Things You Hate To Hear At The Poker Table
Article By Earl Burton by staff filed under Editorial on 2007-06-25
[Originally appeared in the June 25, 2007 issue of Poker Player]
Some things are annoying at the poker table, like chip stacking, too much talking, and not paying attention come to mind. Whether online or live, there are certain comments that grate the very nerves I try to keep under control.
The first statement that comes to mind is a compliment, but it's not really true. When someone says, "Good game," to me after my elimination from a tournament, most of the time it's a platitude or a salutation – and maybe even a snide remark – upon my departure. In reality, I always walk away thinking that if I had a "good game," I would still be playing in the damn tournament!
So "good game," is one of the things I try not to say to someone upon their ejection from the game.
One way to get the same feeling across to a person without the "good game" statement is to say, "Nice playing with you." Rather than compound their frustrations with a "good game" comment, I'd rather tell them that it was an honor and a pleasure to play against them. "Nice playing with you," encompasses that fairly well.
Another statement that we hear all the time is, "OK, let's gamble." First of all, poker is a game of skill, knowledge, mathematics, psychology, and strategy. "OK, let's gamble," flies in the face of every convention that poker is. When someone makes that statement, I automatically think of two things: Either the player's hand is so incredibly weak that "OK, let's gamble," is their only reason for playing, or that he is waiting there with one of those ace with a weak kicker hands that most logical players will throw away.
I cringe whenever I hear "OK, let's gamble." It indicates that the speaker isn't a poker player at all, but a freewheeling chip-flinger whose "gambling" Jones could be better fed at the craps or roulette tables. I can't even come up with something that can be used in the place of this statement, so perhaps we should just eradicate it now!
"I had a feeling" also irks me. It's usually uttered after a player sucks out on a better hand. Unless you have a hotline to Miss Chloe or Dionne Warwick while sitting at the felt, your "feeling" or ESP is not the reason for the outcome. By saying, "I had a feeling" you're actually covering your obvious error in play.
"I got really lucky" or "You had that hand; I got lucky" is what I say when this happens to me. It demonstrates that I made a makes it more difficult for my opponent to hold anything against me and not mark me for future retaliatory actions.
I am sure there could be a whole book of these quotations. For now we'll leave it at these few. When you play, try not to use them. But if you do, try to figure out why, and how to stop. It would make the game of poker a much better place to be. |
