Suppose you're at a table playing a game and an opponent who is weaker than you asks for some advice. Would you give that opponent good advice or bad advice?

I have thought about it for awhile because on one hand, giving good advice would make it more difficult to squeeze more money off the opponent but giving bad advice would make the player worse which gets me more money at the cost of dirtying my reputation. I know there is a third choice where you can just shrug off the opponent asking you for advice with some small talk, but I would like for some discussion on whether to give bad or good advice. Thanks in advance

If I could only give good advice or bad advice, I would give good advice. But it would be very general and I would do my best to not reveal any of my personal strategy.

If given a third option, I would tell them I am not qualified to give advice and they should find someone else or find a good book on poker.

Honestly if someone ask I usually just tell them the truth.
A player getting better isn’t going to matter if I am improving regularly as well.
It will just affect other players abilities to beat them.
A fish improving and getting more wins and playing more often but losing less each time can be good for the game, and you if you play regularly.
Something about sheering a sheep for its whole life but it can only be skinned once.

I guess it wont matter if you don't mind a stagnant winrate even though you're improving. Of course it matters, it's all that matters. And what if he teaches more people in your game. It's bad enough to teach the internet but to teach people in your actual game and think it's ok is crazy wrong.

They will learn too much just from watching you play; why teach them more or spell it out for them.

Imo poker isn't a scummy game but it is okay to lie tho only under one condition, someone asks you a question.

Just about all of us give advice to each other on this forum. But it's a give and take I guess.
As far as giving advice to someone at the table , like after a hand, your table neighbor asks you, "should I have bet that instead of checking?" .
We are all guilty of giving some kind of advice sometimes, but it would be a horrible idea to tell him what you really think. We are basically telling him and everyone at the table who's listening how we play and how to play against us.
Ask yourself this every time someone asks you a question like that. How will I feel if this guy wins a big pot off of me?I

And never ever discuss poker strategy with someone at the table.

I tell them that running up a huge stack is what everyone wants to do and i almost never do that so they should probably ask someone else. In general, I try to make people feel better and never make them feel bad.

Money comes and goes. Your reputation is there for life.


LOL I wrote that before I saw you mentioned reputation. You're on the right page bro.

Don't some casinos have strict rules against teaching or giving advice at the table in general? I know DURING a hand it's strictly "one player to a hand" and you can get in trouble for even saying things like, "That river put 4 to a straight AND a flush out there and this guy hasn't bluffed all day".

I ALWAYS help beginners with the MECHANICS of the game, like those who don't realize their bet has to cross the line, when they do or don't have to voice their action, the rules, I'll even say, "You can call 8, raise to 12 or fold", and if they say "Which should I do?" I'll say, "I can't help you make decisions, I can only help you understand what your options are".

If it is during the hand and there are multiple people in the hand, you are right that you shouldn't answer a request for advice.

Now, if it is heads up and the advice seeker is my opponent, then that is a different scenario than how I interpreted the original post.

In that case, I am going to answer in a manner most advantageous to me without breaking casino rules.

You can give good advice without giving the best advice (I'm assuming a post-hand analysis...not talk during a hand). If a player lacks some fundamentals then I would tell them those without trying to sneak in 'bad advice'.

Think of it this way:
Con:
1)He gets better (which makes him less exploitable)

Pro:
1) He gets better and so amasses more chips. if you can play better than the fundamentals you're in a good spot to take all of that off of him in one go instead of having to take it from all other players piece by piece. (A really weak player is a crap-shoot. The reg at the table that gets good cards first takes his chips.)

2) He'll be more friendly towards you - i.e. he's less likely to pull really nasty move on you.

3) If he follows your advice you now know how he plays and you can play against him perfectly in that spot in future hands

4) If he wins big in the session he might buy you a beer afterwards

At the table, it is ghosting, against the terms. Here, there, ABC stuffs are fine and when you give something more complicated, it isn't going to help them that much at that point and might hurt them.

When you have worked your game better, you don't mind about talking about basic stuffs. See the streamers, you can watch them weeks and end with a rather limited collection of advice.

I am not giving anyone my PLO strategy but there is still enough I can talk about but I still don't make it a habit to visit the PLO forum and give strategy advice that is mine. I don't mind about NLH as I don't play it but in MTTs some of the time. I have used NLH to improve my PLO play and it helps me to read about NLH and talk about it.

I mostly shut up about PLO5 when it gets more popular as I have and will work it out mostly myself and it as so belongs to me only. The NLH stuffs are in the books. Much of the PLO stuff is not in books and I/we try to not talk about it.

I see even at 2+2 players who have been active for years and play like a fish, and in the long run it is about ability, study, dedication, hours and such player can actually deserve the knowledge, and anyway, most of the poker knowledge you have, you didn't produce it yourself.