I'm not 100% sure pros need to actively befriend rec players at the tables, but just include them. Like you said Daniel, a few ice breakers will go a long way.

Too often you just see a table of hoody and headphone wearing 20-somethings sat in virtual silence. They haven't decided to wear that themselves, they see the pros doing it on TV.

I'd say that pros in general should just be a bit more self aware more than anything, and realise their demeanor and behaviour can affect far beyond their immediate surroundings. If that means everyone makes 10% more effort to be nice to a fish/rec player then that's gotta be good for the poker economy.

DN, Galfond, etc. are right. Pros should create a welcoming environment for noobs and fish. If you lose your money and don't have fun, you won't come back. But if you lose your money and enjoy it, then you will come back. That's the whole idea behind every other game in the casino. But like Galfond said, the people who have the skills to excel at poker aren't exactly the most naturally social.

If I send 2 cents to kidpoker can u tell stars rng dept to hit my boom switch, thanks.

My only contribution to this thread is to defer to these comments:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...4&postcount=60

I hope Capitao doesn't mind

I like the way you put it. Understanding that the amateur players are similar to customers and they should be treated that way. If you are a professional poker player, poker is your business and the bad players are your customers. Treat your customers poorly, you lose revenue. Treat them with respect and courtesy, and you are more likely to have a long term customer.

The guys who arguably make the most money in the world today are names you may never have heard of. They mastered the art of getting into good games. Good players who find their way into juicy private games despite them having a no pro policy. Certain pros get it, are likable, and keep getting invited back despite the fact that they are winners.

That's the backbone of how poker professionals started. before regulated casinos and online poker, you had to get invited to play in games. If you are a winning player, that's strike one, but if they don't like you AND you are a winning player you simply can't survive.

When Galfond mentions in his blog that old school players are better at this "hustle" it's because the old-timers had no choice. Since the online poker boom and the ease of finding games for so many years, that SKILL as a professional poker player has been lost on the youth. The young guys coming up didn't have to be liked, they could log in, play with a bad player, then quit the second the bad player quits. Stuff that you could have never gotten away with in the old days.

+1 excellent post.

I like the positive changes in your life, it seems like you have alot of Positivity in your life and you seem very happy. Congrats on all your recent success.

Just curious....

1. Can you give us some info on your hair? It looks great, what exactly did you have done.

2. Are you playing 1 drop this year? if so, have you ever considering giving away/prize/promo/etc for a % of you in that tourney? Seems like it would be cool.

Thanks.

Great to have you back, Daniel.

Feel free to weigh in on issues about poker anytime around here.

DNegs: How do you think online poker could be marketed better? Esp the cash games, also from you?

Your doing great work, but I miss seeing you play on the pokerstars cash game tables, NLHE, PLO or mixed games, its just a very exciting ting that I think lots of people want to see and follow as well, and hopefully would get and keep people interested in playing and raking on Pokerstars.

Why dont you get them to cover your expenses and do challenges like Isildur1 had on Pokerstars? Think that would be a good and fun thing for everyone, including you

Edit: when will you open the store online?

Re-legalizing online poker in the USA, with fully international player pools again, would bring in a HUGE number of players (since the USA was such a large percentage of the online player pools). Although this is subject to the tyrannical sociopaths we call politicians who only respond to legal bribery (lobbying payola), and therefore isn't likely to happen in the next decade, it is the entire reason anyone can even say "poker is dying".

I don't think any of this would matter if the prohibition was reversed. True, there are other factors, like berating low skill players, rake, taxes (if legal), costs of overregulation compliance (some of the suggestions I've heard sound ridiculous, although we all want direct and measurable harm, fraud, etc. banned and to carry serious penalties), etc. But until Black Friday poker was anything but dying (or at least until what led to Black Friday).

And I agree that there is untapped potential with women (no pun intended). They are like half the world, and make up a sliver of people in poker. Since the only physical skill in poker is bladder and bowel control, I don't see why good marketing couldn't reach them.

