since i've transitioned to husngs from 6-max cash, I've noticed that we're often put in a spot where we can blind off our villain when he disconnects. I propose we NOT do that. It's highly unethical, imo. It takes no skill to click raise when your opp is sitting out. that's not poker, it's only douchebaggery.

I know everyone will say, "well, they'll do it to me". Maybe not. Last time it happened, my opp, who was weaker than me, had beat me the first match. I was steaming. He disconnected. I sat out too. When he came back he said thank you. I said, "just pay it forward." I've played poker for years now and i've noticed more and more people in the poker world do unethical things. Players collude, multi-account, stall on their heads up challenges, renege on their side bets, bet sports and don't pay when they lose, websites screw over their clients in many ways, etc.

Poker boomed in the early 2000's but it's not booming now. there's a smaller influx of new players now because beginner players feel online poker and the poker world in general is shady (understandably so). I see no reason poker couldn't ever be recognized as a legitimate sport, but if the poker community keeps behaving in unkosher ways the game could slowly die off. As heads-up specialists I believe we can contribute to poker's reputation by behaving like men and not blinding off our villains when they disconnect.

This solution is easy, just rape their blinds. then send them back the buying - the rake.

that is a fair solution.

you mean blind them off so as not to waste time sitting out and send them back the buy-in? I suppose that seems more practical then waiting for a re-connect

It's unfortunate for them when it happens but players will take edges where they can get them. Most of us are playing for the money not for the competition.

that's just it, tho: it's -ev for poker long term when players show bad sportsmanship or behave unethically. Our biggest edge comes from a healthy overall poker economy.

If we are talking about being fair, blinding out the opponent is ok if you don't get angry if the opponent does the same to you. I do it, but I dont get angry if they do it to me.

Sounds like fair to me.

very personal opinion stuff here, you cant just say its unethical because you think so.

In my opinion both ways are fine.

It would become unethical when you have some sort of agreement you're breaking. These players who disconnect are clicking "register" after pokerstars have warned them about it. Nothing wrong with blinding them off. Its sorta like signing a contract you accepted/read it and then whine after.

For the very same reason when a stranger blinds you off you can't really complaint at all as the same moment you clicked "register" you are accepting this situation might happen.

To put it together, it is ethical because: both players before registering have pre-agreed that if they disconnect, they might lose their money. (The pokerstars software explains you this).

Also, I can’t imagine any fish would expect anything other than having lost his BI when he DCs (as in, I can’t imagine a fish logging back in and thinking “OMG!! That guy didn’t ship my BI back! NO WAY!! Online poker is simply awful” I think they’d generally just think “damn, I DCd and lost that BI”). I don’t think blinding off DCs in itself does any real harm to the image of online poker, I think other events have done more harm than the whole community shipping back to DC fish could ever repair. Shipping back to a reg is somewhat different IMO.

well, maybe you guys are right and it's not really unethical, but I think I'm still gonna try to be gentlemanlike and sit out when they disconnect.

I raise as fast as i can when someone disconnects or sits out.

the only time i'll wait is if i want to keep playing that player and i think by waiting for them i'll be making more money than by blinding them down.

i've played these games on stars for a long time and I don't think i've ever had anyone send me back a buy-in when I d/c (which is pretty rare for me though).

anyways... i'm not changing my behaviour for the "greater good"... i'm gonna keep doing what is most profitable for me. I don't think it's unethical whatsoever. we all know the rules when we sit down at that table.

also, i'm not sure that this "greater good" is all that great... and i also don't think you'll ever convince a signifcant portion of people who read these forums... let alone a significant portion of those who play HUSNGs. so i'm not gonna be a sucker and wait for people and ship back when i know that i've lost many buy-ins over the years to d/c. for me, this evens out over time.... not sure how much i'm up vs. how much i'm down from d/cs .... probably about even... or maybe i'm on the plus side a little bit... hard to know.

I only think on purpose searching other open tables of him, blinding down and not send those others tables back is clearly unethical to do.

Not taking the effort to look for other tables is perfectly fine.

Whathever you do with with current tables you play on is going from ok to fine and not really worth the time being spend on thinking about.

I personally wait the hand he disconnected until my complete timebank is gone, from then on I just play each hand like I would have played it if he was online. I still have to wait multiple seconds for each decision of him and he loosing some chips while I have to waste my time is fair tradeoff for me.

dude no one is ever gonna send you money back when you dc

I guess I'm a big dog to have that happen but you can't say "never". But if there's a type of social behavior that's standard and I don't agree with it, I don't see why I should engage in that behavior just because I know that if I act differently my actions won't be reciprocated.

seems like a fair compromise. I was thinking giving the villain 5-Ten minutes and then blind him off might also fair. If villain is a rec player and knows you're a reg, he might be willing to give you more heads up action in future as he will basically see you as less of a predator. That's similar to the way in high stakes live games pros tend to try to make the business men feel like they're in a friendly home game as much as possible.

I remember I used to sit out at first when an unknown disconnected. But fish are not "unknown" to me any longer. I know exactly who they are.

The "unknown" player across from you is the same guy who hits and runs in heads up cash play, and vanishes in a poof as soon as he luck-boxes a big pot. He is the same guy who slowrolls you with the nut full house, or is dumbly staring at his AA while you are all-in at 5 bigs. He is the same guy whom you sat out for, and when you disconnected in the same game, he started raising as fast as possible. He is the same guy who plays you husng after husng until he loses one. He is the ratholer. He is the shortstacker. He is a mouth-breathing, degenerate, immoral, spineless cretin who will blind you down all day without a second thought. And he will be back tomorrow depositing his children's college fund after you blind off his rent money tonight. You can count on that.

**** him, I say.

Blind that fish down.

Signed-- Evildoggg

Yea, but at the end of the day, he's keeping a roof over your head, and putting food in your belly, sir.