Stop Berating Your Opponents For Their Mistakes! You Make Them Too!

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

— Confucius

I am truly thankful that I am able to play poker for a living. Based on the quotation from the wise man above, I honestly feel privileged every day to be able to play and report poker for the media as well.

However, while playing on the poker tour, I occasionally come across players that are irritable, jaded, and often simply rude while playing poker. I have seen some players even berate others for their “poor” play, which does not make the game enjoyable for anyone.

Recently, I witnessed a player (I will refer to him as “The Villain”) repeatedly criticize his opponents for their “poor” play, when, in actuality, he had played the hands poorly. Then, The Villain berated a player after a bad beat, stating that he was a horrible player. In reality, The Villain would have wanted his opponent to call, as The Villain was a huge favorite to win the hand.

Overall, I share this column to highlight some common mistakes that I observe players making while playing tournaments. Additionally, I implore everyone to not act like The Villain. Every player paid their own tournament entry fee and can play anyway they prefer, for better or worse. If a player plays poorly, you don’t have to, “tap the glass.” Just allow the fish to play whatever way they would like. However, while players are not perfect, no one deserves to be belittled at the poker table.

Here are the moments, in my opinion, where The Villain was completely out of line, including my thoughts about his play and actions.

Blind Level: 25-50

All players started the tournament with 10,000 chips. The Villain had played aggressively throughout the first 15 minutes of the level, but maintained his starting stack until the following hand.

After four players limped into the pot (including the small blind), The Villain, sitting in the big blind, decided to raise to 175. After raising such a small amount, all four players easily called. After a flop of J 8 3, the small blind checked, The Villain led out for 500. Two late position players decided to come along for the ride. After the dealer turned the 4, the Villain bet out 1,500. This time, only the button, who only had about 5,500 chips left, called. On the river, the dealer flipped over the 9. The Villain bet 2,500, but suddenly the Button raised all-in. The Villain snap-called, revealing A A, but was dismayed when the button turned over J 9. In disgust, The Villain proceeded to yell at the button, telling him how horribly he had played the hand. The Villain couldn’t believe that the button would call him preflop with such a marginal hand and also call every subsequent bet.

When someone asked The Villain why he did not raise more preflop, the Villain simply snapped back by saying that he obviously did not want to lose players while holding the best starting hand in no-limit hold’em.

My Thoughts: Not Raising Sufficiently Preflop; Playing Aces Multi-way; Berating Your Opponent

Overall, I feel the button did nothing wrong. There was a small possibility that he may have been able to fold on the turn, but I don’t see his call as that bad of a play. To me, The Villain made the missteps that led to his losing of the hand.

First, the Villain raised such a small amount preflop that he only succeeded in building the pot. The Villain did not incentivize any player to fold, especially the button after other players had already called the raise. After hearing The Villain’s comment about not wanting to lose any players, this pot-building strategy seemed to be his intent, which is flawed.

First, heads up, pocket aces win on average about 80 percent of the time. For every player that is added to the mix, the odds of pocket rockets winning are reduced by an additional 10-15 percent. Thus, in this specific case, The Villain was less than a 50 percent favorite to win. With the best starting hand, would you want to be less than a coinflip to win? The Villain would have been better off raising more, like 750, to prevent all the limpers from seeing a flop. However, if only one of the players had called, he would not be terribly upset to go heads up. Interestingly, he would actually have gotten more chips in the pot preflop than with four limpers.

Secondly, although the button did hit a fortunate river to win the hand, The Villain never considered the possibility of losing the hand. With that many players headed to the flop, anything was possible. As the old saying goes, “Aces either win a small pot or lose a big one,” and The Villain proved this theory in this hand.

Finally, yelling at the button did not help The Villain’s situation and was definitely uncalled for. You can be upset you lost the hand, but there is no reason to take it out on your opponent (or the dealer for that matter).

Blind Level: 100-200

After taking some chances, The Villain built his stack back to 10,000, primarily when his 5-5 held up versus an opponent’s A-K. Afterwards, The Villain decided to get aggressive once again. At one point, the Villain raised five of six hands. In this particular hand, The Villain raised from the cutoff to 600. After the button and small blind folded, the big blind shoved all-in for his remaining 1,050 chips. The Villain reluctantly called, flipping over his J-4 offsuit, while his opponent revealed J-10 suited. After the board (A-7-2-2-8) ran clean and the big blind doubled up, the Villain reprimanded the big blind, stating how horrible a play his shove was with such mediocre cards.

