A colleague of mine continually brags about being an established poker pro and has repeatedly shared his P/L graph nearing 90k total winnings to our poker circle. He thinks he is one of the best poker players but is currently grinding 2/3 300 cap. I have invited him to numerous private games with similar aged players (19-25) but he repeatedly declines because there are "not enough fish in the game for him to play". He will only play games with specific lineups and when pressed about his poker aptitude, he prides himself by saying that the truest poker pros game select, table and seat change, to their favor in order to maximize edge. He has gone on record to say I am a fish for playing T/20 when there's more "pros" than "fish" in a given lineup.

I completely disagree with his sentiment as I believe the best and truest poker pros will play any lineup and won't succumb to edgehunting acts like seat changing.

AITA for calling him out on his bs? Or is he allowed to have this inflated ego even though he will never play with me or any of my early/mid 20's friends.

I give him the green light

It depends on what drives you to play.

If you’re interested in money, he’s right.

If you’re more interested in pride/ego/demonstrating you’re “the best”, your perspective is correct.

Seems like you both just have different motivations to play.

Game and seat selection are part of poker skill imo.

I just realized you said he has an inflated ego. What makes you think that? He’s paying you a compliment by saying you guys are too tough for him to want to play against. Why do you take offense to that and why do you think that implies he has a big ego?

Because he has gone on record and said that my colleagues and I, all of which whom have earned over 100k in poker, are fish for playing with certain individuals at the casino/home games because they are well-known pros in our area, and that he believes he has "edge" over us but will only settle this discussion in a game structure format to his liking ex: 1/2 NLH; which, I might add, is slightly annoying for the rest of us because we main 5T and T20.

Some people play poker for the game or the competition others play to make money. If the latter is the goal, the #1 skill is game selection and it's not even close.

The main gripe I have with this is that he confidently believes he is one of the best poker players in the area; I acknowledge that he exhibits strong bankroll management and game selection

Why would you organize a private 10/20 game with all pros lol your a clown, your buddy is right for not wanting to go.

We're not all pros, we're just grad school and undergraduate kids who turned out to be winning players

alot of people dont understand that you will make the most money at the highest stakes you can beat.

using brm and increasing your skill so you can beat 5/T and T/20 are the most important things.

If you want to be really good at 1/3 and 2/5 then be very careful about lineups.

If you want to make it to high stakes then you gotta get good and not be scared of anyone.

Fear is a lack of BRM and skill

He actually might be the best player I’ve ever heard of, unparalleled discipline

No need to get good if you're able to get into high stakes games where the players are worse than at small stakes.

Getting good at poker is actually really bad if you want to make it to high stakes. Times have changed.

Where are a bunch of college kids getting the money to play in a 10/20 NL home game?

Yes, you are the a**hole in terms of feeling compelled in ANY way to "call him out". EVERY poker player is allowed to have "an inflated ego".

Poker often is based on winning money from folks with inflated egos, who overestimate their relative skill.

To be honest, you don't come across as someone who is a good addition to any poker game line up.

meh you can just pretend you’re not that good and intentionally make bad plays

Your friend sounds smart and will probably be low on poker ego if he won't play in reggy line-ups. A lot of people reach a level they barely beat and stay there due to ego, rather than beating up lower stakes through table selecting.

It does sound like you are the one with the bigger ego if you're getting annoyed about him not playing in your games. He may be better than all of you at beating recs *amd hence his confidence) but realises he's either a small winner or loser in tougher games where his hourly will be lower. Hourly is the only thing that matters if money is the main motivation for playing.

nothing wrong with a big ego. inflated ego however...

and this is why you'll never succeed in poker...

kids these days think poker is reg battles and HU4ROLLZ challenges..

poker is about making money dude...

You do realize that playing HU vs an inferior opponent is one of the easiest ways in poker to win money?

OP sounds incredibly fishy in more ways then one

I wager this is either a troll or OP is the “friend” seeking validation for being a parasitic nit

Yep. OP sounds like the one with a bruised ego. Mad coz bad.

yeah, none of this happened and the 10/20 dorm room home game nor the 90k graph exists

What makes more - winning 10bb/hour at 1/3 or 5bb/hour at 2/5? By your rationale I should play 2/5 as it's a stake I can beat and it's higher than 1/3, amirite?