Cliffs: Bring back mirrions of players with expendable income manies; problem largely solved. May require abolition of the state (I can dream too) to solve govt corruption and sociopathic, statist, authoritarian rulers problem. Plus, Vicki Vallencourt showed me her boobies, and I like them too.

no brainer

he gives insight into his personal life and approach to poker, always offers a unique perspective, and delivers more genuine feedback than any other 'personality' in the game.

major props to Daniel for always being acccessible and approachable

it's not even a contest compared to any other 'pro' when it comes to class and integrity.

I don't see it as much as "youth" vs "old" or old school vs new school...

its more about online vs live.

as you mention, ZERO social awareness skills are needed to be successful online.

Social skills are part of live.

Online players moved the strategic understanding of poker to the next level and many live players benefitted from that.

Maybe its time for the online players to pick up a few social skills from the live crowd.

P.S. welcome back, don't let the 2+2 curmudgeons keep you away from the community

Not applying to live poker much, but nobody has touched the topic that a lot comes down to operators and the will to maximize their profits.
Maybe hard look at smaller rooms/networks that **** up on so many stupid things but you can clearly see how Pokerstars caters to the mass grinders which itself makes the online game much more antisocial but lets them earn more rake.

To make the game more social you have to make the platform more social as well (zoom global chat pool, anti ratholing etc) but really hard to balance it with the overall game getting tougher and more complex (players getting better). If a very big proportion of players is somewhat decent and sees the game like a poker professional even when he isn´t very good he still wants to get the product that also will make the game more antisocial. So it´s obvious that rooms will cater to that player.
Think of how many players that generate most of the rake see online poker rooms as work platforms, feeling entitled to earn a profit from the game and entitled for help from the operator because they generate rake.
The game can become more social when operators will start telling the grinders to **** off but if I had a poker business I wouldn´t also want to risk with alienating the players that are happy to grind for 6h a day on 10+ tables.

The people who need to change their behaviors don't give any ****s at all about this thread or what anyone thinks. If you think poker needs to change, you should develop some ideas for policies that could bring change. Pointing out that this is just another tragedy of the commons and that everyone would be better off if they ignored self interest is very played out in 2014.

For me, its not the playa that's the problem, its the game. Seems like every tournament these days is a re-entry, especially at low to mid-range buyin levels, with many carrying over the biggest stack, and absurdly long registration periods etc.

It feels more and more like you're playing against some deep pocketed guys at a cash game than it does a tournament. Many players, yourself apparently included, like this format, and feel it plays to your advantage. And if it plays to the advantage of pros and good players with deep pockets, that's not encouraging for us recreational players.

A little less rake rape might go a long way for the 'poker world'. Pass that along for us, eh Daniel?

Welcome back, Daniel. I told you you were missed!

Do people still ship you 0.02c for good luck?

Glad you're posting here again. Think you were already banned when I joined 2+2 and I was kinda bummed out about it

Agree with this as well.

It's not just about the cyber attack: It's about how the hotel and PS handled the aftermath. In particular, some part of the hotel mngt was either grossly incompetent or somehow involved/aware.

Something like that could have happened anywhere, but the way it was handled is why the decision for PS to go back there smells bad. If you are only aware of the situation at a cursory level then please look into it further.

its not headphones that killed poker, its the government

I don't mind, although I have no idea if you're being serious or sarcastic, but that post sums up what i'd post in this thread anyway

Welcome back DN, only played with you once (three tables left in APAC main) and you were definitely great for the game even deep in the APAC main you took time to chat with the table, take pictures with fans on the rail etc.

I like to think my demeanour at the table is half you and half Hellmuth when i'm playing. Keep up the good work, you're one of the best ambassadors the game has.

Thanks for taking the time for doing this Daniel.

What do you think the future is for PLO? Its hugely popular online despite being raked unfairly (2x nlhe in bb/100 on similar stakes), but at least in tournament format seems to be a bit slower (slightly related).

Do you ever think about you personally want to help build PLO like you tried build the 50 100 NLHE 6m action on Pokerstars?

What is your vision to make online cash game poker grow more?

+1000