Hi.

An hour ago I finished watching the final table of the WCOOP Main Event on PokerStars. I invited my gf to watch with me. I wanted to show her my hobby and how I spend most of my free time.

I must say that I felt truly embarrassed by what I showed to her. More than an hour of verbal harassment from one player to another in chat. All because the biggest stack at the table refused the deal when the table was not even short handed yet. It was hard to even explain that to her. The mass of bad energy with lack of any reaction from PokerStars representation.

It may seem exaggerated to people familiar with poker environment. I am fully aware that gaining a mental edge is an integral part of poker. That emotions are huge when you can win a lot of money. That banter at the table is the norm (but it wasn't banter, it was simple malice mixed with frustration).

Unfortunately, it is negatively perceived by outsiders like my gf. Such people naively believe that in every sport the players are nice and smiling, and the rivalry is friendly and honorable.

Why? Because this is the image that is sold to them by the organizers and media. Joy and fun encourage much more than anger and kicking chairs. I'm almost sure PokerStars knows it. We see this in the way they produce their own broadcasts.

That's why I do not understand why they do not care about this quality in their own online tournaments. An observer from the PokerStars should have said something like, "Everyone has the right to make their own decisions. If a player does not want a deal, than we play on. Let's keep this final in a good spirit." If this does not bring effect, he could even mute the chat. It's not like the other players spoke up anyway. Instead the guy from PokerStars was chit chatting with this player and ignored his behavior.

The equation is simple. People like poker players = people like to play with poker players. But this requires immediate action in response to bad behavior at the table. And in this tournament that was missing.

I'm curious of your opinion. Regards.

This lol (hope it reflects he is talking about online poker btw)

My opinion is you won't have a gf much longer if your idea of a fun night is watching online poker.

Take the woman out

If someone is not sure what I wanted to describe in this topic, PasswordGotHacked gave a great example.

Being malicious to others "because I can". As if anonymity justify rude behavior.

Let's ignore the subject. It is better to choose a irrelevant detail referring to the author and then by the complete omission of logic to use it to ridicule this man. Because the real winners take their women out 7 times a week, especially on Tuesday nights, and never, literally never share their passions with them.

Get over it. Adults play the game and if they can't handle some "verbal harassment" then they don't need to play. Seriously, are you 15? That along with watching poker online (your hobby is watching?) with your gf is so childish. You should've shown her JCarver's stream (commentating the ft) and then she'd be a fan.

I don't even know where you find this "verbal harassment". They tried to work out a deal for life changing money and after playing a $5k tournament for 3 days (and probably many high stakes tournaments in the days preceding it) they make some comments that you think aren't friendly and you and/or your gf gets their feelers hurt. gtfo.

The point is online poker is enjoyable to watch for those who play poker and take online poker seriously. Maybe twitch or a poker show may have been a better idea to gain the interest of a novice or someone completely unfamiliar with the environment.

Online poker is not marketed as something "randoms", people with no interest in poker or girlfriends will ever watch nor will it be marketed as such.That's not what it's there for. It's not a spectator sport. Again yes twitch and big prizepools have encouraged more viewership but mainly to a certain subsection of the community that already enjoys the topic or gaming in general imo. Maybe I'm slightly wrong there.

If you want to say hey i click buttons this is what i do fine show her that. But expecting someone with little interest in online poker to sit down and watch something that you're not even involved in and she has no attachment to the players or game is ridiculous.

My statement has nothing to do with anonymity or malicious behaviour, it's fact. I'd gladly tell you the same thing to your face. It's boring to watch unless you have a vested interest how is this hard to understand.

And yes i think asking someone who has no interest in online poker to site down and watch it is a completely dumb idea. It's not a derail it is about the topic you have raised.

If you don't like people's opinions don't ask for them.

And real winners (especially with women) find a mutual interest for the couple to do and not make them watch something they have absolutely no interest in and then wonder why they don't like it.

That's MY opinion

I was watching up until the deal and the table talk was nothing I would ever consider malicious. Your gf is probably a super sensitive fragile little girl and will get destroyed by the real world. And commenting on anonymity when you created this account to make this comment is pretty funny.

Don't show your gf that last comment, she might go suicidal. Unless of course you're the sensitive little flower, which seems more plausible.

lmao. Nvg never disappoints.

