very timely and well written story from Lee Davy of Calvin Ayre regarding Edog and gambling addiction....

great read imo.

http://calvinayre.com/2014/02/13/poker/confessions-of-a-poker-writer-why-i-respect-erick-lindgren/

ICWYDT.

I just wasted a bunch of time posting about this same banning issue in the "Palms Dealer" thread. But I will post again here.

It has become obvious that the user base here sees this site as a place to gather info regarding poker and the poker world. Mason, by his actions has shown that he sees this site as nothing more that his little fiefdom to shill his products.


I won't get into whether Mason or DNegs are more relevant in the Poker world - but is clear that the users here do want to hear what he has to say in this area (whether they agree with him or not).

This is the second time in as many weeks that Mason has banned someone who offers important info to the user base for something written on another site. The only way to show Mason that this is not acceptable to his user base is to go after the only things that he seems to care about - his ego and his wallet.

The users here need to let him know that they will no longer frequent 2 + 2 if he does not reverse his decision in this area. obviously, a drop off in page views would affect his ability to bring in ad money/ sell books. Further, as his Ego seems to be tied to being "Top Dog" here loss of users would affect that as well.

Will the users of 2 + 2 actually, user their power as consumers to show mason, and 2 + 2, that this behavior is not acceptable to them? Who knows? But if we don't we have no one to blame but ourselves for the results.

First off, not everyone puts their own interests first. True it's common, but not the necessary rule.

I agree that they aren't mutually exclusive but it's better to have someone with more real independence to champion the cause.

I asked a friend,
Do you feel your gov't has your best interest at heart. After some thought he said yes. I then asked do you feel that corporations have your best interest at heart. He quickly replied no. I then asked do you think the gov't is overly influenced by corporations... after a long pause he said he saw my point.

That was Gobbo on The Big Game.
Stapes does his 'analytical' commentary on the EPT live stream. A stream is not watched by rhe mainstream viewer. If any non players watch the TV highlights on TV here in the UK, I wouldn't worry. Most of it is edited out. You are so far off base...

Yea u may be right about the ept and big game analysis, I knew that Gobbo was the brains behind some of his stuff and kinda assumed that was still the case as Stapes isn't much of a poker player is he?

Not sure what u mean "so far off base"?

While I agree with your sentiment, this is not true. It's comfort, not imitating pros. I wear the same thing grinding online.





You were nailing it until you got to the "maybe its time for the online players to pick up a few social skills". Maybe you're naturally social, but for introverts who aren't used to interacting with people this regularly, it's not simply a matter of "picking up" social skills. Read galfond's article it does a much better job of explaining it than I can ever hope to.





Straddles and antes only increase the stakes, they don't actually make loose play more optimal.




Ironically the people who discuss strategy at the table do for an extremely similar reason as for why you wrote this post (and maybe why I'm writing this one?). I'm not saying you're wrong and I never talk strat at the table but for people who are just starting out it's not intuitive to avoid talking strat.

Hi SrslySirius:

Your argument has convinced me. As long as Daniel's posts on 2+2, starting with the first post in this thread, conform to our rules, he's welcome to post here.

Best wishes,
Mason

Unless my brief experience playing live as a noob back in 2005 were out-of-the-ordinary, I think all this talk about "old school" players somehow being welcoming and friendly is nothing more than revisionist history.

In the course of playing my way through a 3-step satellite on the way to eventually playing the Foxwoods Spring Classic ME, the following things happened to me:

- Berated several times for making ICM correct shoves
- Told I was going to get my ass kicked
- Had the SB and BB openly discuss and agree to call my shove and check it down
- Was angle shot in the ME and exposed my cards because I got tricked into thinking the hand was over

I also had some positive experiences at the tables during this time regarding pros making me feel welcome (Raymer being one), but the nice guys were heavily outnumbered by the *******s.

After that collection of experiences with the "old school," I've only played live on a handful occasions since. I would much rather have played live with a bunch of introverted 20-somethings than most of the clowns that were around Foxwoods during that time period.

Thankyou Mason.

He clearly read this thread, so he is probarly looking into things the operators, not only the players could do to make the our poker world better for us. Hopefully he can answer some of the questions about online poker, not only care about the scene he is most familiar with (live poker).