My Thoughts: Not Recognizing Opponents’ Chips Stacks; Berating Your Opponent

Although the big blind may not have wanted to blind himself down to only five big blinds (a common mistake that the short stacks make by not maintaining fold equity), nonetheless, for him to shove in this spot was not the worst play. Primarily, The Villain lashed out at his opponent due to his embarrassment of having to show such a pitiful raising hand. Instead, The Villain should have realized that the Big Blind was severely short-stacked and could shove all in with almost any two cards. After seeing two big cards, the big blind must have felt they were as good as gold and just went for it. In the end, The Villain could have picked a better spot to make a raise and should not have blamed his ineptitude on his opponent.

Overall, always recognize your opponents’ chip stacks, especially in the blinds, and act accordingly.

Blind Level: 200-400, ante 50

Although he had made some poor plays himself, The Villain caught some cards and built his stack back to about 12,000. When one of his friends stopped by the table, The Villain unbelievably said that had his opponents not gotten so “lucky” against him that he would have about 100,000 chips at this point. This comment surely endeared himself to the rest of the table!

A few minutes later, The Villain, sitting in mid position, raised to 1200. Only the Small Blind, who had a significantly bigger stack than the Villain, decided to call. With a flop of 7 3 2, the small blind donk bet out 1,800. However, the Villain raised to 4,500, which the small blind just called.

When the turn came 2, the small blind decided to check. Suddenly, The Villain pushed all-in. After a moment, the Small Blind decided to call. The Villain flipped over J J, while the Small Blind grimaced, revealing his smaller overpair: 8 8. Miraculously, the dealer rivered one of the small blind’s two outs – 8.

After his elimination, The Villain went on a tirade. “You are such a donkey. How can you make such a horrible call? You know I’m only playing premium hands. You just suck!”

My Thoughts: Berating Your Opponent; Recognizing Your Table Image

First, I don’t blame the small blind for calling. Although he may have been able to make a hero fold on the turn, he did have an overpair to the board and had significantly more chips that The Villain. In retrospect, if The Villain had seen the small blind’s hand, The Villain would never have wanted the small blind to fold. The Villain would always want his opponents to call with only two outs. Thus, when the 8 hit on the river, how can he berate his opponent? The Villain was a 95 percent favorite to win the hand, but sometimes the 5 percent rears its ugly head. The Villain was out of line blaming his opponent, but surprisingly, other players on tour react similarly in common situations. Remember, you want your opponent, who was truly an underdog, to call. Thus, if they beat you, how can you honestly be upset at your opponent?

Also, The Villain’s comment that he only had played premium hands goes out the window when he raised with hands like J-4 offsuit in the previous example. Additionally, due to his aggressive and antagonistic nature, there was definitely a small target on The Villain’s back. I would be lying if most of the players at the table did not give a slight golf clap after he was eliminated. Sometimes karma gets you!

Nevertheless, you should always recognize your table image and play accordingly.
Conclusion:

In my opinion, the actions of The Villain were reprehensible. Why get mad at your opponent? For me, if an opponent is playing poorly, I want to take advantage of his mistakes later. I also don’t want this player to stop playing poker. To grow our sport, we have to encourage all levels of players to continue to play.

I love playing poker and never have considered it a job. However, for others who are becoming frustrated with the game, please take a moment before you react at the tables and do not use The Villain as a role model. Poker should be an enjoyable social activity, and no one deserves to be berated for making a “poor” play. ♠

Bernard Lee is a poker columnist for ESPN.com, author of “The Final Table, Volume I and II,” and radio host of “The Bernard Lee Poker Show,” which can be found on RoundersRadio.com or via podcast on iTunes. Lee has more than $2 million in career earnings, won six titles, and is also a team member of RunGoodGear.com. Follow Bernard Lee on Twitter: @BernardLeePoker or visit him at www.BernardLeePoker.com.