Tell him you were softplaying him by 3betting 52o imo

But srsly, you have to be a very close friend for me to even consider taking a non standard action against you. Like theres 2 people I might under bet against and Ive known those two guys for ~10yrs. Even then, Im still betting, just not taking them to valuetown as much as I might normally.

I think your friend has issues, he should accept that you play the game in the same way that he does. He tried to steal, you defended. Thats normal behaviour friends or not. I think it's hilarious that he is getting so upset about your resteal, friends or not.

Thanks for the input, guys. Glad to know I'm not alone in thinking this is crazy...

I'm with you 100% here. Your friends have to expect you to compete at the tables, and that means not softplaying.

And thanks for letting us know that you 3-bet 52o.

So true!

I love making fun of my friends, and expect the same from them!

Part of it is that people really hate being 3bet in general. Depending on the situation, I can get as high as 8%. Some people have real negative reactions to that. Especially when I sniff out a light 3bet and respond with a light 4-bet. Very tilt inducing to some people. Actually remember a hand where I raised from the button with pocket 10s. I'd been relentless in stealing. Got a 3bet from the SB. It just didn't seem good to me, I 4bet. He calls and then donk shoves on a safe board. I call with my 10s and he reveals A7 without an A or a 7 on the board. Of course, I suck at poker, so he caught his ace, but he revealed his exasperation at my aggressive play. I know I used to get very irritated at getting 3bet. Now that I'm used to it, it's fine, but a lot of people just detest it, especially when they know a good amount of the time, I'm just full of crap.

I three-bet my mother****ing friends when we aren't even playing mother ****ing poker. We'll be playing like.. playing pool at the bar or eating lunch somewhere and I pull out some chips and change and three-bet them with jack of spades and a clam strip and they fold their **** like a mother****er.

But seriously if you're on the table with your friend you should never soft-play. That's incredibly lame if you do.

your friend is a whiny bitch, lol

im the second friend who said it wasnt a good idea "N"

I think its important that we are all really close friends and its important that we all came from the same $5 Friday night tournaments and home games and will potentially be living in the same house in the summer. I don't think its +LifeEV playing at the same tables in general, doesn't seem like anything good can come from it.

I also think its important to point out that it seems like AK did it just to target "J", where he most likely would have folded if it was anything else most of the time.

Just IMO, but i'm not money point of view is worth more than the arguments that could be fought over this.

woteva

Comunist!

The playerpool of NLHEM FR isn't a piece of meat you have to share with friends. It's competition pur sang and that element is crucial. Without competition, there will be no game.

Personally, I think it's fun to have friends at the table who know a bit how to play poker. Just like any other sport or game where there will be winners and losers: even against friends you'll try to show what your best is. In poker that is a matter of adjusting and re-adjusting and if you both do it right, you will be break-even against eachother.

I dunno, it's really arrogant and wrong thinking: you can't claim worse players to yourself, like saying it's your table. It really is against the spirit of poker imo.

THIS

So you expect to be softplayed by your friends and you softplay them. Do you also softplay your friends and expect to be softplayed in Monopoly? Would you have the same reaction if your friend made you pay when you landed on Boardwalk with a hotel? Do you softplay your friends in a pickup game of basketball? How about Scrabble, do you not play the highest scoring word you can when playing against a friend? Do you suggest your friends not play their best word against you?

You should watch High Stakes Poker to see how people PLAY (and react when played against) against each other even when they are best friends off the table. They don't whine or bitch or moan, and they PLAY, they don't softplay. And the stakes are much much higher!

Garon

I'm sure you have a number of friends who actually wouldn't mind this play, and might even try to get you back for it, all in good fun.

In a friendship, you just have to know where the boundaries are. Some friends you can use curse words with, some you cannot. Some you can target, some you cannot. Usually it's pretty clear where you stand with each of your friends

Grunch.

You're obviously right but people are stupid and get offended by dumb things all the time. You just have to ask yourself if this particular issue is worth pissing off this particular friend. Being right is not always a good enough reason to take a stand, OTOH appeasing others and keeping things copacetic isn't enough of a reason to let things go.

The choice is yours, such is life.

First off, I think you should play freinds the same way that you play everyone else. That would be using all available information to take their money. I doubt that you are three betting 52o against anyone else, so I think you did this specifically because you were going after your freind. Frankly, if your freind knows you, they shouldn't be sitting on your right.

On the other hand, if you are freinds, then you should know that showing him this bluff would tick em off. So basically, good poker play. Bad freind play (in showing the bluff). Next time just lie to him. After all, this is poker, the only place I know where it is perfectly acceptable to lie, but against the rules to tell the truth!

I understand why you feel this way. $5 tournies and home games have big social aspects where the prizes are really only secondary. However, once you enter the public arena on-line, people are playing to win. Not everyone, of course, but some are. What this forum is saying is that if you don't want to play AKSpartan, it is your and your friend's responsibility to get off the table, not his to stay away.

FWIW, if after a couple of days you've decided to justify your comments over how wrong it was for AKSpartan to take $1.50 legitimately off a third friend, you've valued your friendship at $1.50 or less. That frankly doesn't sound close to me.

+1 (minus the spelling)

There are a few 2+2ers that I play with fairly often and I treat them like everyone else. I don't go out of my way to start reg wars (like 3b and bragging with 52o does) but I definitely don't softplay them and I think it's expected.

Fold pre IMHO...

Oh and if your going to 3B with a weak hand do it with like 72.. makes you look more manly. 5-2, like, connects.


on a side note there are no friends at the poker table. I will stack my friends for hundo's all day... as they do to me also.

I'd consider it an insult if someone didn't play hard against me.

Doyle and Slim were friends for decades, and never gave an inch at the tables.

Alligator Blood.

Don't like posting in these b/c I always get flamed, but....

I softplay my friends all the time in cash games. I feel a little twinge when I stack a reg., and I feel bad when I stack someone I like/respect. As for my close friends, I simply won't stack them.

I don't expect my friends to softplay me in return, they can play however they like so I think your friend is out of line in this situation.


I think this is a good point. I understand people who say that softplaying is wrong. I understand people that say softplaying (in cash games) is ok. I don't understand those of you that say it's OK to alter your play against friends one way by playing more aggressive, but not the other the other way. Can someone explain that to me?

How do you know this? Both have been accused of cheating in multiple instances, I of course, know as little about their integrity as you do though.

Soft playing is a form of collusion. Although it's not intentional, how you play against your freind will effect how others at the table percieve you. Basically it creates a sitation where 2 people at the table are trying to take the money from the other 7 while not trying to take it from each other, creating an unfair advantage.

Even if you are only playing soft against your freind, this basically means that your freind is playing agianst 7 players, while everyone else is playing against 8.

How does soft playing create an unfair advantage for the friends?