Life is short Op, maybe do something else besides making your gf watch online poker players trying to negotiate a high stakes tournament chop in an online chat box.

wow Is this what the kids nowadays get upset about, there was NO verbal harassment at the final table & the only thing you could say about the winner was that maybe he was nervous, at the start he asked barryg what time it would finish as he had no sleep for 3 days also it made for a different F.T that actually a real person for once was talking. Yeah he asked for a deal a few times but no-one ever answered & it annoyed him but not once was he out of order & also the host barryg was just being friendly.
I guess you & your GF are part of the SJW college crowd.

I'm embarrassed for you too.

Who on earth invites their gf to watch a FT of a poker tournament, online, that they're not involved in?

I guess you're single now.

****ing savage

If I didn't play poker and someone made me watch an online FT I'd probably drink bleach or try catch a bullet with my face or something.

Edit: everyone beat me to it, wtf OP.

Are there unpleasant situations and unhappy players in chess, pool or tennis? Of course. Has anyone seen that in any of these sports at the international level a player indulged in a continuous complaint throughout the duration of the competition? Certainly not in front of the entire audience. And even if, the message from the organizers is clear - we do not like this, we do not want this in our competitions.

Esport becomes huge. Twitch shows how quickly. And online poker is trying to catch this train. But for that to happen, it must grow up to the level of other games. This requires getting rid of the attitude that "only poker players watch poker". The idea is to attract people who do not know poker, not those who already play.

You want to draw new people into poker? Maybe stop showing them that poker players are a bunch of toxic people who will spoil someone mood, just to get more money.

EDIT: Maybe I made a mistake calling it "harassing". But for sure it was one player complaining about other players decision for over an hour, being rude about it and making fun of his mistakes. You can name this behavior however you like, but you have to agree it was not cool to do this.

You can't compare chess, tennis or pool to poker, unless you invite your gf to watch it online with you and you can't see the chess pieces, tennis ball or pool balls.

Twitch is making some headway because you can see the holecards.

By the way, I'm not saying stay in with her and watch Twitch though.

This is not what is being said at all. What is being said is about the worst way you can attract someone to poker is by making them watch an online poker tournament that they could care less about, don't know anything, don't know anyone playing and don't understand.

People watch WSOP or WPT etc etc who have no idea about poker and this often gets them interested.

Same with twitch where you have spillover from other gaming areas. This also includes some commentary, entertainment factor and interaction to get the viewers attention especially being an almost first person standpoint so it is understandable and relatable.

I do not get how you cannot comprehend this. It's extremely simple.

It doesn't matter how many different ways you try and phrase it in this thread it's a stupid idea to have people with no interest in poker watch online poker final tables. And even stupider to whinge about what they said during them cause it embarassed you.

You can't be serious OP. I think you're embarassing yourself again

So what you are saying is stay in with her and put it on twitch?

lmao

i can totally just picture op calling his gf up and sayin "hey babe wanna come through for a lil sweat/late night rail"

She mad asf right now

First off internet.... you need to just accept normal people acting like psychos as there is no impulse control on the net like there is in real life.



2nd..... why bring your girl into this world? Unless she plays poker she just won't understand it.....



3rd... if your right then ya stars shoulda told the players to STFU, even then why bring your girl into it unless she is interested which chances are she isn't at all.

This.

FWIW Jcarver had the ft up on twitch and it was much more of an enjoyable experience with his funny commentary and also sweating him while he played the Super Tuesday.

Actually Jcarver has a huge following of non-poker players that watch / are entertained by his twitch. Try that op.

When you were so romantically snuggled up on the sofa watching did you say,

'There's a high chance he's bluffing here, but there's an even higher chance that he's not wearing any pants right now.'

Whats even funnier is that the guy he's talking about said in chat that he was going to wake up his GF to show her how well he has done because she hates poker & now will prob love the game. looooooooooool

If I would have invited my gf (now my wife) to watch my hobby online poker lol she would have dumped my ass and called me pathetic...bro time to check your nutzz and ensure you have some as your skin is wayyyy to thin.

So you do not see a problem in the fact that one player was rude to another for no reason. But you see the problem in showing someone online poker directly instead of through a Twitch channel? I have no words.

Do you people really have such a boring personalities that you can not imagine yourself telling your loved one about your hobby in an interesting way?

"I would like to tell you about what I do in my free time, but better I'll show you JCarver stream. He will tell you everything better than I do."

JCarver is the best wingman.

If you really really must show her, play a couple of hands so she can at least see your holecards.
Unless, of course, 'your passion' is watching other people win money.

You could always try another poker date night tomorrow and watch a new episode of the WSOP. Daniel's on it. Girls like Daniel.