Poker Blog and Poker Gossip

Alright, the cardinal sin of poker: The angle shooter / cheat

Poker’s a game of math, skill, psychology, but also, emotion. People are playing not only with their money, but also their pride, and sometimes, they’re willing to cheat to preserve both. However, in my opinion, the angle-shooters and cheaters are the lowest of the low in the poker world. Sadly, they’re more common than you may think.

I recently read a a thread about someone claiming that he did nothing wrong, but was banned on Full Tilt Poker for collusion.  HIs story was that he is a regualr 1/2 NL player, but occasionally “donks around” with a friend on the lower limit tables.  He said “Sure, we do some crazy plays, and dump chips off to one another sometimes, but now I’m out 2k?  Well my friend, that is actually cheating.  It doesn’t matter if the money means nothing to you, if you wanted money gone to someone else’s account, transfer it.  When it comes down to it, there are people who are playing at this level seriously, and trying to either learn the game, or build up their bankroll.  When you dump chips to a friend, o rplay on the same table repeatedly, it puts that person at a disadvantage, and makes the game unfair – in other words, you cheated.

I was actually at a game once where someone angle-shot me, and knew he did it.  He actually came up and said to me “Sorry man, I knew you were my main competition at the table, and had to get rid of you”.  Well sir, your apology means little to me since you clearly knew you were cheating.  Now, I’m sure this guy would consider what he did “within the rules of the game”, but it was pretty clear to me, and several others, that he was angle shooting.  My guideline?  If your mama wouldn’t be proud, you cheated!

A lot of people often equate poker with a life-analogy, well, I subscribe to this belief at times as well, and it kind of says a lot about the character of a person who tries to cheat, or for that matter, someone who allows cheating at their game (as this host did).  And although I’m sure my sample size isn’t quite large enough, the host of that game ended up going to prison a few months later for frauding a local company of 12k in false insurance claims.

The reason I’ve put this into my etiquette series, is because it’s a pretty safe bet that if you’re in a low-stakes game, and someone catches you angle-shooting, it’s highly unlikely that you’re going to be invited back.  If you’re in a higher stakes game and you try this kind of thing, you’re going to be lucky to get away from the table with your hide intact!

Mark

Although I probably should have mentioned this in part one, the purpose of this series on etiquette is to ensure you’re having a fun, light-hearted game.  This is important because hey, you’re not making life-changing money here, so remember to have fun.  Secondly, when people are having fun, they do stay longer, and lose more money!

When people play cards, especially for a long period of time, they snack.  When you’re considering what you want to eat, you must remember that you’re not the only person there.  There’s an old tradition that you don’t eat peanuts at a poker table (I know, I hadn’t heard of it either), but it makes sense!  Peanuts, chips, and such foods are greasy and can cause damage to the chips and cards you’re playing with.  Shells leave a mess everywhere, and no matter how thorough you are, some will get away, not to mention potentially fatal allergies!

You also need to be aware of yourself.  I play in a lot of tournaments around my town.  We have a semi-regular tourney where teams of 8 players from numerous cities come to play.  I would say that I know or have at least played a few times with about 75% of these people, however, that leaves 25% I haven’t.  During the first such tourney, I won my first match (a SNG) for my team, and, I’ll admit, I got excited and shouted out a cheer for my team (okay, and maybe got up on my table mimicking Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels as well).  Nobody said anything to me, and anyone who knew me knew I was just trying to get some energy into the day.  Unfortunately, the next day, there was a post on a poker forum I frequent regarding my antics.  The poster chastised me for being over the top, and in people’s faces.  I can’t say that I felt I was in anyone’s “face”, but I can see his point.  He also observed that whenever an exploitive comment was made, it was from my team – which was likely me again.  Now, again, most people know me, and I wasn’t embarrassed, however, it does cause me to reflect now that I need to be more aware of this behaviour.

Now onto the three deadliest sins:  the third worst thing you can do to ruin a game however is to stick strictly to EVERY rule in poker as if they were playing the WSOP final table, and not a low limit home game.  If someone says something about a hand during it, sure, remind them, but don’t go over the top.  If a suckout happens, don’t go crazy and berate a guy.  These are fun remember?  The next most important thing to do is to remember is when it’s your turn to act, and to do so promptly.  Nothing makes a fun home game more unbearable than someone slowing down the fun, either from ignorance or inebriation.  The paradox however of course is that if someone else is doing it, you can’t break the previous rule about being stickler by calling the clock or screaming at the guy, total buzz kill!

The third and ultimate sin deserves its own posting, can you guess what that is?

To be concluded…

With purple aliens?  Either this guy has some weird lighting setup, or this might be why Pokerstars is using a planetary VIP program…

Let’s change it up a bit, and look at my bad habits – non card related.

I am a very animated poker player.  I chat with people, I joke, I get silly, and I get loud.  This usually means that people I play with, and myself, have a good time, even when losing money.  The majority of the games I play are home games with friends and other poker addicts in the Kitchener Waterloo area.  Although I can’t be sure, I would say that most of them enjoy playing with me both for the challenge and the show.  It has been  pointed out to me however that although my “persona” at the table can be light-hearted and entertaining, I should be aware of where I am, and with whom I am playing.

First, be aware of your surroundings.  I’ve played in bars, homes, halls, outdoors, and casinos.  You must be aware of the expectations of each.  Bar games are incredibly lax in what you are required to wear, and how you‘re expected to act (not to mention the rules).  Showing up with your “Head Foundation:  Please give generously” shirt on may be humorous to you, and your buddies, and some of the other bleary-eyes patrons.  However, going to a person’s house, this could be construed as somewhat inappropriate.  A good friend of mine hosts regular games in town, and he has 5 children.  Further, his is a fairly conservative family unit, and we all know that he does not appreciate swearing, so we try not to (I really do try Trevor).  You should always ask yourself if what you are doing or wearing “fits” your surroundings, or at the very least, will they prevent you from getting invited back?

Second, be aware of what may offend or be inappropriate to others. I’m not going to soapbox about drug or alcohol use, you do what you do, and I do what I do.  However, I know that not everyone would appreciate finding out that you have a bag of weed on your person when you are in their house – check first.  And speaking of alcohol, beer and poker seem intimately related, however, I know that I have played on some damn nice tables that cost a goodly penny, and if I had forked out that kind of money I would be quite upset if some drunk spilled on it (Sorry Rob).  Going to a casino, requires a bit of  tact  as well.  I was recently in Vegas, and they had no problem with me swearing at the table for hours.  However, at one point, I said the word “penis”, and they called the floor.  I hadn’t considered the dealer’s personality and boundaries.  No other player complained, but the dealer was offended, and I was almost removed.  Although this was in Vegas where there’s another casino just out the door, there’s likely to be fewer where you live, so getting banned is probably a bad idea.

To Be Continued…..