TalkFlop.com Blog » Etiquette

Don’t Be An Assclown!

Ready — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:02:38 +0000

I play this game for fun and to make money (Still working on the making money part). I would prefer to do both at the same time. Sometimes I get trapped in an SNG with an Assclown. You know the type. They can’t stop telling everyone how poorly you are playing and what a poker god they are. I know some people do this as a tactic to get others on tilt, it works on some people. It still does not change the fact that it ruins the game for me. I personnaly do not engage them as this normally makes one a target. I find it is best when people do not know who you are until it’s too late.

Yes, there is the option of turning off chat. I pay attention to the chat to gain information. When I turn it off, I feel awkward, like I’m missing something in my game. I should not have to turn it off because of someone’s lack of civility.

In one of my games, the Assclown hooked a guy into getting into a pissing contest with him for the entire game, That is until he got kicked in the junk with one of his horrid plays. He did have about 70% of the table shakin in their boots. It just made for a miserable game. I don’t like that. (I won it by the way.) The guy who engaged him in the pissing contest came in 2nd. He was a good player and apoligized for losing his cool. We went 148 hands to finish it, normally these are over in 80. He was good.

The only thing worse than having an Assclown at your table is when they turn into a RailTurd after they are kicked to the curb.

Moving along.

The weekend report;

Speed bump. 5 4 off is the new nuts. Or so I have been shown. Some crazy play this weekend. No, not all of it by me. Stuck to the $20 SNGs, Good me. Rarely saw a cheap flop this weekend. Which means TAG, survive, bubble shove, coin flip, oops I lost. Had too many go the other way. I did not play great but I did not play poorly either.

P.S. I have noticed a pattern. I usually donk off the first two or so SNGs. Then I reel myself in and concentrate. Then I take down some pretty good wins at the end of a session. (Looks like it takes me a few to get the engine warmed up) I think I may have stumbled onto a major leak of mine. possible solution; I am going to try to play the first several games at lower buy-ins. My concern is that the play is slightly different between the buy-ins and this may also hurt me if an adjustment period is needed.

Done rambling.

GL at the tables.

To Rebuy Or Not To Rebuy

Chewie — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:06:19 +0000

That is the question. I’m typically not a big fan of rebuy tournaments. That being said when I think about it, every single Cleveland Poker League tournament that I play in (which constitutes 98% of all my poker playing these days) is in fact a rebuy tournament. For those of you that aren’t familiar with the CPL rules, let me explain.

Players get a starting stack of $2,500 tournament chips for their buyin ($15). One time (prior to the 5th blind level) players have the option of a one-time rebuy ($5) for another $1,000 chips. You can do this whether you’ve busted out of the tournament or not.

So the question is… do I rebuy up front, or wait until later in the tournament? I’m not sure there is a “correct” answer to this question but I thought I’d pose it. I typically get my rebuy up from so I’m starting the tournament with $3,500 in chips rather than $2,500. This essentially turns this rebuy tournament into a standard freeze out style tourney. I do this because it give me the advantage of putting those players who have NOT done the rebuy at the beginning of the night “all in” from the first hand. That being said, I think the earliest that someone has ever busted out was hand #4 or #5.

On the other hand, I do like the fact that if I weren’t to get my rebuy up front then I’d have a $1,000 “safety net” so to speak if I made a bad play and was out early. Personally I don’t play all that aggressively early in a tournament so this whole post is probably a non issue but I thought I’d bring it up.

I suppose it does indeed depend on your style of play. If you’re the type of player that might just indeed bust out early then you may want to think about not rebuying right up front. If you’re a tighter player (especially early in the day) then might as well get the extra heft to your stack from the beginning.

Went On A Cruise

Ready — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:17:52 +0000

They had a casino (Oh Dear). They only offered one table for holdem. It was limit holdem. Never played live before. Never played limit before. Gave it a shot. Shaky start. Those people were out of control. I played three nights in a row with mostly the same players. It was hilarious and very disappointing at the same time.

The Players;

1)The self proclaimed porn star.
2)The comedian.
3)The chip splasher.
4)The quiet (but deadly) one.
5)The mouth.
6)The old Lady.

I found that it was very difficult to actually play what I considered proper poker, even for limit. Any two cards, anytime, all the way to the river. It was amazing. You would think this would be an easy game to beat. I folded alot. The dealers were very annoyed by the shenanigans, the cursing, the chip splashing. But this was a cruise ship and some of them were not capable of maintaining control.

The Shenanigans

The porn star kept telling us that he didn’t care about the money. The second night, he got into it with his Girlfriend (the porn producer) about fifteen feet from the table. The comedian coudn’t resist and started yelling at the guy to say he was sorry and that he was not going to win the argument. This went on for several minutes until the comedian felt it was necessary to go over there and get them to play rock paper scissors to see who the winner of the argument would be. Yes, it was funny. Especially when the waiter walked by. They both stopped mid-stream of a heated argument and ordered a drink.

The mouth was extremely intoxicated the first night. He was “The Man” and said it repeatedly. He got into it with just about everybody at the table. He was a pain in the ****.

The old lady beat the pants off everyone and left early with a profit.

The comedian had ample material with the cast of degenerate drunk bozo’s that were at the table and was actually pretty damned funny. I Found out the second night that he used to do stand up for a living.

The Chip Splasher sat to my right and had to have been the most annoying. He was one beer from falling off his chair. Every single hand he had to ask, “what’s the maximum bet?” He almost played every hand and to the dismay of everyone, actually won quite a few pots with his crap hole cards by sucking out. He would grab a stack of chips every hand and basically fling them in the direction of the pot. They went everywhere, everytime. He never got the bet right and this slowed the game down quite a bit.

The first two nights I left with a very small profit and had a pretty good time. The last night, most of the players were there again. This time most of us were sober. It was an enjoyable game. I continued to fold alot and pick my hands. I actually was able to bluff a guy into folding on the river for twenty more on a 150 pot. That was cool.

The Cooler Hand

A 10 off. KJQ rainbow flop. I’m not going anywhere. We do the raise re-raise cap thing all the way to the river with just about everyone staying in. I flip my straight. Villain (New to the table and unknown to any of us) flips his cards up and declares pair of jacks. Dealer places his cards into the muck and starts to shove the chips my way 300+ pot. Villain says, “Wait!, I think I had a flush.” Dealer stops and pulls his cards out of the muck. The two cards he pulled out did make the flush. Dealer starts to shove the chips to villain. I protested. Dealer said it was his own fault and the “Cards speak.”

Look, if the guy did win then so be it. I did not see his cards clearly before the dealer mucked them. I just didn’t like the way it went down. I waited a long time for that hand.

All in all, it was a good time.