Older men complaining about my cbet.

[Al_Capone_Junior]

Older men comprise the nittiest, whiny-est, complaining-est, rudest, fish berating-est, coffee/cigarette breath-est, nastiest general category of poker players. I suggest kicking them all in the nuts first, and then ignoring their bullpucky later.

Al

[EmmaDillema]

make them uncomfy is good for you

[Johnes Benjamin]

geezers hate variance (perhaps b/c every beat they take could be their last?) and play like total nits.
if you care about what they say then try to relate to them in a friendly manner that you simply play a more aggressive style than them and it isn't anything personal, just how you play

[KUCletus]

You aren't doing any angleshooting or something else on the verge of / against the rules, so keep it up if it is profitable during your sessions.

[Ganjasaurus Rex]

[ QUOTE ]
I suggest kicking them all in the nuts first,


[/ QUOTE ]
Their geriatric nuts have shriveled up long ago.

OP, tell them to stop getting their Depends all up in a bunch.

[dune]

Thanks for all of the advice.
I care about the social side as I spend a lot of time there.
Plenty of these guys bluff up a storm when they sense weakness. It's a very passive game and I think it could be because they're not used to being pressured unless their opponent has something.

[justaPlayer]

[ QUOTE ]
I care about the social side


[/ QUOTE ]

lol

[justaPlayer]

Knitting Nancy needlepoints daily with all her friends, and they gossip and have gingersnaps over noon Earl Grey.

[dagreez]

Put yourself in their shoes for a minute. They're old. A lot of the time that means their mental faculties are wearing down and/or they've becomes used to playing a certain way... their 'style' is more defined and they have trouble adjusting to others, or have trouble thinking on their 'toes'.

Enter young whipersnapper who in their eyes is being aggressive and continually putting them in difficult spots with c-bets that could mean a variety of things... top pair, middle pair, a draw, air etc...

They don't want to, or are unable to, make difficult decisions, balancing your range of hands and such, so they get uncomfortable in these situations where they can't easily put you on a hand.

You confuse them by mixing up your play and they get angry because they can't keep up.

On the theoretical poker side, this is what you want, playing against people who are on the cusp of acting emotional, out of anger, snapping back at you etc.

On the social side, you don't want to be the source of their anger and resentment which brings up a somewhat of a conundrum. In Zen they call it a Koan.

Here is the Koan as I see it:

To play optimally, you want them to not know what you have. But by them not knowing what you have, it elicits in them sense of unknowing to which they react negatively... criticism about your play and an out-to-get you mentality which is harsh rather than playful.

You don't want them to be angry since this causes them to target you negatively, but you don't want to not play optimally for obvious reasons. And since you're optimal play causes them to be angry/act negatively, the question is, what do you do?

[SellingtheDrama]

Of course they're complaining - you're making it harder for them to maximize their win rate (which is probably zero or negative, but that's another story).
I tend to be less than happy when people at my table are cutting into my win rate too.

Also - you're probably going to have to make a choice - you are either playing poker socially or for profit. It's pretty tough to achieve both, so you're probably going to have to choose one or the other.