Irexes
Legend
Silver Level
Hello all,
I've been thinking about writing something like this for a while. The trouble is that I risk
a) sounding a bit stuck up about the whole thing
and
b) upsetting some people.
However for reasons I'll explain I'm going to write it anyway
First of all let me say it's great to have railers. On-line poker is an isolated business and it's wonderful to have people rooting for you. It's also a huge stroke to the ego and I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel good.
It would also be rather hypocritical of me to make rail request posts and then moan about people turning up
I've also had a fair few people search me out when I'm early in tournies (long before the money) and again very, very welcome.
So hopefully this doesn't come across as ungrateful or offend anyone.
Anyway. I tend to get deep in tournaments reasonably frequently and it's something which people like to watch and get involved in. I also like to rail people from here and the shared sense of success we have when a ccer takes one down is great.
However, I'm a great believer that in MTTs it's incredibly important to manage your table image to your advantage, in fact I think it is at the heart of succesful MTT play. Sometimes you might want to tip your opponent into tilt, or to let them know you've won a tourney before, but sometimes you might want to say nothing or to let them carry on calling you a fish and thinking you suck.
What is always the case is that it never, ever, ever, ever, ever pays to point out someone's bad play or to comment on their good fortune if they suck out. In part this because the most likely reaction is for them to tighten up against you, but also because good poker players really don't care about bad beats and complaining about them portrays you as a bad player and this affects your image with everyone else at the table.
Now of course railers aren't the player, but there is an association there which can colour opinion and cause an unexpected behaviour right when you don't want it.
So if you are railing me, please, please, please don't bait, complain about or comment on my opponent's play, just let them get on with it. And please don't talk me up either, I don't want them thnking I'm a big shot, I just want to be the nice guy who they will happily fold to when required, not the arse they would love to bust.
I write this because of late I've moved up a notch in the levels I play (I'm at 200NL atm in the cash and buying into $100-$200 tournies as a matter of course) and it means that in the tournies there is significant cash at stake as we get near the end. I'm a pretty well-off chap fortunately but when there's a few thousand at stake it's still a reasonable deal and if I ever hit a big "Sunday" final table it'll mean a lot more.
On the other hand I know that some people are a bit afraid to say anything in case they cause offense. Despite the probably harsh sounding stuff above, don't worry about that, it's genuinely great to see you and say hello I just don't need "help" from the rail if that's ok.
Anyway I've probably alienated about half a dozen people and of course it's a free internet and you can say whatever you like in the chat window. Really just posting this now rather than wishing I'd posted it when I'm at a final table of something really big and "Helpfulrailer" says to my opponent in a big pot, "u suck, Rex has you beat" or "lols" when they fold a big hand on the river.
Thanks for reading, you may now proceed to call me an ungrateful b*stard
I've been thinking about writing something like this for a while. The trouble is that I risk
a) sounding a bit stuck up about the whole thing
and
b) upsetting some people.
However for reasons I'll explain I'm going to write it anyway
First of all let me say it's great to have railers. On-line poker is an isolated business and it's wonderful to have people rooting for you. It's also a huge stroke to the ego and I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel good.
It would also be rather hypocritical of me to make rail request posts and then moan about people turning up
I've also had a fair few people search me out when I'm early in tournies (long before the money) and again very, very welcome.
So hopefully this doesn't come across as ungrateful or offend anyone.
Anyway. I tend to get deep in tournaments reasonably frequently and it's something which people like to watch and get involved in. I also like to rail people from here and the shared sense of success we have when a ccer takes one down is great.
However, I'm a great believer that in MTTs it's incredibly important to manage your table image to your advantage, in fact I think it is at the heart of succesful MTT play. Sometimes you might want to tip your opponent into tilt, or to let them know you've won a tourney before, but sometimes you might want to say nothing or to let them carry on calling you a fish and thinking you suck.
What is always the case is that it never, ever, ever, ever, ever pays to point out someone's bad play or to comment on their good fortune if they suck out. In part this because the most likely reaction is for them to tighten up against you, but also because good poker players really don't care about bad beats and complaining about them portrays you as a bad player and this affects your image with everyone else at the table.
Now of course railers aren't the player, but there is an association there which can colour opinion and cause an unexpected behaviour right when you don't want it.
So if you are railing me, please, please, please don't bait, complain about or comment on my opponent's play, just let them get on with it. And please don't talk me up either, I don't want them thnking I'm a big shot, I just want to be the nice guy who they will happily fold to when required, not the arse they would love to bust.
I write this because of late I've moved up a notch in the levels I play (I'm at 200NL atm in the cash and buying into $100-$200 tournies as a matter of course) and it means that in the tournies there is significant cash at stake as we get near the end. I'm a pretty well-off chap fortunately but when there's a few thousand at stake it's still a reasonable deal and if I ever hit a big "Sunday" final table it'll mean a lot more.
On the other hand I know that some people are a bit afraid to say anything in case they cause offense. Despite the probably harsh sounding stuff above, don't worry about that, it's genuinely great to see you and say hello I just don't need "help" from the rail if that's ok.
Anyway I've probably alienated about half a dozen people and of course it's a free internet and you can say whatever you like in the chat window. Really just posting this now rather than wishing I'd posted it when I'm at a final table of something really big and "Helpfulrailer" says to my opponent in a big pot, "u suck, Rex has you beat" or "lols" when they fold a big hand on the river.
Thanks for reading, you may now proceed to call me an ungrateful b*stard