Verbal Abuse In Online Poker

Here's an article I wrote about Verbal Abuse In Online Poker.

I think it's getting out of hand.

i agree it is getting out of hand! i was once told that they wished my whole family was killed by terrorists. not at all funny especially after the attacks on 9/11/2001. if ig gets real bad i report to the site and they seem to follow up onit.

Yes Sticker, it is out of hand. I had someone verbally abuse me just last night. I went back at him a little bit, but not with too much aggresion. He was using the old "Your mamma" insults and the "sexual preference" insults.

The play I made that he was angry about was: I called a re-raise with 9-9 on the button. Well, I hit a 9 on the flop and he had AA. Yes, he got bad beated and maybe my "call" was a little weak, but the whole table was Super-Agressive. So, yes he has a gripe cause he lost with AA, but we all do (many times in fact) .

It is a beginner non-poker playing type that lashes out so much. Good post Stick!!+

I commented on your blog and by default it used my wifes name Sandi. So that was me.....oops, and I didn't even have my dress on at the time!

Verbal abuse is everywhere online.

Good Article!! I see it everyday, whether it is towards me or someone else on all various sites some of the Admins stay on top of it if you report it immediatly but by that time alot of damage has been done. I guess maybe 25% of the time I contribute to the conversation, by adding smart remarks but nothing vulgar or to really hurt there feelings more like (people like you don't deserve to win based on your attitude) . Sometimes I guess comments like that make them a little mad, because some of the responses back are not to nice. I just sit back in my chair and play the game and ignore after that, the other 75% I don't bother at all. Not worth the aggrevation, I'm trying to make money not fight with someone at the tables, how is that going to make the cards change.

Agreed. I don't really see why we're singling out online poker. I've seen plenty more verbal abuse in some online video games I've played. Even playing Spades on Yahoo I've experienced as much or more. None of these other games even have money on the line and the berating and onboxiousness is still there, so I don't think poker is the problem.

Sorry, Comby. I didn't mean to single out online poker. I wrote my article based on personal experience and about the fact that I'm proud to play online poker, but some people bring embarrassment to it. I've never experienced online video games, but I could imagine similarities.

No need to be sorry. I liked the article and can relate very much to it, as I think most frequent online poker players will. I just wanted to make sure people don't think online poker is the only place this goes on, but at lots of other online venues as well, probably largely because of the anonymity the internet gives people.

Nice article Stick. When I decided to check out this on line poker phenomenon my 1st stop was Party Poker play money tables & no poker related site has come even close to that experience. Anonymous, 10 to early 20 somethings, alone in the folks basement with a computer. Almost gave the game up then & there. It's also why I so rarely participate in free rolls. Thank god for real money games & the chat mute option. You see this kind of crap all over the INTERNET & for that matter on radio & TV today, Jerry Springer, any political discussion for instance. Personally, in the SNG format that I frequent, when I come across one of these abusive mouthy types I find that they almost never finish in the money so I just ignore them & they go away sooner rather than later. My only rule & I try really hard not to break it, is to not respond to these, ah, folks, silence seems to bother them & responding only encourages them. As far as what to do about this problem in general the only advice I can give is to hang out with the sort of folks who frequent this forum because in the end self regulation is the only thing that works. By the way if you find this response long winded, clichéd, obvious, & generally unhelpful well *******you you ******* and the horse you rode in on!

Yaeh your right it is pretty bad. About 18 months ago i actually reported a guy for abuse, as i came accorss him fairly often, and got his chat priveliges taken away, he was playing with multiple nicks and i reported that too.

I dont think i would bother now, most of the time its kind of entertaining.

