Hold The Lies

Hold The Lies

By Aaron J. Moore

There are two types of people who can stake their professional living on lying. These crafty people are professional poker players and politicians named Clinton.

The ability to be less than truthful is the foundation of any quality poker player. That’s one reason playing poker is so gratifying. Even if you don’t have the winning hand, you can still lie and bluff to victory. Wins will be few and far between if you don’t occasionally make the others at the table think your pair of 2s is the nut flush.

A bluff is a necessary form of a lie at the poker table. On the other hand, there are other types of lies that are becoming more popular during online and live games but are unnecessary.

Be aware anytime you hear someone at the table say to you “good luck” or “sorry.” In a landscape of lies, those are the two most disingenuous phrases ever uttered at a poker table. It might be nerves or a feeling like they must act gentlemanly as if they are in some type of pistol duel during Revolutionary War times, but for whatever the reason, you don’t need to say these phrases at the poker table.

You’ve seen the scenario numerous times. Two players go all-in and stand over the table. One player lends his hand and says good luck to the other. Does the guy who puts entire chip stack at stake really wish good luck to the guy who could take that all away from him? Of course not. Deep down inside he is hoping to tear his opponent’s heart out.

Everybody at the table realizes this, so there is no reason to say anything in the first place. The best course of action is to quietly watch the cards play out.

The cringe factor rises when two people transparently wish each other good luck. An alternative and better form of sportsmanship is to stay calm following a win and forgo any tantrum if a painful loss results.

If the all-in results in someone’s departure, then hand shakes can be exchanged.

Another time to stay quiet instead of offering a cliché-ridden lie is the obligatory “sorry” when your opponent finds himself on the business end of a bad beat.

Did the Pittsburgh Steelers say “sorry” to the Oakland Raiders when the Immaculate Reception put them in the Super Bowl?

Did the Yankees say “sorry” to the Red Sox following the Babe Ruth trade?

Did the USSR basketball team say “sorry” to the USA after a terrible call gave the Russians the gold medal in the 1972 Olympics?

Certainly not, because in a sport of any kind, numerous occasions arise when landing some luck brings victory.

If you truly feel sorry when you give someone a bad beat, then you are playing the wrong game. Everyone sitting at the poker table is there to win chips and dollars in just about any legal way. Before a player sits down, he runs the risk of stepping on the landmine that doubles as a bad beat.

Saying “sorry” to someone is just like rubbing salt in their wounds. Once again, the best way to handle the fallout of a bad beat is to stay quiet and don’t gloat.
Allow the person who lost to handle the pain in his own way. Hearing an empty “sorry” from you won’t help.

There are many times you will find yourself in uncomfortable situations at a poker table. Rather than making a bold lie in the form of uttering “good luck” or “sorry,” think twice and handle the situation the right way by being a gracious winner or a noble loser.

Oh, fodder for my next blog entry.

And I thought "good luck" was said as a show of sportmanship? How little I know, I guess.

In live home tourney play, I usually like to say to my opponent something like, "Well, I'd wish you luck, but the way you usually suck out on the river, I'm just hoping you miss for once". Or sometimes, "We're both all in, God I hope you miss." Or finally, "Good Luck..to me, I want to knock you out (or double up through you)." In any case, I usually say it with a great deal of charm, so that works for them.

But seriously, I never wish an opponent good luck when I'm in a hand with them. Additionally, if I'm not in the hand, I will usually wish good luck to the person with the larger stack because if they win one more person goes away.

This may all sound a little callous, but poker is war. There are no friends on the felt battle field and I'm not one to put on a phony facade for the sake of pseudo sportsmanship. But again, that's me. I've seen plenty of others be kinder and gentler, but it doesn't suit me. And for the record, the more callous statements above don't come out immediately, they come out when appropriate later once they are deserved.

Guess that is my long winded way (like usual) of saying I like John's post.

This could make for a good discussion if it wasn't a spam post.

Here is a shorter story, It is impossible to hide spam, no matter how hard you try.

But still, spam link aside which was already fixed by jQ, I still like the post itself. Bombjack was right that it could make for some interesting discussion. But we gotta get past the now non-existant spam link.

Dear John, couldn't disagree with you more. Sorry & by the way good luck with your future posts.

What he/she said ^

I play poker.
My name is Clinton.
I'm not a politician, but am overll opinionated about it.
I've been caught in a bluff.

Oh man........I am full of sh*t.........I gotta call a hotline

I disagree. If anything it should be the opposite. If you're an empathetic person at all, as well as a poker player, you KNOW how bad a 2-outer on the river hurts. Obviously you're hoping for it to happen, but if you're a good poker player, you rarely want to be in the position to suck out anyway, because it means you didn't put the money in with the best hand, or just made a bad read on a bluff attempt. Just because you have to hope for it to happen for your survival, does not mean you can't feel at least a little bit sorry for the other person if it does. Saying sorry can be ingenuine but it can also be a sincere expression of empathy.