3) several players appear to be expressing a displeasure in the level of poker discussion at the game. and we'll ignore anybody with a "don't tap on the glass" attitude. poker is such a complex game that i think that adage is useless. by analogy, you couldn't walk up and tap on the glass to some sucker playing chess in harvard square. the game's too tough for any quick tips to make much of a difference.
i think some of the players at the game are expressing two feelings. first, they don't appreciate every aspect of the game being analyzed while the game is playing. there's something to be said for separating game time from study time. some people dislike questions about their play or the rationale behind it. furthermore, some players see it as exactly the type of psychological edge-gaining that you claim to despise. you might not agree, but many players see your learned discussion and analysis as attempts to point out their deficiencies and hence gain an edge. they ask themselves, "why can't bradley just have fun and stop trying to push that edge on me?"
second, some people just find the topic plain boring. they're bored to death by recounting of old poker hands, discussion of hypothetical hands, calculations of odds, etc. now, you are certainly free to discuss whatever you want at a poker game, be it poker, politics, sports, or sex. but as with any social situation, it's always best to keep the radar up to see if the listener is interested. if you notice that only one or two other people are interested in the topic, then sometimes you should either change the subject or reduce your volume so only those interested participants need to tune in. an attitude of "it's a poker game, what the heck else are we supposed to talk about!?" just won't fly.
but that gets back to the personality clash issues, which i'm not going to discuss.
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my three points (last one)
Date: 2005-01-02 20:21 (UTC)3) several players appear to be expressing a displeasure in the level of
poker discussion at the game. and we'll ignore anybody with a "don't tap
on the glass" attitude. poker is such a complex game that i think that
adage is useless. by analogy, you couldn't walk up and tap on the glass
to some sucker playing chess in harvard square. the game's too tough for
any quick tips to make much of a difference.
i think some of the players at the game are expressing two feelings.
first, they don't appreciate every aspect of the game being analyzed while
the game is playing. there's something to be said for separating game
time from study time. some people dislike questions about their play or
the rationale behind it. furthermore, some players see it as exactly the
type of psychological edge-gaining that you claim to despise. you might
not agree, but many players see your learned discussion and analysis as
attempts to point out their deficiencies and hence gain an edge. they ask
themselves, "why can't bradley just have fun and stop trying to push that
edge on me?"
second, some people just find the topic plain boring. they're bored to
death by recounting of old poker hands, discussion of hypothetical hands,
calculations of odds, etc. now, you are certainly free to discuss
whatever you want at a poker game, be it poker, politics, sports, or sex.
but as with any social situation, it's always best to keep the radar up to
see if the listener is interested. if you notice that only one or two
other people are interested in the topic, then sometimes you should either
change the subject or reduce your volume so only those interested
participants need to tune in. an attitude of "it's a poker game, what the
heck else are we supposed to talk about!?" just won't fly.
but that gets back to the personality clash issues, which i'm not going to
discuss.