Little while ago I had this young guy at my table start trying to talk a bunch of strategy. And then starts talking to another guy about how he plays online at NL200 heads up. Starts asking this other guy what his bb/100 is online, and the other guy is like Idk I dont give a **** lol. Then he continues on about GTO vs exploitative and basically he just kept talking about all the worst stuff you can talk about cause I assume it makes the rec players feel targeted and like they don't belong etc. Overall just bad for the games.

Anyways, should I talk to this kid about this? Is it worth it? Seems like he's starting to come play a lot.

Tell that nerd to stfu


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Much like the taboo regarding seat changing / table changing currently being discussed in the winrates thread, I actually believe this concept of the negative affects of discussing strategy at the table is also a bit overrated now. This ain't ~2005 where everyone and their grandmother started playing this game of chance known as NL pokr. Those days are over. Almost everyone at the table nowadays, "even" the "recs" (90% of the players sitting at my table are recreational players who likely play 1 or 2 times a week and put in 500+ hours a year and have been doing so for years, this ain't their first rodeo), realize this is a game of skill and the better your strategy is the better chance you have of winning. And part of the fun of being a "rec" player is talking about the hand and how it as played and blah blah blah.

Of course I wouldn't encourage it, and leave my strategy discussions to simply yes-man "yeah, you had to call there, nothing else you could do" (although in lol situations I'm guessing some at the table can see thru this facetiousness), and of course I do my best to steer the conversation away from poker strat if I can.

But at the same time, in the current environment, I don't think it's doing as much damage as you think.

In your particular case my guess is he'll just eventually shut up if no one engages him. And if someone engages him, I guess just try to learn enough as you can about their strategy from their convo if it appears genuine.

Goverratedconceptnowadays,imoG

GG, its not about giving away actual strat (lol at being worried about this kid giving away actual strat), its about killing the vibe of a game.

Most people dont realize how important the vibe of a game is. People talking about sports and women while laughing and drinking beer vpip more than people talking about politics or poker strategy. Its that simple.

I personally hate tables where people talk strategy because it sounds so nerdy but some of the stuff I hear is so bad that I’m on the fence about whether or not it helps or hurts the table. My last session was in a game where literally the entire table was talking strategy. At first my thought was to switch tables but it was going to take a bit so I just tightened up and observed. I saw some of the dumbest plays I’ve ever seen and decided to stay in the game. While I lost about $300, I profited a large amount of sklanky bucks at that table!

Poster above me hit nail on the head, it just sounds nerdy and not fun when people are talking strategy. I’m a breakeven player at best but I know I get a lot of action and loose calls from older regs because I don’t discuss the game outside of how much I’m up or down. Usually talking about sports, politics, business or news works well. Going the other route of purposely pissing everyone off to make them try to bust you also is a play, but I’m trying to bank some good karma in 2018 to see if I run better. My win/loss statements the past few years have been terrible from the tables and i think it’s because I’m such a jerk!

Yeah, I'll concede a little on the vibe part, but mostly on just the enjoyability of being at the table. If the game mostly consists of day-in-day-out rec players (like my game), then I'm not convinced the vibe in that game has much affect on how the game is being played itself; players typically player their game (whatever that game is) regardless, no? The vibe just makes the game more enjoyable to play. I mean, I've had a lotta laughs and fun at some fairly meh poker tables.

If you have a lotta randoms / off the street / off the casino floor / here for a good time on a Friday night players sitting in your game, then this concept likely applies a lot more. Doesn't apply as much in a 95% reg infested game, imo.

ETA: All I can say is this. If I have my choice between two tables, one which is laughing it up and beers are slinging and jokes are zinging, but everyone at the table is deep and knows what they are doing and there are some fairly dangerous players in the game (and they are all playing with each other simply for ego's sake, not that it's a good table, which it isn't) versus another much quieter table (which may have a smattering of strat talk after each hand by the one or two lone ok players at the table) but is littered with real bad loose calling station ABC non-bluffers in it, I know exactly what table I'm headed to.

GcluelessvibenoobG

these

If you are not his mom, don't tell adults to stop talking about whatever they are talking about. You won't accomplish anything except pissing him off.

Play the game.

If you think it's killing the table and it bothers you that much, move tables. Or, even better, exploit his strategy.

It's really no secret that there is strategy involved in the game so I would just let him make a fool out of himself, rather than tell him indirectly "hey, I'm a good player who understands all this stuff, please don't educate the fish".

I know of at least one guy who can't help himself to add commentary after almost every hand, but there's not much anyone can do to change his ways. After all, we still want THESE people to stay in the game since they usually suck anyway, so rather than possibly intimidate them I usually just let these things go. I don't think by recreational players listening to these things will change their play for the better one bit. HOWEVER, if the guy is lecturing someone who called a 3bet pre with 22 that he doesn't have the proper odds to setmine heads up, that is a different story.

Sigh. Its about soft skills.

If you arent good at changing the table topic to women or sports, you aren't a great live player.

Having soft skills in live poker adds at least 1bb to your wr. It is way more important than your standard deviation.

For most fish, I don't think this kind of strat talk makes them feel targetted. When people comment in front of a fish that a certain play was so terrible... that's the stuff that's damaging. Most people don't like to be in a place where they feel other people are judging them as stupid.

Other than this and comments which are outright offensive, I actually regard most kind of talk around the table,including strat talk,to be positive.

Fwiw, there is no poker community code which stipulates that its your duty to skool this guy.

If he is a fish let him enjoy himself at table. If he is solid or more ask him if he has heard of SDFU theory. He will get the hint.

Generally esteeming him to be bad player. I have had people talk about thinking about killing their ex-wife at the table,jumping a player after the game (floor kicked player out),selling on DarkNet, custody battles etc. Moral is talking is 98% of time mistake at the table.

And everything Playbig2000 said.

Amen to this. You can change the topic easily too. Here are things that I do:

1. "Hey guys, anybody want to do a lap of straddles?"
2. "Ok dealer, I need some help here so I am going to tip you in advance. Might even try to start a pre-emptive tip war with another player."
3. "This table is too serious. Lets get a round of drinks for everyone...we came to have fun right?"

Any of these can change the mood of the table instantly and get people laughing and having a good time. You just need to work at it a bit and you can make even the quietest, tightest games open up.

I cant disagree with this more. Not only can you change the dynamic of a game by being the one who leads the fun/discussion, you can also learn valuable things about other players that may translate into how they play.

Never forget that bad players don't hate to lose as long as they are having a good time losing. It is your duty to make sure they have a blast so celebrate with them when they suck out and commiserate with them when they lose any hand. It is a matter of having good manners as well as increasing the likliehood they stay and lose TO YOU later.

I recently made one of my bigger hero calls. When the guy asked me about it later, I truthfully told him part of the reason was I heard him talking about "balancing his range" and so forth with his buddy. He seemed to contemplate that. So, while lecturing a guy might not work, perhaps look for a little window to say, in a friendly fashion, "you know, if you didn't talk strategy, I wouldn't have known you were capable of that bluff/fold/whatever and you'd probably have won that pot."


Agree. I think a little light poker talk is fine obviously, because you are playing poker, but then it's time to steer the conversation in other directions.

Another aspect of this is that the rec players don't want to be humiliated. Strat talkers are usually young, DBs, LAGs. Recs don't want to be bluffed or heroed by such people so they'll just tighten up.

This. Plus tell him that you will reserve a dick slapping for his face for each and everytime he talks strat at the table.