Why are bad players always the most arrogent?

Okay, obviously there's a story behind this question...

Been playing the two round heads up matches at pokerstars lately ($5+.50, winner take all), as i am a good enough heads up player to profit off them. Played a couple tonight, and the last one, i'm playing this guy in the final round who i had classified as a weak heads up player. I played a guy who was really awful in the first round, and i beat him in just a few hands, so i was able to watch most of the other first round match. Both of them were weak, really, but the guy who ended up winning was constantly complaining about how he wasn't getting hands and how the other guy was getting lucky. i didn't think he'd even get out of the first round, but he did, and we started our match. first off he started giving me crap about raising in the small blind (which i don't even do as ofter as some people), then he started complaining about how i would bet consistantly, making the same raises pre flop, and consistant bets post flop. i just ignore him, by this time completly convinced he's a donk. eventually i get a hand where i flop four to the flush, he makes a tiny bet and i call, don't make my flush on the turn, he makes the same tiny bet, which i call. i make my flush on the river, finally makes a decent bet, again i call, as it wasn't the highest flush. he's got nothing, and he starts giving me crap because he misread the hand, thinking i was chasing an inside straight draw, and back doored runner runner into the flush. i felt like saying that if he had bet more, he might have gotten me out, but instead i told him to check the hand history, which i don't think he even knew how to do, so now he's really mad, complaining about how he never wins with suited cards, and how he never gets any good hands. I'm thinking, 'this is over'. i felt like saying to him, 'dude, it ain't about the cards', but even if he would have listened to me (which i doubt he would have) why give him any advice while he could still use it? so instead i say something like, 'you won that first match because you were a good player, not because you got good cards,' which was BS, but he was also critizing me for not responding to him so i figured i should say something, to which he actually replies, 'no, i just got good cards, i was lucky.' So this continues for the rest of the match, him complaining and me trying my best to ignore him, but i was unable to turn off my chat for the same reason i'm unable to look away from a car accident when i see one on the highway, morbid curiosity. finally i catch A-K of diamonds, i raise, he raises back, so tired of this match, and having a nice chip lead, i push all in and he instantly calls with like K-10 or Q-10 off. fortunatly my hand holds up. he starts saying that it was BS, when he finally get's a good hand i've got a better one, and i tell him, 'heads up ain't about the cards friend.' and he just lights off on me, telling me i'm a f***er, and how i'm 'gay' because i was getting such good cards, even though he hadn't seen more then 4 or 5 of my hands the whole match, and usually i had rags, so i said, 'what about the 20 or 30 hands i bluffed you out of?' Now he's calling me a son of a b****, and trying to explain to me that raising on the button is a cheap play, and how he never bluffs, and only plays rags when he's in the BB. Thankfully the game closes at this point and i'm left thinking, "wow, i haven't played someone this awful in a long time. thank god for small favors." i may not be a 'great' heads up player, but i sure as hell have learned how to spot a donkey.

okay, reflecting on this post i realize that there's probably no point to it. if you haven't figured this out about me already, i just like to write, and i needed to vent a little. i'm tempted to write more on heads up play... but whatever, good night!

-n

Awesome post my friend, vent all you want. There is no answer to your question though, Donkeys are just that. I played against someone a few weeks ago, who after calling one of my bluffs and unfortunatley taking a lot of my chips proceeded to get pissed when I went all-in, in an effort to get back to even. I suppose he wanted me to get blinded out and not play anymore. He eventually sucked out on me to win the match and laughed about what an idiot I was. I don't know what my point was other than Donkeys are donkeys and they all suck.

God, I hate those 2 round h2h tourneys at pokerstars. Played at one last night, and was sucked out by some moron who kept getting better cards than me. Come to think of it,his name was .....

It's not fair - i'd have loved to have played against him. You dont argue against players like that - they're so pig-headed they're not interested in a word you say (how do you argue with someone who thinks you shouldn't raise from SB H2H?). Instead, keep agreeing with them, say "well played" and "you got me there" every time they win, and "sorry" and "that was flukey" everytime you win. He wouldn't know how to deal with that - once you beat him, you can properly let rip.

He did raise one interesting point though, do homosexuals really get dealt better hands than heterosexuals? I've never heard that the strength of cards is linked to your sexuality before!

I think you're right though Nate - the worse a player is, the more often they complain about their cards. They cant accept that you are better than them, so tell console themselves that you only beat them by being continously luckier than them.

Internet Explorer ate my fairly lengthy post, so I'll just Hemingway it:

The need to berate others comes from low self-esteem. Even Phil Hellmuth has admitted to that being his problem.

If you can manage your own emotions and keep playing steady while being trash-talked, take advantage of it and hit them for more money. If you find yourself focusing more on what you'd like to tell him than on the game, then consider getting up and leave. Even if the table is profitable (which it usually is, when these things happen), you're not playing your A-game and you're technically tilting, on top of the fact that the game is a lot less enjoyable.

I never (okay, ALMOST never) talk back at these people, but I often find myself wanting to. It's frustrating, and I like to save myself the frustration.

A good few months ago, on pokerstars as well. I took a players out of a $12 sit on go on a spectuclar bad bead. My unhit pocket 10's were WAY behind on the flop, dont even know what i was thinking myself, he had a set of aces, I hit runner-runner 10's to take him out.

But the point was he sat at the table (which i won in the end) and abused EVERY play i made. What was even worse he followed me to the next sit and go, (not to play mind) and done the same thing. I had the feeling i just took his full bankroll off him in one hand. Dont think i replied to him once, maybe after i took him out with a "sorry mate, got lucky".

I probably would have said something like "Maybe if you spend less time bitching and more time concentrating on your game, maybe things would have turned out differently." I play heads up tourneys too and what really rubs me the wrong way is when a table decides to stay in the game by telling the player what they had for a starting hand and exchanging the money back and forth until they are the final table. I typed on their chat box "Cheaters." One player said they reported me (this was pokerhost and I have no money deposited there so I wasn't the least bit scared). They also said I'm doing the same thing. They obviously don't know what they were talking about because if they were watching my table, they could see I (and my opponent) wasn't. Sorry for the rant.

Well Tenbob and t1riel, you should report those to the sites. It's one thing to spout off when you get sucked out, but staying on site and sledging, and then following player to next table, that's overstepping the limit. And bare-faced cheating - if they're actually typing their hands in the chat box, then there's no defence - the site will have them bang to rights.

That's one thing i like about playing them at pokerstars, you can't do that. it's like a shootout. you have to win your first round match before you can go on to the next round. pokerhost is another story though...

thanks for the responces guys.

-n