Ill give him the benefit of the doubt. Just that he bothers enough to make and reply in this thread is huge.

wp mason

Thank you Mason.

Hi Mason.

Would you consider offering the same courtesy to Dan Druff, whom along with many other people on 2+2, also felt he was treated unfairly by you?

hey daniel,

thanks for all the effort you put in to help improve the game!

on topic: i think talking about this topic and getting it spread through the poker community does help and i definitely think that if people start doing what you and others think is good for the game (creating more entertainment at the tables) will help since it will be easier if everyone wants to co-oparate and if we all work together i definitely think we change things. if people start doing it i'm sure other people will too.

as for online bumhunting, i think the players themselves have to realize that their moves may be short-term +ev but longterm -ev. it's not that bad to play for 10 minutes more to please the fish they feed off and it probably will only cost them rake if they're break even vs each other. also getting rid of seating-scripts will help

i think pokerstars can help here by implanting measures online and creating a more positive aura in live tourneys (although i've never been to an EPT, i assume that could help but i'm not sure) and maybe even create "poker workshops" for the railers who are watching their friends/family

Oh Daniel, please take Ivey by the hand and push the Mixed and dealer's choice games, before the bots destroy online NLHE and all recreationals to save us all. Thank you.
Also probs to you for being a great ambessador for the game already. I also always comfort the fish and roulette guys who sit in my live-cash-games (when I still played live...), and more people should realize how important that is, even if we lose our 40bb preflop flips against them.

"A world that they feel comfortable and encouraged to join without fear of humiliation or embarrassment. A world where the game is fun first and a competitive endeavor second. A world where players think about whats best for everyone first, understanding that in the end they will benefit from that as well."

would a 'fake mis-click' in live poker be suitable to such an environment?

WP Mason.

Although, the situations are clearly different, I would urge you to reconsider Kilowatt's ban as well.

Regards

Besides poker, I can't think of another sport, game, pastime, field, discipline, hobby or sphere of entertainment where one of the biggest names worldwide could start a forum thread that's theoretically geared towards constructive and productive debate, and have it rapidly degenerate into a debate about things such as:

a) the validity of his opinions in the first place
b) his motivations for posting them
c) whether he should even be allowed to post on said forum in the first place
d) his past actions in completely unrelated circumstances
e) the validity of the opinions of the people who are immediately dismissing his opinions as invalid

If we really want to help poker in the long term, then IMO we as a community need to let the **** go of our constant desire to attack each other, tear down those in positions of higher status than us, and promote our own agenda above all else. Which really brings us back to the topic at hand, which is that everyone needs to show a little more respect all around. Poker is an unbelievably hostile environment compared to pretty much any other walk of life, and for the most part 2p2 does very little to help with that situation.

Guys like Daniel might have their detractors when it comes to encouraging people in poker to be a little more relaxed, but I dread to think where the game would be without him or others like him. This thread just goes to show that it would quickly become 'dog eat dog' off the table, as well as on it.

FAO Daniel - I attended UKIPT Isle of Man this year and was able to see first hand what a difference your presence made to the attitude of the recreational players. The presence of Team Pro members like yourself probably went a long way towards making the event a profitable investment for other pros like myself, so regardless of whether you were paid to be there or not, I appreciated the hard work I could see you putting in to make sure the players enjoyed it. Thank you for being a great ambassador for poker.

I see a new video coming out of all this. Maybe even a permaban for you after it's released. LOL

Mason,

You are a Prince.

WP SrslySirius, it was due to your efforts and interviews, as well as your presence on 2plus2 that a big awakening for poker players occurred. From the Joe Hachem interview to DN's feedback and his promise to return to 2plus2 realized, the whole poker world is buzzing and the outcome could only be very positive after the dust settles.

Cue the Druff show about Daniel being treated differently.

Who do you think makes more money, the professional poker players as a group, or PokerStars? I don't think the rake is too high at all especially when you factor in all the FPP bonuses. It's a customers choice if they think a rake is too high, they don't have to play. Who is forcing you to pay what you perceive to be too much rake? Who is making that decision?

The