^Well written. A good example to compare to is Jungleman, who probably can be jokingly deceptive (and also straight up lie) in a real conversation - BUT likely couldn't be actually emotionally manipulative and scheming. Due to his place on the autism spectrum.

A high functioning person on the autism spectrum can easily learn the heuristic "if I pretend to cheat, that will put other people off their game, which would be good for me". They probably wont come up with it quickly on the fly, but they could easily develop an understanding like that over time and start doing it. They also wouldnt care as much as a "normal" person that other people are annoyed by it which lowers the treshold for engaging in such behavior. This could also explain why hes doing it so egregiously. The way he employs his strategy is awkward because hes not doing it naturally but trying to follow some behavior rule. This is often how autism spectrum people try to navigate social situations. They learn heuristics for how to behave, to various degrees of success based on their level of functioning.

Im not really saying that Kabrhel is autistic, I dont think he is. But the idea that people on the spectrum, especially high functioning individuals, are unable to act in emotionally manipulative manner is flat out wrong.

The reason "pretending to cheat" is treated the same as cheating and frowned upon is the same reason "bomb" humor is not acceptable in a TSA airport check.

I wouldn’t flatter this guy by suggesting he is neurologically diverse. He is at the very best an angle shooting scumbag.

What would happen if he did this at a home game with the boys after a few beers?

Rhetorical;

Comedy would happen.

Absolutely a routine (performed rote, etc.) could be invented, especially with help, but that's not what Kabrhel's doing, or at least it's not what he appears to be doing. He appears to be improvising in real time, based on reads (social reads) of how people are reacting to and/or affected by his schtick - responses that vary from player to player, based on how they are reacting to him in real time.

I wasn't commenting theoretically. I was commenting on what he actually appears to be doing (in the high stakes 2023 WSOP tournament), and how unlikely it is that someone who is handicapped at reading social cues in real time would be able to do that. He appears to be improvising in real time, based on varying social cues from disparate players that arise "in the moment."

It's just about impossible to imagine any one significantly on the spectrum, i.e. officially having a diagnosis of Aspergers or ASD, being able to do what he appears to be doing.

OTOH - definitely deserves to be said - if he was in fact marking cards all of that is out the window. ASD could easily be consonant with him in fact cheating and behaving like he was. He could have ASD and be marking cards and be behaving as he was.

It sounds to me like some of you guys have only interacted with people who are pretty high on the spectrum. Someone like Dan Cates has ASD - and is clearly high enough functioning to be able to do some improvisation or change it up a bit based on who hes interacting with.

Again, this is going off topic because Im not even saying Kabrhel is on the spectrum - i havent seen anything to suggest that he is - just commenting on what someone on the spectrum could or couldnt be able to do.

LOL op getting news from the old Twitter…

lol at autistic people being unable to be deceptive, manipulative, & scheming

being in poker you guys spend way more time around autists than you likely realize, because if you did, you'd realize how absurd those notions are

"They" can be all those things. They just can't do it in the way Kabrhel is doing it, if his cheating schtick is a scheme and a put on, i.e. making live reads and responding to them and off of them accurately, not just making accurate reads but projecting how to successfully manipulate off the reads. That's specifically the handicap people "on the spectrum" have (by definition). It's a diagnostic criterion for the condition, that the "patient" or individual be socially handicapped, reading social situations and reading social cues poorly; not just poorly, but extremely poorly.

Cates suffers from that. Watch him play. He does not make good reads, it is the worst part of his game. Probability and pattern analysis stands in for social reading ability. That is why he makes worse calls than non-ASD people would in the same situations. He makes up for it by making better plays for it in other ways, where he isn't bound by the same patterns as other people, because he's not capable of it. He's always going to see things "neurotypical" people don't, because he literally can't see a lot of what they do see.

Rickroll, I have seen some of your posts. They reek of self-congratulatory delusions of critical ability that you actually don't have, because you like to credit yourself with having accurate information on topics you really don't know much about, because you have some privileged insight into situations (e.g. high roller poker) that other people don't have experience of. I'm actually going to put you on ignore after I post this, because your posts really reek of a black hatred of other people, borne of a not very good brain, and not very good intentions.

See: there: that's a read a person with autism couldn't make. It's a social intuition based on like 3 or 4 of your posts. I think if you're honest with yourself, you'll get the point. But I won't hold my breath.

Again, Kabrhel could have autism, but not if he's not cheating, and using his making it look like he's cheating as a manipulative strategy in real time. What he's doing can't be a rote routine. And his reads are too good. He makes some phenomenal folds, that seem clearly to be based on social reads, in real time. Again, a person with autism can't do that in the way he does. He's reading social patterns, not just formal/object patterns. He seems to have a very competent "theory of mind" (if you learn something about autism, then you will learn what this phrase means, and why it is fundamental to thinking about autism in any person). Sociopath (a condition that doesn't involve poor social reading, much the opposite) is much more likely, and would also explain, or be compatible with, actually cheating. Sociopath works for both actually cheating, and just making it look like he's cheating as a manipulation.

FWIW, higher degrees of autistic traits, i.e. people being "on the spectrum" is probably fairly common in poker today, since obviously in today's game being gifted in "pattern recognition" and math and math-type analysis is fundamental to the modern advanced game, and those are traits that, other things (like IQ) being equal autistic people are gifted in relative to "neurotypicals."

Charlie Whatsit, the guy who was on GG apparently says he has Aspergers or mild autism. That is very believable. There really are a lot of younger male players at higher levels who would likely score high in autistic traits on any screener, whether the US based one or the UK. Again it seems unlikely Kabrhel would, unless he is indeed cheating with marked cards. That would be congruent, because if he is cheating and thinks nobody will notice when he behaves like he does...that would be congruent with lacking a normal "theory of mind" of others.

This is completely wrong.
I have direct experience working with 'elite talents' in engineering who very clearly exhibit obvious Aspergers traits about 3 times in 4.
Filter for 'elite engineering traits' and based on my own empirical observations (granted, not a formal study but for a time I had access to the types of people few others will even meet, let alone work with), three of four will be observably autistic. Like, its not even 50/50. Its WAY MORE than half (which is problematic when they try to 'manage' things via a closed feedback loop of exclusively other Aspergers guys, but I digress).

Their overall sociability and social skills is as much a spectrum as their autism itself, with some being incredibly (even laughably) socially dysfunctional while others are very functional and even use their Aspergers superpowers to socially manipulate things with HIGH effectiveness, including things they're otherwise not expected to be able to do well, like get laid.

Martin is absolutely in the outlier class and will exhibit unexpected aptitudes, including (as we wittnessed) being able to tactically manipulate social factors while having HFA, which explains how he came to poker. To even suggest he's incapable of social manipulation since he's an autismo is just false. The exact opposite is likely true in his case, he uses Sperg-Brain to calculate, then influence, social dimensions many/most others probably don't even realize play out in a certain way... that he does realize, which is precisely why he employs those jarring psychological tactics at the table and is a multiple bracelet winner.

The Super High Roller tournament where he broke into public awareness was a meticulous troll/mocking of Dan Smith's table presence... and the 'genius' going on there was the only two people at the table who realized it were Dan and Martin... and that's how Martin broke him. That's poker genius and its not math.

good post

a lot of people here at 2p2 are autists and just don't realize it because they think that means rainman

Martins stocks have went way up since HCL. Played mega LAG big bet poker and destroyed everyone to the point of tears. Also great at getting streaming regs panties in a knot. I have a feeling some of the accusations are true and some of the accusations are because he triggers certain friend groups of tourney high rollers.


put him on more shows pls.