What to do to ensure that your poker image ends up that of a winner...
BEWARE SITTING OUT Newcomers to online poker may not yet have discovered that if you sit out too many hands during an online game (for whatever reason) you will be kicked off the table automatically. Social players, raised on playing games at a mate’s house, have the concept that you need to be at least pie-eyed, trashing the house or attempting to straddle the host’s wife with serious intent before a visit to the pavement is called for. Not so on the web. Many a winning streak has been abruptly terminated just as the player concerned returned to the PC after fifteen minutes of well deserved rest in the loo with The Daily Star. Worth keeping in mind.
DON’T AVOID BLIND DATES In a similar vein, it’s not advisable to attempt to cheat the rest of the table by deliberately sitting out a hand when it’s your turn to dole out the big blind. On returning to the action you’ll find yourself obliged to pay the big blind in order to get back in the game, so there’s no profit in the strategy. Obviously self image doesn’t matter a lot to anyone who tries this in the first place. However, the player in question returning to the game, can expect fellow players to accord him or her the same respect from that point forward as something they might step in.
PROFITABLE TO BE NICE While on the subject of your table image it literally PAYS to be nice. If you are lucky enough to have inexperienced players at your table making what appear to you to be obviously bad judgements don’t behave like a yob and castigate their mistakes. The last thing a thinking player wants is a newcomer to LEAVE the table. Encourage them and offer polite advice where you think it will be well received or say nothing at all. Everyone pays to learn anything worthwhile. Better to have new players paying you than someone at the next table. There may be plenty of fish in the sea but you might as well keep the ones that have swum up alongside you.
WHEN TO BEHAVE BADLY Remembering that poker is about manipulating a sequence of contradictions (or as my dad used to say, “Never do anything during a poker evening that anyone can rely on!”) it’s worth considering when bad behaviour might be positive. Nine times WSOP Champ, Phil Hellmuth has turned behaving badly into something of an art form. If his pocket rockets get crushed by a lucky flush formed as late as the river he’s been known to writhe on the floor screaming and thrashing his arms and legs about like an upturned crab on speed. What’s positive about that? It’s made him world famous and everyone wants him at their tournaments because he’s entertaining and apparently women find the whole thing sexy. Might want to factor that into your thinking.
