Ethics of Poker

Last night I was fortunate to have found a game where a player took a bad beat and went on tilt. I say fortunate because this player kept buying in at FT .05/.1 NLHE for the max $10 every time he lost. It started out with my AK beating one of his low pocket pairs and I doubled up on him. He then proceeded to buy back in for the max again but he was definitely playing way more recklessly.

I decided to just wait for premium hands(AA,KK,AK,AQs), limp and wait for him to raise, and then isolate him with an all-in bet since I knew he was apt to call because of his previous losses and his desire to get some of his money back from me. To make a long story short I took 6 of his buy-ins or about $60 before he finally left the table, but I noticed that the other players at the table didn't seem to be happy with what I did/was doing. Is it wrong to take advantage of a guy that is clearly on tilt?

(I'm not trying to brag or anything in this post because this was not me being skillful at all really, I just happened to get some good hands and also have a guy that was very unhappy about losing to me).

as a player, it is your job to take full advantage of every edge you have. i've you spot the player that is on tilt and felt him six times over then i say good for you. the other players are just jealous that they didn't get to take advantage of the situation. you were in the right place at the right time.

No, perfectly fine, it's like someone walking around in the town square shouting

"MONEY HHHERRREEE, GET YERR FREEE MONEY!!! ONE TIME OFFER!!!"

Your goal in poker is to do the best you can to win the most money in every situation within the rules (so no cheating, which includes collusion). If someone were at the table giving money away, it'd be unethical NOT to take every dime you could.

lol... love the responses. I'm glad I didn't break some poker code or anything because if it was live, I'm pretty sure they all would have been giving me icy cold glares. I guess the nice girl in me wants to be friendly with everyone, but I just couldn't pass on the money that he was practically shooting in my direction. I kinda felt bad for the guy but my B/R was feeling pretty good, so I chose the B/R I guess. I wonder how many people would actually just leave the guy alone since he was losing so much. Anybody out there?

Seriously, if you're going to win you have to get those thoughts out of your head. At the poker table, it's just you vs. them. You have to get inside their head, but if you start feeling sorry for anyone you're hurting yourself. You can bet no one's going to give you a break if/when you go on tilt. You've gotta be selfish when playing. Even when playing with friends, it's a nice friendly game and we talk and joke around a lot, but during the play, there's no f***ing around. You have to be competitive and you have to want to win, and that includes taking someone's money when they'll so willingly give it to you, regardless of the reason. Don't feel sorry for anyone, just know if you don't take it, someone smarter than you, and soon to be richer than you, will.

live poker or not, you should do the same thing. no matter if it's your wife, husband, bf, gf, best friend etc. exploit thier weaknesses. they shouldn't put thier money on the line if they wern't willing to lose it.

for one simple reason - You were not forcing the other guy to throw his money in with the worst of it