Keeping my mouth shut
 

I've only been playing Live poker for a few weeks now(regularly) with the new 1/2 game here in FL and have noticed I am talking strategy way to much at the table. Been getting caught up in conversations that give my play away ect...I really need to stop it, is a bit impulsive I think. I already bring sunglasses and a ipod and will use them more think. I'm also going to bring a small card protector that has significance to me and will hopefully remind me to stfu. I'd appreciate any comments on how others fell about table banter. My yap cost me $ again yesterday. It's nice to meet people and stuff but it is costing me $. I have to find a better balance.

Re: Keeping my mouth shut
 

Table banter can keep the game fun (and live) but stick to topics such as movies, TV, sports, and where to find a good meal.

Avoid politics, religion, and any mention of 2+2 or strategy.

~ Rick

Re: Keeping my mouth shut
 

Bring something to read, or use the IPOD/headphones. You may simply be a naturally verbally outgoing and aggressive individual, there's no shame in it. Try and distract yourself so that you don't reveal anything. If possible, give away false info to quiet the need to talk.

Re: Keeping my mouth shut
 

get a custom card protector with 'STFU' imprinted on it

Re: Keeping my mouth shut
 

I'm not sure if this post is even serious because every aspect of your table persona that you mentioned is considered poor form, cliched and/or nitty by many B&M regulars. Table coaching/talking strategy, sunglasses, ipods, and even flamboyant card protectors are all slammed on this forum and by B&M regulars from time to time.

For me personally I don't mind any of those things except for table coaching and strategy talk, and admittedly the latter of those two can occasionally be entertaining if strategy man is unskilled enough. Anyway, my advice to you is that if this post is serious, just try being friendly, playing quickly, and playing your best game. Nothing else is really required.

Re: Keeping my mouth shut
 

If you're going to talk strategy, just tell them lies.. All lies.. Say stuff like yeah, I hate AA, they always get cracked and your favorite hand is 54 because it's your b-day.. Of course the good players will catch on, but I doubt they would be talking strategy with you in the first place..

Re: Keeping my mouth shut
 

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I already bring sunglasses and a ipod

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thats all you need man, see you at the final table

Re: Keeping my mouth shut
 

Just repeat all the terrible advice you've ever heard at the table. It's more believable that way.

Re: Keeping my mouth shut
 

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I already bring sunglasses and a ipod

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It's 1/2. Don't be that guy.

Re: Keeping my mouth shut
 

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If you're going to talk strategy, just tell them lies.. All lies.. Say stuff like yeah, I hate AA, they always get cracked and your favorite hand is 54 because it's your b-day.. Of course the good players will catch on, but I doubt they would be talking strategy with you in the first place..

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When I do this I try to keep it light. Or extremely outrageous. If somebody asks if I would have called a raise - I might say - no I would have had to re-raise you.

In general I like to be honest about things. But when people are asking me questions so I can educate them as to how to beat me - well my daddy always said "Ask a silly question get a silly answer". I have actually said on more than one occasion "So you want me to help you beat me?"

But remember if you are going to lie - there have to be times when you tell the truth. When I do this, people who know me roll their eyes because they no longer believe anything I say...

Re: Keeping my mouth shut
 

1. get sunglasses
2. get ipod
3. ???
4. profit

Re: Keeping my mouth shut
 

Thanks for the advice, I am being serious. Like I said I am very green, trying to learn. Been studying and playing alot over 2 years just not yet used to the B&G. I do not want to be "that guy" at all. I do need the sunglasses and ipod at times to keep myself from chatting to much, most of my live experience is from my friends home game where we constantly talk strategy and good naturely belittle each other. I know it's "only 1/2" but I'm "only" a food server making ends meet in the off-season so I take it seriously.

Re: Keeping my mouth shut
 

The closest thing I do to being nitty at 1/2 is that I take a moderate amount of time whenever I'm involved in the few amounts of hands I am. I do this to practice a robotic playing style, and generally make better plays by thinking them through.

Everyone seems to just get really pissed at me though when someone pushes a psb and I take a freaking minute to think about it. I don't get it, honestly. I fold every hand for one hour instantaneously, I remind people to post, and I correct the dealer's mistakes... I think I more than make up for all the time I "waste."

I dunno, I just wanted to bitch.

Re: Keeping my mouth shut
 

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For me personally I don't mind any of those things except for table coaching and strategy talk, and admittedly the latter of those two can occasionally be entertaining if strategy man is unskilled enough.

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Much in the same way that I might raise a good hand big 2/3 of the time and raise it small the remaining 1/3, I sometimes talk strategy but try to be serious only 2/3 of the time and throw in some awful advice. Sometimes I just nod knowingly when my neighbor says he should have pushed all-in after flopping his set to knock all the draws out.

Like the OP, I find the temptation to talk poker really strong. And I would argue that I'm probably able to do more with info about how my opponents think than vice-versa. The truth of the matter is, no matter how much I insist that folding AQ to a reraise or pricing draws to make them think they can stay in is profitable, no one's going to believe me anyway. So as long as I contaminate my advice every once in a while, it's fine.

I also love to say, "We all have our different styles, and what works for you may not work for him," when someone's berating a fish. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] But I should probably just keep out.

Re: Keeping my mouth shut
 

I have the same temptations to talk strategy at the table. I usually end up doing it on one or two hands in a session, but the rest of the time I try really hard to keep my mouth shut. I think it's an ego thing. We all want to impress the other people at the table with our knowledge.

Along with strategy, I have to try really hard not to correct people about the rules, or anticipate the time charge when the dealers change, etc. There's a fine line between making the game move along and making it obvious that you are a regular.

Most of the time what I found helps is just to agree with whatever the other person says. Calling a pot-sized all in with two pair on a four-flush board? "I had to call, I can't lay down two pair!" "Yeah man, nothing you could do."

