "gutshot" thing. But obviously we have to include TT, JT, and T9 in the villains range, do we not?

My whole problem with this article is that the author seems to advocate several fundamental errors in favor of this "mind game". If you're playing $25/$50 NL with a group of players with whom you have history over tens of thousands of hands, i can see where you might want to get crafty and try to extract some value.

But this is just dumb

[eugmac]

lol at leaving 24 dollars behind. so his point is to sacrifice 12BB to make the table think he's an idiot? W/e, if he claims to be a professional playing since the 70s and is playing 1-2 live erm well that alone should speak for itself!