In my last blog I started talking about how players at the tables can’t seem to keep their emotions in check when it comes to playing players making bad plays and winning. Now I was standing on a soap box a bit saying how stupid it is to berate the players who are basically funding your career. A few days later I got into a discussion with a buddy of mine where we started talking about an interesting video series on Deuces Cracked titled. The series talks about the mindset you should have at the tables and lead to an interesting discussion.

The video started by giving examples of what would be the “wrong” mindset at the table. Statements like, “So after sitting there for a few hours I FINALLY got dealt kings” and “I was just waiting for an Ace to flop to crush my pair since that’s how I’ve been running” were two of the leading examples used. It makes sense why these are the wrong way to look at it. It’s like blaming the dealer for a bad beat or saying the every poker site is “rigged.” Yeah sometimes luck wins the day but when you lose every time or find yourself trapped in this kind of mentality, the problem goes beyond just average runbad. This all made sense to me until I brought up to my friend that I had just made a similar point in a blog post about berating people at the table. That’s when the points made in the video took a turn.

Apparently the Deuces Cracked video took a slightly different motivation towards not berating people at the table. My stance is basically the, “don’t tap the glass” mentality which the video regarded as “good choice, wrong mindset.” The video claims the reason you shouldn’t berate people at the tables is because at some point, you learned during your life that it’s rude to mock and harass other people. The video goes on to say, “It’s like telling someone not to hit their head with a hammer because they might break the hammer.” While I agree it’s rude and inappropriate to yell at and berate someone, to be honest I simply don’t want my hammer broken.

I opt not to complain about bad beats, bad plays, bad luck, etc for a number of reasons. For one, the hand is over it’s time to focus on the next hand being dealt. Just regroup, reload if you have to, and move on. Second, there is no need to give away information about the kinds of hands I’d play in my opponent’s spot. Now a below average player in a NLHE game isn’t going to be able to differentiate between what my MP range is vs my LP range, but anyone will remember me going ballistic on someone for misplaying their hand (see Phil Hellmuth for more examples of this).

That may very well be the “wrong” reasons to have manners at the table but as a poker player your opponent’s well-being and feelings are secondary to your own bottom line. It’s one thing to try and make sure your opponents have as much fun at the table because then they will keep coming back and start doing “fun” things at the table like chasing draws, gambling a bit more, and drink. That being said I’m in this game to make money and I’m more concerned with my hammer than I am my opponent’s head.