Yeah, there's always the odd idiot. I tend to just carry on chatting as if the abuse wasn't there and don't let it bother me at all. Most of the time I find it quite entertaining and I'll be really friendly and chatty back to them. For some reason that seems to work well, they either realise they've been a bit of an idiot (I've had a great chat going with some folks for the rest of the tourny after this), or it just gets them even more wound up

I'd complain if I was offended, but most of the time I'm just sat there laughing, and if someone's gonna get mad I'll happily encourage them. If I do find a real idiot I'll do everything I can to get them really wound up (while staying nice & friendly - don't want to drop to their level), sooner or later they'll wind up pushing against a monster hand and if it's mine I'll gladly take their money.

I find most folks shut up once you've got their cash, sometimes you can almost hear the light dawning as they realise they've been played

In my own little way I feel I'm encouraging them to be better people

Myx

I was playing on hollywood poker for a while and it gets realy bad there. They have a bunch of pokerstars play in their cheap mtt's and sngs. It's amazing how rude and childish some people are to them.

Well thought out article Mr. Sticker. I have to say I concur with all that you say and am also trying to cure myself in the same manner you are!! Having said that, I really agree with everyone else here. I think the negative chatter has gotten way out of control. I'm so frustrated by it on PokerStars that I'll be leaving the site as soon as I clear my bonus. (and that can't happen soon enough!!)

I might be the odd one out, but the “online verbal abuse” is more beneficial then hurtful. When someone’s busy typing insults I know they are not concentrating on their game. Additionally, if someone indicates that they think it was donkish to call a bet with Q-2, that’s more information for me - I know that they typically don’t play with junk and will tend follow strict “correct” poker play rules.

You people have to not take yourself so seriously. I mean, if some stranger over the internet tells me to drop dead or whatever I know that they cannot truly mean what they say to someone they never met before. I just don’t take offense to stupid words with no base.

Granted I haven’t been playing poker (particularly online) for that long – so maybe in time I’ll develop a distaste for it…but for now I simply smile.

Live play is a completely different story, but whoever seriously gives a damn what some asshole types from some unknown location over the internet needs to grow up themselves.

I do agree with you, Moorsy (in a way). People shouldn't take the anonymous negative spewing to heart.

My point was that this stuff is an embarrassment to online poker overall and I can't believe how shocking some people can get. You gotta wonder what their story is.

To tell you the truth, I just mute them when they start with the crap and I play on.

I think the reason why online hassels with poker stick in one's craw is that poker has always been a game where certain, widely accepted, etiquette has been followed. For these kids/newbs spewing off at the mouth, it's a bit of an affront to the game itself.

That being said, I never let it bother me. Rather I find it amusing. And like Mooronic said, if they're that busy typing insults, they are obviously not concentrating on their game (and also on tilt), so that a cool head (me) can take advantage of them.

Nice article Mike.

I actually like the spur them on a bit.

When someone goes off on a tirade against me, especially if we're at a short table or heads up, and I respond in kind (politely and without curse words, but sharply), they start to raise and call and re-raise with anything and I can take advantage.

Also, as JCQ said, I find it pretty funny. Sometimes I show the wife and we have a good laugh.

The best is when you're all-in pre-flop with the better hand, let's say AQ versus AT, and a T comes out on the flop but is followed immediately by a Q on the river, and the dude goes crazy and talks about how you "sucked out".

Nice article. It can get a bit ugly - but most of the time I try to take advantage of them.

LOL! Speaking of:

I just had some $5-SNG sore loser say "I hope you die! I hope someone takes a gun and shoots you in the head. Mother F*****."

I laughed and showed my wife. She said "They need some anger management classes."

I can't believe there are actually humans on earth that act like this. I mean, I'm not naive. I've been mugged before. But this boggles the mind.

I got called a loser last night after i won a sit and go on Titan!!! Go figure.

ROFL, that would be like a red flag to a bull with me... far, far too tempting not to respond to it:

Idiot1: looser!
Myx: Hmm....
Myx: *looks at my pile of cash*
Myx: *looks at your pile of cash*
Myx: I think you might need to look that up in a dictionary sometime bud...

