Blocking sharkscope?

[pocketjesuits]

Suppose you're playing higher stakes ($500+) HU SnGs, as I am, and you are a pretty significant winner. The question is whether or not you should block yourself on sharkscope, and hence whether or not you should appear on the leaderboard. I realize that paying subscribers can still see limited data on you.

The way I see it, alot of people use sharkscope, and advertising yourself as good on sharkscope may substantially limit your action. On the other hand, I think most of the players using sharkscope are fairly decent, no? Hence you would mainly be avoiding action from decent players while clueless fish would continue to line up.

So to block or not to block? To leaderboard or not to leaderboard?

[italianstang]

What is the benefit of being on their leaderboard?

[jay_shark]

The benefits of having your name appear on the leaderboards is to deter other good players to play you . Generally speaking , it's the better players who make use of sharkscope , while the weak players are oblivious to it . Now if you've opened a heads up table , then chances are if they see you as being a profitable player , then they won't play you .

That being said , there is also an opportunity cost in waiting if you happen to be considered a shark . That is , if there is only a select individuals who have an advantage over you , then you wouldn't mind playing against other profitable players as long as you have the edge . Nothing is worse than sitting for 10 minutes because of your reputation for being a shark :P

[dboy23]

I have no problem waiting for a real fish to sit. I would rather wait a few mins to play a fish then play a competent SS user whom I probably still have a slight edge over.

[maxv2]

I generally don't have to play good players because of my sharkscope stats and I don't have any problem getting games. I think it's better to just leave your sharkscope unblocked unless you're embarassed about your losses or don't want better players coming after you because you're a losing player at the moment.

[pocketjesuits]

Thanks for the input - that's what I thought as well.

[APXG]

[ QUOTE ]
Suppose you're playing higher stakes ($500+) HU SnGs, as I am, and you are a pretty significant winner. The question is whether or not you should block yourself on sharkscope, and hence whether or not you should appear on the leaderboard. I realize that paying subscribers can still see limited data on you.

The way I see it, alot of people use sharkscope, and advertising yourself as good on sharkscope may substantially limit your action. On the other hand, I think most of the players using sharkscope are fairly decent, no? Hence you would mainly be avoiding action from decent players while clueless fish would continue to line up.

So to block or not to block? To leaderboard or not to leaderboard?

[/ QUOTE ]

Sharkscope is primarily used by the stereotypical 2+2 player where the game is played very mechanically just to maximize ROI/winrate. These are exactly the players you want to avoid, and by not blocking Sharkscope, this would be accomplished. Playing a winner who raises every hand is very fun and educational though, and IMO, well worth the short-term EV hit I will take. Being strictly on the lookout for fish without attempting to explore the minds of good players just because they aren't fish is not a sound long-term approach.