A poker player with a shred of decency ???

I just got back from Las Vegas today. I was very surprised by the actions of a fellow poker player. Tell me what you think ...

We are at the MGM Grand playing 2-4 Hold Em. The number of raises after the river is not limited.

The board reads 10-10-6-3-10. Player One raises, and Player Two reraises. Player One then reraises, then Player Two reraises. This goes on for a few rounds, and of course, I am wondering who has the fourth 10. Finally, Player Two just calls the bet. He had the 10. After winning, he tells Player One, "I want you to remember this. Someday you may be in the same situation."

Now, I was shocked that he let Player One off the hook. I imagine that almost anyone would have continued to reraise until the other guy got the message. I asked him why he let the guy off the hook, and he told me that he suffered an extremely bad beat once and didn't want to wipe the guy out.

Funny thing - Player One did all this reraising with 6-something, so he had the full house. Not only did he risk losing to quads, but also to a pocket pair greater than 6-6!

Player one obviously needs lots of help. But tell me -- what do you think of Player Two????

Here are my thought processes pertaining to this.

Player 1 = Donkey
Donkey = Source of wealth
Wealth = Good
Player 2 = Stupid

It's like going into work and saying "Hey you know what boss, you're paying me too much, I demand a pay cut!" Plus enough donkeys have drawn out on me in the past to make getting as much money from Sir Donkalot in your example essential. Besides, he obviously sucks at poker, and as such is going to go bust somewhere down the line - if I'm Player 2 why shouldn't I take as much as I can from him right here right now?

What he did was not "decent", it was stupid.

Letting him off the hook didn't teach him near the lesson that sending him home broke would have.

well said. player 2 is a nice guy though, must not make a living off of poker

If this was no-limit hold em, Player two should have went all in after Player One reraised his raise.

Gotta agree with the D man here as there was a lesson to be tought here. I have let folks off hook in our buy-ins before, not often, but I have. Playing in a casino against strangers is a totally different situation...

I totaly agree with diabloblanco and IrishDave on this> Stop and think what would the other guy do if the shoe was on the other foot to you? Those hands are hard to come by,I think anyway.

Player 2 should read this,

An extract from Doyle Brunson's book


'Poker Wisdom of a Champion'.

Powerful winning advice and fascinating anecdotes from poker's greatest player




Elmer was nearing the unofficial house record for the biggest loss. I guess we all felt a little sorry for him, because he wasn’t playin bad poker. Bad fortune seemed to hover over his head with every turn of the card. But at the same time I felt sympathy, I remembered all the really bad streaks I'd personally suffered, and somehow took an unhealthy delight in the fact that this was happening to someone else. And although, intellectually, I felt no joy in Elmer's misfortune, I certainly wasn't going to let him off the hook if I could help it.


He staged a short and insignificant comeback, and then, about three hours deep into the game, I made a straight down the river and shot down his three queens. The last of his composure evaporated so quickly you could almost see it being sucked out of him. After that hand, he had only $900 dollars left. Within five minutes that had dwindled down to ten.

It was his big blind, so he pushed his last two chips onto the table in front of him. Seven players passed quickly. Then the small blind had to act. A skinny Oklahoman named Paul looked at his cards, and then at Elmer, and then back at his cards again.

Finally he said, "I'll tell you what, Elmer. I'm going to let you have this pot. Maybe it will change your luck. Happy birthday" He flipped two aces up on the table for everyone to see what a gentleman he was.

Elmer muttered the expected "thank you" and promptly doubled his money on the on the next pot. Well that got things going for him. For the next four hours, he terrorized the table. Things really sizzled for him. Everyone got hurt a little , but mostly he kept pounding on Paul. Finally Elmer ha $14,000 worth of chips and Paul got flat broke.

Now Paul tried to get a check cashed, but there was a strict house rule against it. so he turned to Elmer and reminded, "looks like I did you some good when I didn't take your last ten bucks with a pair of aces."


"Looks like you did," Elmer agreed.

Paul waited for some additional words, but Elmer held silent". "Well look," Paul pleaded, "how 'bout you lending me a thousand."

"Sorry i can't do that," Elmer explained. "I don't believe you should help a man out in a poker game. Heck you'd probably just turn around and beat me. I don't mean to be rude, and I appreciate your kindness, but I just can’t help you."

There's a lesson to be learned here. It's to feel sympathetic toward an opponent, but when you act sympathetic at the table, that isn't poker. Eventually Elmer loaned Paul twenty dollars pocket money to take home. I suppose it was an act of human kindness……..


Just thought it was a good story to share. It’s a great little book with lots of short stories, and a lesson to learn from each

if you ask me the guy was/is a fool!!

The snide comment was a bit out of line... telling everyone to remember this. However, it may not be as bad of a play as it appears on the surface.
I play in an invite game at one of the hotels here in Vegas. Truthfully there is no weak seats at the game. But, the game is in public, so it is open to everyone. Usually 2 or 3 seats open around 9:00pm. Moving into this game are a few "soft" spots. A soft player often gets on the list, and in this game he is out of his league. But he loves it and we all think he is great. He donates 2 buyins has a great time and leaves. This went on for 6 weeks. Then a player ran over him for all of his chips within 5 minutesw of sitting down. We have never seen hin again.

Your opponents are customers. Treat them well, and they will pay your bills. Run over them and you'll never see them again. It sounds like he made a solid profit, and gave the guy away out. That player will be back with a few buyins and have a great time. Take their money, but it's ok to give them a little value.
A happy customer is a good customer!

Bill

Hey, Bill! Where have you been, man?

Cool story, although I probably wudda taken his last $10 and bought a drink with it.

i like to get none partial while playing poker, i treat the fish the way i need to, there will always be more, and i have been the fish at one point during my poker career and in truth had more fun but now i pay some bills with this money. fish are there to be eaten that simple. but i like bills perspective if you give them a good time and win 2000 he comes back good investment. but ill do it either way just a paycheck to me

This man is nothing more than a Genius...

Alright, I can absolutely buy Bills angle, however, think about this for a second; how many times do you think you can send that guy home a fairly big loser before he learns from his mistakes and gets good? At that point he becomes another one of the people you have to compete with for the available cash.

There's a never ending supply--at least right now--of dead money willing to hand you their money. Bust them out and another one fills the seat. You don't have to have that guy really. I would think this is true especially for a place like Vegas where there is an edless buffet-line of tourists with their wallets in hand waiting for a seat.