Let Us Play with Class OK?

krista

Please bear with me cause I feel strongly about this issue

I know of no other competitive sport or activity ... that players at the lower levels of experience or talent are referred to as... donkeys, fish,whales, retards, morons, idiots, stupid etc
think about it... the tennis pros in Wimbeldon would refer to me at a club level as a retard?

I no have a lot of poker experience but I do have experience at being publicly laughed at, humiliated, abused and called every vulgar, mean and rude name possible at poker tables

poker is a lonely sport - frankly if not for the support of APT friends like warlock and tony and kris i would have quit it

So where does this mean mentality come from?

Alpha males that don't have a real job, contribute nothing to society and their only claim to being anything in life is that they are good at a card game?

or comes from you poker trainers who categorize lower level players with abusive titles and laugh about errors (of those idiots)?

or maybe from making rude players like Phil Helmuth into hero?

You think i exaggerate? read some of the other poker forums or watch the chat on twitch

Statistics say 95% of poker players lose money play poker, I like to see the gross $ win statements of these big mouths

let me ask you.... if your goal is to make money playing poker, wouldn't you want lower level players to feel welcome at the tables? and why no more girls play poker?

in my beginner poker journey I can give you scores of examples... an example happen last night (not to me) at a cash game... a player call an all-in and was defeated for $13... the winner says "you are so stupid lol" another one chimes in laughing

i have been in that position, I lost my money and i feel bad and then to be attacked and humiliated on top of it?

Shouldn't poker be a fun? What a pleasant way to spend an evening, and add money to it makes it more serious & thrilling - but not if you abused - that no fun

Cause you better at a card game no makes you a better person

I beg of you this....

please respect the players at your table, be friendly, polite, show class and if you see abuse stop it! and come to the victims defense

and when you catorgize players use 'recreational' not fish or donkey etc ok? PLEASE

hugs
Krista

1warlock

@krista - I'm sorry you have been abused at the tables. I'm relatively new to online poker and the things that are said in some of these rooms are simply foul. I've been very fortunate to have great private card rooms to play in and stuff like you described would never be allowed, period. Don't care how much money you have - if you were as abusive as some of the online players are you'd be thrown out and at the very least suspended from returning.

That being said, poker is not for the faint of heart. Of all the activities you mentioned it is the only one where luck plays such a large role. It is also one of the only games where anyone can sit at a table and play against anyone else if they have the money. Roger Federer doesn't ever have to face a recreational club player but poker pros do all the time. Pros make their living doing this and I can see where it would be exceptionally frustrating to have to deal with people who have no skill or even any appreciation of the game. If you are playing cash, you can just get up and leave. If you are playing a tournament, you are stuck there and have to deal with it.

So, I agree that the online chat gets excessively abusive and shouldn't be tolerated. I am however ok with a certain amount of table-talk. In fact, if I can get someone talking when playing live, I know I now own their souls. I won't abuse someone but if someone is easily tilted, I'll wind them up and exploit the hell out of them and enjoy every minute of it. A very good poker player once said that poker allows him to nurture his inner sociopath. There's a lot more truth to that statement than most care to admit. This is a game where players try to exploit weaknesses in their opponents for money. Its a zero-sum game where you don't just get a loss in a statistics column but you actually have cash leaving your wallet if you lose.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that poker can be brutal but it doesn't need to be abusive. Its also never going to be all tea and crumpets. We are all someone's fish. We are all donks in our own way. The little things can't bother you so much. You need to reserve your indignation for the actual abuse. Being called a fish or a donk just isn't that big of a deal. Its not even meant to be all that derogatory most of the time. I've had friends call me a donk on a table after calling them down light so often that sometimes I think its my name. That's my 2-cents on the matter.