Do you ever feel guilty ...?

[slapdash]

Three or four weeks ago, there was a player I kept coming across at the €50 and €100 Cooler tables on Boss. He seemed really dreadful, and out of curiosity I looked him up on Sharkscope and found this: Well, actually he only had about 600 games recorded at that time and since then he seems to have picked up a bit ... he's "only" lost about another $750. I know it's a bit illogical (it's his decision to play, and if I didn't play against him, then somebody else would, and maybe he's a millionaire and this amount of money means nothing to him), but I actually started to feel a bit uncomfortable playing him. :$ He seems to have given up on the Coolers (wise move!) and now plays standard €50-€200 STTs, and I haven't come up against him for a while, so I've been saved any moral dilemma.

[Mr Intensity]

Re: Do you ever feel guilty ...? I was playing some £20 STTs tonight, and decided to look a couple of people up. I saw one guy who was down about $15000, and the graph was just a diagonal line downwards - and not surprisingly he was awful. I didn't feel guilty, I'd seen him a few times tonight and he chooses to keep loading up the games - I did feel angry that just after I found this out about him he donked all his chips off to another player:D:@ (think it was his AQ calling AA, all in pre flop on level 1:\). Then I saw another guy who was up about $20000 mostly playing this level of game, and I thought it was him taking this other guys money and certainly not me!

[gazabroad]

Re: Do you ever feel guilty ...? Guilty, never. Just keep following him around. Isn't that why you have the sharkscope in the first place? Edit: shit, its me :loon

[slapdash]

Re: Do you ever feel guilty ...? Probably "guilty" is the wrong word. Obviously it's not my fault that he's lost that much, and if I'd decided never to play against him, then it wouldn't have made much difference to how much he was losing. If his graph had just been steadily down, then I don't think I'd have felt so uncomfortable. It's the way he seems to have gradually lost a couple of thousand at relatively small stakes, and then suddenly increased his stakes and plummeted by another $16k. Maybe I'm reading too much into the graph, but it just looks like somebody who's out of control.

[GaF]

Re: Do you ever feel guilty ...?

Maybe I'm reading too much into the graph' date=' but it just looks like somebody who's out of control.[/quote'] Indeed :sad But as you say, if you dont play him, someone else will - what can you do about it?

[GaF]

Re: Do you ever feel guilty ...? Also interesting to note that he had a big win ($2000? :loon) at the time it went from a steady fall to freefall - that win could well have been the worst thing for him :unsure

[Nade]

Re: Do you ever feel guilty ...? When i see someone who's lost a lot i feel a bit bad until i remember it's a dog eat dog world/ game and at the end of the day they're playing for the same reasons as you to win other peoples money so when i think about it like that all sympathy is out of the window and the game face is on baby ! :tongue2

[slapdash]

Re: Do you ever feel guilty ...?

Indeed :sad But as you say' date=' if you dont play him, someone else will - what can you do about it?[/quote'] Nothing. I kind of agree. But I play poker for fun (and yes, making money is part of the fun). I could imagine sitting down quite happily at a £1000 buy-in cash table (well, "happily" apart from the fact that I'd probably lose £1000!) and having fun. But if somebody else sat down with £1000 who I knew was a terrible player, had a gambling problem and couldn't really afford £1000, then I think it would cease to be fun. If I won £1000 at poker from Bill Gates, I'd be thrilled. If I won it from somebody for whom that £1000 was the next three months rent then I wouldn't be at all comfortable, even if I knew that if he hadn't lost it to me then he'd probably have lost it to somebody else. OK, it's a bit different with my Sharkscope guy, as I don't really know whether he can afford it. By the way, I checked his most recent games, and he doesn't seem to have played for over a week, at least under that username on Boss. I'm not sure if that's a good sign or a very bad sign! :unsure

[slapdash]

Re: Do you ever feel guilty ...? Maybe the answer is that if you already know that somebody is a very bad player then you shouldn't look them up on Sharkscope. :D

[Nade]

Re: Do you ever feel guilty ...? I can understand people feeling sympathy towards degens but not wanting their money when they sit at the same table as you is pretty weird imo. Think of it another way - If they're degens playing above themselves then is any winnings they make a good thing anyway? what will they do with it? probably play internet roulette when they get bored of poker and degen it off that way or drugs too. IMO you having their money is probably a lot better than them having the money in the long run. This is definitely true in economical terms, you have the knowledge to feed african children, set up world businesses and make harps with the money. Ok the last sentence is BS but you get the point Take the money !! :D

[Samba_SamPa]

Re: Do you ever feel guilty ...? Couple months back, when I was playing a lot of STTs on Boss, I limped on the Button with AQs - it was Level 1 - and the flop hit the board AAT. He made a half pot size bet, I min-raised, and he called. When the Q was turned :) he insta-pushed all-in. I didn't need asking twice to call. He turned over QTo, and then criticised me in the Chat, saying something along the lines of I will lose a lot of money if I keep limping with AQ. Out of interest, to see what this advice was worth, I checked him out on Sharkscope, and it turned out his advice was worth about -$6500 :loon People in glass houses... and all that :lol

[slapdash]

Re: Do you ever feel guilty ...?

This is definitely true in economical terms, you have the knowledge to feed african children, set up world businesses and make harps with the money. Ok the last sentence is BS but you get the point

I'll have you know I'm an expert harp-maker, and in fact that's what I spend most of my poker winnings on! :@ I don't think I ever said I wouldn't take his money. In fact I did take his money (or at least I'm pretty sure that over the games we both played, I made a profit and he made a loss). It's just that I'd rather take money from somebody who can afford it.

[slapdash]

Re: Do you ever feel guilty ...?

Couple months back, when I was playing a lot of STTs on Boss, I limped on the Button with AQs - it was Level 1 - and the flop hit the board AAT. He made a half pot size bet, I min-raised, and he called. When the Q was turned :) he insta-pushed all-in. I didn't need asking twice to call. He turned over QTo, and then criticised me in the Chat, saying something along the lines of I will lose a lot of money if I keep limping with AQ. Out of interest, to see what this advice was worth, I checked him out on Sharkscope, and it turned out his advice was worth about -$6500 :loon People in glass houses... and all that :lol

:ok When somebody criticizes my play in a STT, I often look them up on Sharkscope, and they're almost always a losing player. :lol (To be fair, I'm more likely to look them up if I know they were talking bollocks. ;))

[Samba_SamPa]

Re: Do you ever feel guilty ...?

It's just that I'd rather take money from somebody who can afford it.

You need to sit down Heads Up with Guy Laliberte :ok (may be a costly buy-in though)