On top of the win, that'd make my day

<P>I generally don't talk much at the tables online (although I never shut up on real tables, go figure), but my favorite blast when someone starts berating is to say nothing, let him go off a minute or two, then type in something to the effect of, "I'm sorry, I didn't hear what you were saying.&nbsp; I was too busy counting your chips!", which usually sets them off on Tilt even more.</P>
<P>&nbsp;</P>
<P>There's some story I have about some sore loser somewhere (might be on another forum, however) - I'll have to search and repost it here, for it's a funny one.</P>

Here it is in a nutshell: Playing a $6 SnG one night at Stars, and on a straight and flush-draw heavy board I bluffed a guy out of a big pot holding (and showing) J-6 offsuit. After he busted out a few hands later, this idiot hung around the rest of the SnG (which took about 20 minutes to finish), calling me a moron who didn't know a thing about poker and such because of that one hand - and probably made his day when I got to HU but wasn't fortunate enough to finish the job. The whole time this went on, I didn't type a word to him.

After that SnG, I jumped into a 2-table SnG, and this clown used the search feature on PokerStars to find what game I was at. He then started to get on my case during the tournament, telling the other players that "BK's a hack!" and shit like "He'll bet big with J6 off!" and such. Almost like clockwork, what do I get the very next hand? J6 off - this could be interesting.

After a call and a standard 3xBB raise by 1 other player in MP, I smirked and promptly reraised MP, got MP to fold, typed in really quick "SMD, (whatever the tilter's name was)", and showed the J6 off to the table, which got quite a few "LOL" comments - and really set the tilter off.

Funniest part of this was the tilter e-mailing Stars to have my chat banned because of my comment - that pretty much ended after I went into the hand history files and CnPd the entire files to Stars showing his chat. No chat ban for me!

I love baiting these morons too. I suppose you shouldn't cos it takes you off your game, but i love using some of the old favourites when sucking out on someone and being called a noob. If you do get upset though, just ask yourself what sort of person would sit at a computer screen typing insults an hour after being pit out of a poker game. A successful mature adult or a socially inept bullied loser?

Just shut the f**k up all of u before I rip your heads off!!!

Little tip I learned from a Pokerstars jerk. If you type f u c k with spaces, it doesn't asterisk it out.

Yeah but for some reason Empire Poker asterisk's out the word full... Yup, every time you say full house it's shown as "**** house".

Genius!

That might be the word that was censored out at Costadelpoker - I know it was something totally innocent like that (someone said it was because it was a 4 letter word, but I pointed out that word was also a 4 letter word!). I know Costadelpoker (and some others) also censor other poker site names (off thread slightly!).

Empire and Party are one and the same... Party's language filter is ridiculous, although I suppose it's better than having none at all. "Full", "Tilt", and "Stars" are all swear words according to them... go figure. It also filters out terms in the middle of words, e.g. "auspicious" goes to "au****ious". I've emailed them about it but to no avail so far.

???

I love a moron with a keyboard. It gets my creative juices flowing on how to insult a guy's mentality while he's trying to spout off at you. And as it was pointed out before it really helps to put someone on tilt if you keep on topping theicomments to you. I have added to my chips many times from players like that.

auSPICious, do you see what was filtered out and why?
BTW sticker, great article.
I love to come to a table and see some joker typing their trash out , all I do is put them on my search list and find them at a cash table later on and cash in on their abusive typing, I dont get too nasty when I start them off on their rant, just a couple of words usually do it then I sit back and watch them throw away the $, and when thay leave and another player asks why I set him off I tell others that he has quite the mouth on him and deserves to be taken advantage of in that way.
It may be wrong for me to think like this, but this is the way I deal with potty mouths.

The middle of a perfectly normal word, and because their language filter was written by a moron?

I'll finish this one, (mods dont be mad at me for this)when they can have a pokerbot be their control, and if your one of these people then a free pokerbot is just right for you...............right






p.s. Just wanted to have some fun here.