Party Poker

August 25, 2005

Party Poker wins Again

If, on the other Party Poker hand, the professional players are nice and courteous towards the newbies, they might feel more welcome, enjoy themselves more and do nothing to improve their gaming skills -even though they almost always lose-, simply because they are having such a good time. If people start to think that someone who is nice and friendly cannot be a good player ("because good players don't act like that"), a bad thing for poker has happened.

Mike Caro has taught me that there's a strong correlation between the atmosphere at the table (the noise, the laughter, people having a good time) and the potential profit for the professional player. Exploit this and you may win a lot of money you might not have won otherwise- while enjoying yourself in the process.

Act confidently and decisively whenever in the Party Poker pot. Don't criticize or over-analyze, be nice and courteous and fun to play with, but don't be so much fun that people won't respect your play. If you can accomplish all this, you've come a long way in becoming the "Model-Poker-Pro", and both your bankroll, the enjoyment from playing the game and your own feeling of accomplishment are expected to benefit.

With all the respect that I have for their knowledge of the Party Poker game and their obvious poker skills, I cannot understand why someone would ever say things like that. Without the presence of these supposedly weaker players, most professional players would have no living at all.

If you are someone who is able to be nice and friendly, even when losing a Party Poker pot to a long shot, then simply say: "Well done, man" or laugh at him and say something like "Man, you're a tough nut to crack" or "Geez, I think I'm going to need at least a straight flush to beat you". Let him enjoy this win, make it seem like it doesn't matter to you which cards he plays- or how he plays them.

If they think they can get better results by wearing lucky charms, special clothes etc., they will be less likely to focus on what really matters: improving their game. Have fun, but have people fear you. Don't show off with how good you are at Party Poker or try to impress others with your knowledge, but don't look like a sucker either.

Well, while I definitely agree on all of these things, I cannot understand why you would ever say "nice hand" when your opponent takes the pot away from you, a pot that he shouldn't have been fighting for in the first place.

If a young player, who has just picked up poker, sees the best players are acting like this, what is he supposed to think? He can either think: "hey, I don't like the way this guy acts, I'm going to do things differently", or, more likely, he will think this is the way a good player is supposed to act. Thus, he may start behaving like that himself, trying to prove how good a player he already is, and making matters only worse.