The Melting Ice-Caps of the Poker Community
Have you heard the saying that roughly 10-15% of the poker population are considered ‘winners’ with 2-3% of those being the big winners? While the rest of the players are small winners/losers and break-even players (making up around 20% of the pool) and the last 65% will be the losers. The existence of rake will be making up for the non 50/50 split of winners/losers you would expect in a zero-sum game.
Now think of the poker community like an iceberg with the winners section being the part that you can visibly see above the waters surface and the vast majority of the break-even players.
This ratio of exposed surface to submerged surface is consistent to the entire volume of the iceberg. If we reduce the volume of the iceberg the part we can see above the water will also reduce.
Have you worked out where I’m going with this yet?
The more poker players there are in the population (volume) then greater the amount of winners will be in the game! (exposed surface).
Our logical job as players looking to make a profit should not only be seeking constant improvement in our strategy but also to be recruiting new players to the game and even more important is to make sure that the recreational players that are coming over to have fun- HAVE FUN.
If there is one thing that I cannot stand for when I’m playing it is someone being rude, berating (randomly coaching wtf!?!) or otherwise criticising a player for simply getting lucky and beating them in a pot because they suck the enjoyment out of the game for everyone.
After all it is a game, it’s meant to be fun! If you can’t handle it you shouldn’t be playing full stop. All that will happen is the weaker player will feel embarrassed, leave and probably never come back again… good result huh?
There is a place for ego in poker but it’s not when you are playing against someone who is ignorant of the games strategy because clearly they are going to make mistakes. If they didn’t make those mistakes the game would become extinct.
Do you think the owner of a casino cares when people come into their establishment put down their money and win or lose? They couldn’t care less, they are just happy to have an edge in the game and the more people that play the better. Think of the bad-beats in poker like when a punter wins a chunk off the casino on the roulette table and gets up and leaves. It’s going to happen sometimes so just think of it like a marketing budget.
The majority of poker punters come in to have some entertainment a few drinks, chat and have fun and leave. Winning is a bonus they aren’t particularly attached to the money and they won’t mind losing it as that’s what they expect to happen. I make a huge effort to make the game fun and if you see someone ruining the experience then make it your business to do whatever you can to tilt the hell out of the guy who is making the faux pas.
“So you called off half your stack with pocket 4’s preflop and cracked my aces, well done you massive fish”
The rec player will usually respond by shrugging their shoulders and looking embarrassed while the loser of the pot continues…
“How stupid can you be? This always happens to me against the shit players”
This is your cue to come in…
“Hahah oh man, not this again- you gonna cry mate? why don’t you grow up- at least this guys got the balls to get his money in!”
Then proceed to high-five the rec player (they love that and the tilters hate it)
At the minimum this will make the loser-reg think twice about what he says next time and whats even better is sometimes they go on crazy-tilt- SWEET
I give you my permission, no my complete endorsement to stop this happening whenever you see it. If you sit there quietly while this kind of stuff goes on then you failed your mission miserably. They deserve it! Just make sure you don’t get into a physical altercation over it! Not worth getting hurt or banned for.
If you approach this game with the mindset of the casino-owner then the correct response to being on the receiving end of a bad beat is a smile and a simple “nice hand mate”
EASY PEASY!
JoeyCraigProTip: Don’t participate in overfishing, its bad for the environment