Re: Keeping my mouth shut
 

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I have the same temptations to talk strategy at the table. I usually end up doing it on one or two hands in a session, but the rest of the time I try really hard to keep my mouth shut. I think it's an ego thing. We all want to impress the other people at the table with our knowledge.

Along with strategy, I have to try really hard not to correct people about the rules, or anticipate the time charge when the dealers change, etc. There's a fine line between making the game move along and making it obvious that you are a regular.

Most of the time what I found helps is just to agree with whatever the other person says. Calling a pot-sized all in with two pair on a four-flush board? "I had to call, I can't lay down two pair!" "Yeah man, nothing you could do."

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This is best. Just aknowledge they played their hand correctly, regardless of the context. No need to educate the fish, just let them play their game and you play yours.

Re: Keeping my mouth shut
 

Please don't wear sunglasses, for your own good. Not sure of your overall experience, but they are unnecessary for 1-2, any low limit game whatsoever, and for many people any game at all. They immediately make you a target for anyone who is aware... just my two cents. As for talking, anything that goes past 1 minute of conversation is too much for people you don't know. Keep it simple and cordial, and never get personal about anything away from the table or about any hands... 'good hand' or nothing at all is the way to go

Re: Keeping my mouth shut
 

Get out of that dumb ipod habit now. People will sit there and tell you all about how they play, but you'll miss it when you're ipod-ing.

You don't have to give away advanced strategy tips to your opponents. Smile, talk about whatever, sympathize and agree with their river lamentations, etc etc bla bla bla. Make sure to toss in the occasional "looking just wastes time" or other such wisdom. It's not that hard, really.

Re: Keeping my mouth shut
 

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Please don't wear sunglasses, for your own good. Not sure of your overall experience, but they are unnecessary for 1-2, any low limit game whatsoever, and for many people any game at all. They immediately make you a target for anyone who is aware.. just my two cents.

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I'd disagree, especially at the lower limits. It doesn't make any difference to your average fish, but I've noticed in my experience that quite often you're automatically discredited by the regulars, thus making it +EV. A perfect example happened to me recently in Tunica.

$1/$2NL, UTG+1 raises 5x the BB. I've seen him do this a couple times before in the past few hours, once with AA, and again with QQ, so I put him on a big PP, he's got about a 200-220 BB stack, I'm at about 150BB stack myself, so I call OTB with 67s. Flop comes 598 with 2 of my suit, he raises about the size of the pot, I smooth call. Turn brings a 6, he raises, I push, he insta-calls, tables KK with a huge smile on his face, and says "That'll teach you not to be so aggressive with all your TV poker" just as I'm tabling my hand, then he says "Wow, what a lucky flop!!" I just chuckled.

~Mike

Re: Keeping my mouth shut
 

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Get out of that dumb ipod habit now. People will sit there and tell you all about how they play, but you'll miss it when you're ipod-ing.

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I use my ipod when I play and I really feel it helps me. I put the volume low enough so that I can hear the music AND still hear the dealer and the players talk. You'd be surprised what people will say about you when they think you can't hear. I've heard people talk about repopping my next button raise over a bunch of limpers, tell their neighbor their hands after I made a big laydown, etc. And I can ignore people that want to ask me what my hand was by pretending I can't hear them.

Re: Keeping my mouth shut
 

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Get out of that dumb ipod habit now. People will sit there and tell you all about how they play, but you'll miss it when you're ipod-ing.

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I use my ipod when I play and I really feel it helps me. I put the volume low enough so that I can hear the music AND still hear the dealer and the players talk. You'd be surprised what people will say about you when they think you can't hear. I've heard people talk about repopping my next button raise over a bunch of limpers, tell their neighbor their hands after I made a big laydown, etc. And I can ignore people that want to ask me what my hand was by pretending I can't hear them.

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My Hero, that is utterly awesome, because live can be a grind but if the music is low enough that u can be entertained while listening to table chat, and the control u have if someone talks about making a move or discussing something they think ur not hearing could be +ev.

i'm going to try that next time live.

Re: Keeping my mouth shut
 

Table talk is my second favorite thing about B&M poker. Winning big pots is obviously first. The Borgata is my spot and some of the dealers there are jsut great. They really seem to bring life to dead tables sometimes. It makes it fun to sit and wait for the playable hands. I Will often engage in humorful banter with the dealers as long as they are competent. I dont mess with dealers that look like they are having a hard time, jsut move the button for them and say "Button is Good", They Appreciate it. When it comes to strategy, i usually don't talk to much of it.Its -EV (unless you give out selective info)

As far as sunglasses go, i thought it was "cool" but, i don't need them, I like to let everyone stare into my eyes for that read they aren't going to get.

Ipod : Nice thing to have when ur sitting for 12+ hours and you really do get bored after seeing 72o and 93o for like an hour. It relaxes me and gets me ready for when the deck gets hot again.

def gonna try the ipod thing with low volume next time...sounds +EV

Re: Keeping my mouth shut
 

Great advice from everyone thanks alot. Last night session I really concentrated on controlling my chat. Agreed alot with their fishy comments, talked a little sports, wore my ipod and sunglasses on/off-great session I believe my banter was +EV last night. I like to leave my headphones in most of the time but turn it off a good part of the time, especially early on in the session. I also like the ipod to deal with tilt, I crank it up and throw all my cards away except the nuts until I chill. Also like the ipod for long stretches of cold cards. I agree that sunglasses and headphones and I appear young gives me the "computer/tv pokerkid image" and I use that to my advantage, I think this is actually very +EV, so much I notice after 4-5 hours my earnings seem to be less EV (others reasons obv also) but I think after that time the rusty regulars realize I'm not one of those crazy internet/tv kids.