The reason why all of this crap bothers you is because you let yourself get caught up in it. You sit there at the table, wanting it to be a social experience, and you get involved in all of the mind games and the needling and the comments and discussion of the hands and who is better than who and all of the stuff. Those guys are trying to get an edge on you by talking and chastizing you and all of that because you let yourself be drawn into it.
I have not played no-limit with you, but I have seen you do the talking-to-get an edge thing at the limit game. Chatting up some of the weaker players and so on.
It becomes much more enjoyable and peaceful to play if you think about things not in terms of EV. For instance, worrying about upsetting Jon because he is a fish and might leave the game. You are partly there. Forget EV-- just worry about upsetting Jon because Jon is a human and you should try to not upset anyone. If Jon doesn't want the laptop at the table, then simply respect his wishes and leave the laptop away. It does not have to be a problem. You and Nick should not discuss how a hand was played afterwards not because it is -EV to give information away, but because it is not polite. You should not rub salt into the wounds of others not because it is -EV, but because it is nasty to do that.
To play poker properly your goal is to make correct decisions. If you clear your mind of all of this distracting stuff you will make better decisions. If you try to make yourself impervious to all of this you will play better.
If you will notice, when I play almost nobody even talks to me. Sometimes people will talk at me. Or talk about me. But very rarely does someone try to fuck with me. Partly because I treat everybody at the game with respect and they do the same to me and partly because there is no point in trying to needle me, I am just going to sit there. If my skin is thin that day, I just go home. Either way, it is useless.
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Become Still
Date: 2005-01-01 18:30 (UTC)I have not played no-limit with you, but I have seen you do the talking-to-get an edge thing at the limit game. Chatting up some of the weaker players and so on.
It becomes much more enjoyable and peaceful to play if you think about things not in terms of EV. For instance, worrying about upsetting Jon because he is a fish and might leave the game. You are partly there. Forget EV-- just worry about upsetting Jon because Jon is a human and you should try to not upset anyone. If Jon doesn't want the laptop at the table, then simply respect his wishes and leave the laptop away. It does not have to be a problem. You and Nick should not discuss how a hand was played afterwards not because it is -EV to give information away, but because it is not polite. You should not rub salt into the wounds of others not because it is -EV, but because it is nasty to do that.
To play poker properly your goal is to make correct decisions. If you clear your mind of all of this distracting stuff you will make better decisions. If you try to make yourself impervious to all of this you will play better.
If you will notice, when I play almost nobody even talks to me. Sometimes people will talk at me. Or talk about me. But very rarely does someone try to fuck with me. Partly because I treat everybody at the game with respect and they do the same to me and partly because there is no point in trying to needle me, I am just going to sit there. If my skin is thin that day, I just go home. Either way, it is useless.