Though I consider myself a sport gambler – umm…sports investor - like many, I play poker – online, some local live games and at a casino every once and a while. I am not going pro anytime soon, and I know my game is less than perfect or even disciplined.
I play online poker at Bodog. I honestly think Bodog has the best poker platform anywhere. If they have any faults, it is that they release the new software too soon. But they usually have the bugs fixed quickly. They also are always revising the software to be the best they can provide. What every software program you are using, for poker or for work, a company that is always revising and striving to put the best product on the market is all you can ask for.
I don’t play in high stake games. I am a low stakes Texas Hold’em player, usually $0.50/$1 or $1/$2. I often play the $12 or $36 6 handed Sit & Gos. Through the years that I have been playing at Bodog, I have noticed that there are an awful lot of people online that seem to believe they should write a book at the low stakes table games.
Have you noticed this too?
Most of these “pro’s” will be sure to comment when you make a foolish or bad play, call you a donkey or attempt to berate you because they can’t believe you played a certain hand, or played it the way you did.
Now, I am not talking about some innocent chatter and discussion. We all question each other, but I know I am far away in skill from sitting down next to Daniel Negreanu and risking thousands of dollars on one hand. Most of the online community is. Yet many think they can (apparently they don’t watch and see the garbage some of the pro’s play.
What I can’t understand is why these people complain so much. When I am playing at a table with a fish to two, I don’t want them to change their play. Sure, I might take a bad beat or two, but I know that 9 out of 10 times I will have the best hand and take their chips. For some reason these cry babies do not understand that there are 1000’s of players playing at the same poker room at any time and most of them are not strong players themselves.
Here are a few of my gripes when playing online.
This Site is Fixed
This comment is like nails on a chalkboard for me. There is no doubt that you have heard this a thousand of times. You may have said it yourself. I hope you don’t believe it.
When someone makes this statement, I always reply the same way, “Yep Bodog has singled you out and has a conspiracy against you.” If I believed for one second that online poker is fixed, I would be the dumbest person on the earth to keep playing. I can’t understand why in the hell someone would keep playing, with their hard earned cash, something they truly believed to be fixed and impossible to win.
I Get Rivered Too Much
This topic is similar to the above grip. I often hear that it seems that a low percentage card (like a one outer) is more prevalent online. This is an illusion that can actually be explained.
It is true that you will see more of these hands win hour after hour online than at a casino or your live local game. But it is simply because of the number of hands that are seen each hour online. Compared to live poker, you see at least double the number of hands than at a live game.
There is a lot of reasoning behind this. It is mostly because there is a clock on everyone and every hand. You have 30 seconds to a minute to make your decision online. If you have sat at a casino, or even during my monthly poker league games, you have probably experienced someone taking three minutes or even more to decide to decide to call. This drastically decreases the hands per hour.
With online poker rooms limiting the amount of time you have per hand, there is a perceived perception that low percentage hands are made more often. But if you do the math, it is close to real life. Though I don’t believe any random card generator can synthesize actual probabilities, they have to be pretty damn close.
Donkey Calling
I know I already talked about this, but I must continue.
Is it not amazing how someone can categorize your play by sitting at a table with you for 15 minutes because of one bad or questionable play?
Like it or not, poker is gambling. Sure, you try to get in with the best hand with the best odds on your money, but pocket rockets only come only an average of every 220 hands and poker is a five-card game. There once was a time when suited connectors were considered garbage, then Doyle wrote Super Systems. Many times these players played their monster hand wrong and allowed you to draw out on them.
You can’t wait for the nuts every time, and sometimes I get caught with J-9. That’s not a bad thing. A predicable poker player is a losing player. It is sometimes necessary to get busted on a bluff to set up a play down the road. The next time that person thinks I’m playing trash I will have the nuts and their chips. There is a time and position to play all sorts of hands. The problem is when you get caught playing trash; instead of questioning your play someone is always quick to call you a donkey or a fish.
Recently I was playing a $36 6 handed S&G. As usual I mucked every hand when I wasn’t in a show down. When I was in a show down, I had the best hand. I then took a somewhat of a bad beat. I had trips K’s (pocket pair and hit a K on the flop) and the guy that went all in had trip 6’s (unsuited disconnectors 6-8) after the turn. I was the aggressor from the opening and, of course, I called. An 8 came on the river and gave the other guy a boat. That guy apologized, which I replied “No problem, you made a move.”
I was a little pissed (more at the card that fell than my opponent), but I still had a decent stack. But a guy at the table replied, “Don’t be sorry, he’s a donkey.” I didn’t say a word until he busted out. I ended up heads up and made a comment to the other guy. My opponent explained that he has played against that ass a few times and he is the donkey. I agreed since I never showed a bad hand to him. Not to mention I had him read like a book and stole at least five or six pots of him before he finally busted.
Arguing
The final gripe I am going to talk about is arguing. It usually starts when someone criticizes someone else’s play. Shortly, it turns to name calling and mom jokes.
Everyone is a bad ass online; I once read in an online forum, “Arguing online is like the Special Olympics. Once it is all over, you are still retarded.” My favorite way to shut up a bad ass online is to take their chips. That either shuts them up, or puts them on tilt. Either way, I’m happy and set to take more of their chips.
If you have a gripe about playing online, leave a comments because I would love to hear about it.
Anyone that opens a Bodog poker account through links in this post and emails me at poker@thebettorguide.com with their information is entitled to a Carl “The Dean” Simpson’s ebook on Sit & Go Tournaments.
