Sportsmanship vs Sharkness

I think I'll probably never get where the line is. I hate sucking out more than I love gaining chips so am I doomed to fail?

Aggression, I get. And taking advantage of position. But I'm missing something and I think it's something pretty big. When I play with you guys, especially, I care about a *clean kill*.

Am I the only one?
Am I supposed to love ya but still take you out any ol' way I can, dirty as it may be?

Yep, it's probably a stupid handicap I'm imposing on myself but yeah.........
I want a clean kill.

I'm an idiot, aren't I.................tell me. I can take it.

Yeah, your an idiot, but we still love ya. Not sure what you can do anyway, if you get all in with the worst hand & suck out, there is no return these chips to sender button. We are all here to win & while we seldom get folks at our regular buy ins trying to use gamesmanship, ( nasty table talk or such), to gain an advantage, none of the regulars I play with will hesitate to exploit a weakness in any of their friends games. Personally I am trying to improve & I expect everyones best shot.

Thanks, Kenzie.
I'm always working to improve too but I seem to be lacking the willingness to go for the main vein. Maybe I just don't have enough killer instinct. Or any. Even.
Yuck. I'm a marshmallow.

Well. maybe I can be a GIANT marshmallow and gum up the sharp teeth. A girl can dream

edit: Oh, and not thanks for I'm an idiot

No you're not an idiot. Clean kills are sweeeet. You can gain appreciation for ugly looking kills...like pot-odds all in calls. It looks real ugly when I call your all in from the BB with my 4 7o and river a 4 to take you out, but it's very satisfying to know that it was the right move.

As far as taking it easy on friends goes, I like to think I'm showing them the respect of giving them my best game.

And sucking out? We all wind up on the wrong end of them far too often. Be happy that the poker gods smile on you occasionally.

i used to be like you, rainsoaked. i used to hate the feeling of stealing a hand through luck on the river, and love nothing better than the feeling of winning it by going in with the superior hand.

that was, of course, until last weekend.

played in four $100 sit and go's, won the first, and in the next three made the final two, went all-in as a massive favourite, and was sucked out in all three, all in the river, and all with the one card that could save their skin.

cursed the rng gods and vowed never to feel guilty about pickpocketing again!

it is nice to know honourably people are still out there, though. playing multi table tourney's in the first hour, especially with re-buys, are just ridiculous. it's not real poker and u just have to close your eyes and weather the all-in storm!!

i want 2 reply but screen keeps switchin causa im in a game is 2 hard lol but will b suscribed now so ttyl. (i like vodka 2 hehehe)

The more I learn about odds and out, the less I feel bad about sucking out.

Be the marshmallow, but be this one.

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Hey friends are friends and buisiness is buisiness.............

Personally..... I like friends for fun and profit

Suck outs are part of the game, while the clean kill should be your bread and butter you usually have to suck out at least once to win a big one.

Suck outs are not always your fault, your opponents make a mistake and don't raise where they should have, or slowplay a monster and your 7/2 gets runner runner because they let you get free cards. Or you've got a monster stack and can afford the hit if you lose and its worth taking a shot to take someone out.

If you suck out and are consistently a loser you need to reevaluate your game. If you suck out and you are consistently a winner you're doing something right.

If it can happen in poker it will, sooner or later ... it's part of the game.

dont ever feel bad about winning a hand, with out a doubt, someone will suck out on you later and they'll be happy they did

As for sportmanship i got to shout out to lwinagain on pokerstars waited sat out whilst hds up in a 45 man donk and go coz i got disc he coulda won by default but he sat out and my chip lead was still there when i got bck on 15 mins later

to u sir congrats u lost when u coulda won

Awesome Stef! Good on him to wait for you and good on you to publicize his sportsmanship. Online without a face, it's easy to take advantage of that situation. Kudos to both of you.

I used to do the same (though I would only have waited a minute or so, 15!?!). Then I did this thread

Disconnected opponent

I was pretty shocked just how in the minority i was. Opponents wouldn't wait for you, so I wouldn't wait for them any more.

I agree, calling an all in first round with A7 and catching the 7 is bad, calling an all-in who's small stacked + in the big blind, in a pot with antes, when you've got 10/1 odds, and a junk hand isn't.

If you play right, you're going to suck out on players and you're going to have bad beats. I have no sympathy for the players that sit there getting blinded away, hand after hand, then finally push all in with AA when they've let their stack get far too low to have any impact on the table, and get knocked out by a trash hand.

Clean or dirty, the kill is the thing. Just as you have been killed, it is your duty, NAY! Your obligation, to kill in poker.

Learn to laugh at both sides of that event and it will do your whole game a world of good.

I made a mistake last night in front of several CCr's that I would just as soon never see the light of day, but this morning I am OK with it. I got distracted, rather I let myself get distracted and called an all in without noticing the raise. I wanted to call even a normal raise, but did not notice it was an all in. My bad, killed me.

As for that sportsmanship.

I learned that nice as it is, if you are playing poker, the goal is to knock the other one out. I think I got immune to the sportsmanship part of the disconnect thing via Party Pokers humongous freerolls where often I would be the only live player and the best thing I could do was to blind the others out as fast as I could. And I got good at it.

all I can say is that most people are not here to make friends, they are here to learn what they can and use it against you.

In this you are wrong. I have made friends here that if they lived near me I would have over for dinner any time. I also play cutthroat poker against them. That's the nature of the beast. They don't hate me,( well tammy might), and I don't hate them. I learn from my mistakes and try to be a better player. And I have a great time pitting myself against fellow members.

I like y'all.

Just writing the thing down and reading the responses fixed the confusion in my head. I've been practicing my ruthlessness. Can't wait to try it out in the Sunday Tilt.

I doubt you are friends with MOST of the people here, its cool to make friends with some people, but in realisty, I'd say the majority of the people who swing past do so for their own benefit and friends are an afterthought

gg

^^^this, pretty much.

While not exactly to RS's original point regarding bad beats, I definitely think you should do your friends the "service" of playing as hard as possible against them.

Here is a little poem from my running days, that sums it up nicely:

“The Service”
by Burgess Johnson

I was the third man running in a race,
And memory still must run it o’er and o’er:
The pounding heart that beat against my frame;
The wind that dried the sweat upon my face
And turned my throat to paper creased and sore;
The jabbing pain that sharply went and came.

My eyes saw nothing save a strip of road
That flaunted there behind the second man;
It swam and blurred, yet still it lay before.
My legs seemed none of mine, but rhythmic strode
Unconscious of my will that urged, “You can!”
And cried at them to make one effort more.

The suddenly there broke a wave of sound--
Crowds shouting when the first man stuck the tape;
And then the second roused that friendly din;
While I—I stumbled forward and the ground
All wavered ‘neath my feet, while men agape,
But silent, saw me as I staggered in.

As sick in heart and flesh I bent my head,
Two seized me and embraced me, and one cried,
“Your thudding footsteps held me to the grind.”
And the winner, smiling wanly, said,
“No dream of records kept me to my stride—
I dreaded you two thundering behind!”


The point is that strong competition makes everyone perform better, win or lose.

Not really shocking Rob. Just commonsense. If you don't know your opponent, most likely that person isn't going to give you the courtesy of waiting for you to reconnect.