Smug when Winning

[Sciolist]

Is it bad that I get smug when I win? I doubt it'll affect my poker game at all, but I'm kind of disappointed in myself. Could it be that it's just down to recently playing for higher stakes than most of my prior play? Perhaps the money will not mean anything to me once it really sinks in, like it didn't at the lower stakes I played.

I don't want to make this sound like a huge problem in my life - I mean, it's good to win, and I enjoy it, but it'd be nice to "get it in quietly" as they say.

[pfapfap]

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I doubt it'll affect my poker game at all

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You're probably wrong. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Anything that takes you off of playing logically will affect your game. Smugness inserts ego, which is never a good filter. You risk blinding yourself to leaks. And it's just bad juju.

[Pepsquad]

Is it "bad"? Yeah. But I agree with you - I doubt it affects much either way. The biggest problem I see is that vs. opponents who are runnin well and acting like their sh** donesn't stink, people tend to tighten up against them, try to plaqy better. Being smug certainly doesn't help you from a metagame standpoint.

[cwar]

Confidence is good, as long as you think about each decision and utilize all the information you have everything should work out. If your smugness stops any of this then its a problem.

[Rijeka]

i know that whenever there's a smug prick in my game, i watch him extra-closely for tells & patterns and try to catch him out too far on a limb.

that's not to say you're a prick, but any behaviour that tends to make people concentrate more and/or play better against you is not gonna be +EV.

now, if you can use your smugness to put a good player on tilt or intimidate weak players, then good on ya. but more often than not i doubt that will be the case.

[Sciolist]

Don't get me wrong: I don't sit at the table looking happy with myself. It's just after the game that I get smug.

[FieryJustice]

There is a term for those who act smug when winning...its fish...so dont do it.

[Philo]

[ QUOTE ]
Is it bad that I get smug when I win? I doubt it'll affect my poker game at all, but I'm kind of disappointed in myself. Could it be that it's just down to recently playing for higher stakes than most of my prior play? Perhaps the money will not mean anything to me once it really sinks in, like it didn't at the lower stakes I played.

I don't want to make this sound like a huge problem in my life - I mean, it's good to win, and I enjoy it, but it'd be nice to "get it in quietly" as they say.

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Personally I think smugness is a sign of false confidence. Feeling/acting smug is an attempt to reinforce your self-image as a strong player. Genuine confidence does not need this sort of reinforcement. Think of the difference between a Chip Reese or a Phil Ivey, on the one hand, and a Phil Hellmuth or a Mike Matusow on the other. Hellmuth and Matusow are very, very insecure poker players, IMO.

[dashman]

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Is it "bad"? Yeah. But I agree with you - I doubt it affects much either way. The biggest problem I see is that vs. opponents who are runnin well and acting like their sh** donesn't stink, people tend to tighten up against them, try to plaqy better. Being smug certainly doesn't help you from a metagame standpoint.

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Second that. It might put some people on tilt(fish) but good players wont be bothered by it . Trash talk imo is like blood in the water.

[TonyDanza]

smugness is not a good quality.