Talk is cheap

Reading another poker blog over at Guinness and Poker by Iggy, and it strikes up an interesting point. The cliff notes of the update are a friend of his won a $50,000 tournament when everybody hates him because of what he puts in the chat window. He is offensive, quotes rap music and posts IN ALL CAPS! A general shit talker - show me any online poker room without at least one? Iggy also goes on about how all the observers and other players are saying how lucky he was to win and how much they hate him, so on and so forth. Well I'm going to chime in with my two cents...

1. He won. When someone wins a big money tournament like that, with 500 other players or however many more there were, chances are there are some very decent players among the punters. ANYBODY who wins ANY tournament needs a little luck. I don't care who you are, luck plays a part of it. The idea of a poker player is to limit how much luck you need. I am reminded of Rickson Gracie, one of the greatest no-holds-barred fighters of all time and a genuine legend in Brazil. He even concedes that luck plays a part in all his fights, his job is to limit how big a part it plays. Calling the winner lucky is like calling the ocean wet - that's just how it is and doesn't really need to be pointed out.
2. We see how professional players almost adopt a persona at the table. Just this last weekend watching the World Poker Tour on Channel 10 (YES! About time Australia caught up on the poker boom) I see players telling out-and-out lies about what is in their hand, and that is with cameras everywhere. While many actors may be currently trying their hand at poker, I believe there are many poker players who are already professional actors. This is true for the online game also. If I was in that tournament (and with $300 buy-in it is highly unlikely) I would have assumed he was making an ass of himself on purpose. Like Brad Pitt says in "Ocean's 11", the first rule of poker is to leave emotion at the door. AustinKearns may have been playing the fool, but he wasn't playing foolish. Or I could be wrong and he is just an ass.
3. I have never seen an online poker room that couldn't turn off the chat. Really, it isn't that hard. 'Click' and it's all over. If the chat is annoying you that much, switch it off. I must admit I usually play with it on, but only post something if I really feel the need to. If someone seems like a genuine player and nice enough, even though I don't show my winning hand when I take it down,I might tell them (99% of the time only if I wasn't bluffing mind you.).
4. He won. You lost. Get over it. Did I mention that already?

And who am I to say all this? Well, I'm just a nobody and that's nobody's opinion!

If you're reading this (and who isn't?) then you'd probably like Iggy's blog. I'll make it the first one add to my links on the side. Please don't get annoyed with the site if it seems all scrambled - I really do have no idea what I'm doing and hoping that the templates need as little manual touchs as possible.

Enough of that, back to my game. It is with great pleasure that I tell you "Uranga" has left for the time being. I now know once again what an Ace looks like, and have been pulling a few big pots. No winners yet, but I came real close on Aloha and enjoyed it.

I was having a roller coaster game on Aloha, and played really well up until one hand. With about $3K in chips, I was 2nd at the table to chip leader on $5.5K. With top pair on the flop, I made a modest raise, and then was re-raised by CL to $600. Here is where I made the mistake. I am used to playing on Poker Pages where you start with $10K and a $600 bet is not uncommon. On Aloha, it is quite a big bet. I was not thinking straight and thought "I'll have a look for that piddly amount, you ogre-headed buffoon" - paraphrasing slightly. The turn came, and I was no better but for some reason, another $600 bet and I was looking again - "You can't scare me off my most noble of quest with barely a pittance to show!" - paraphrasing again but slowly loosing the plot. The the river and finally I realized what I had done when the pot was bigger than my stack. I had dropped nearly $2K on a hand where I was merely speculating. He bet $600 again, and I folded in the first sensible move I made all night as he showed a full house over my pair of Queens. But the damage had been done and my mighty stack was gone. Not long after this, I was all in with AcJc and got beaten by trips 2's to end my night at 25th, 15 places out of the money. I don't regret going all in on AcJc pre-flop with my little stack, but I know I really lost when I went searching for copper with a golden shovel. Wow, that's a pretty cool analogy, I think I might re-use that in a film later on...

I'm going to add a few more links to the side, here is my explanation for each of them - both poker related and not. I hope these links reflect my online usage and not just plugs for other sites that will plug my site back (they won't).

Guinness and Poker - One of my favorite poker blogs, he doesn't try to be too preachy about how to play and seems really well read on the subject. Worth a read, and his posts seem to be of epic proportions more often than not.

Poker Pages and Aloha poker - where I am currently playing. I am convinced the only reason you would go to Aloha is the free rolls. If you want real money, look elsewhere.

Dave Gorman - The funniest comedian I have ever seen live. If you here that his "Google Whack Adventure" is playing anywhere near you, do whatever you can to see it. I also got a copy of the book of the same name signed by him when I saw his show in Sydney earlier this year.

Fark - If you don't know what Fark is, it's about time you found out. Funny links to news stories and other stuff. Don't bother with the comments on each article though; Why do people spend the time to comments on an article about, say, basketball when all they want to say is "I don't like basketball.". Like I always say, the world is full of stupid people.

Mentally Incontinent - funny stories from the life of Joe the Peacock. Well written and has a reasonable following there. Some of the stories are a little less humorous and a little more self-enlightenment (like the current romance.net series) but hopefully Joe will return to the comedic brilliance that is "Ouch" and "The Cows...They talk!".


Something Awful - Another mostly comedy site. Really funny stuff mixed in with "how many times can I swear in this post" stuff. Check out the "comedy goldmine", as it is just that.

Hawthorn Football Club - The mighty Hawks! Ok, so we might have not met our expectations this year (2 wins for the season as opposed to a possible premiership...), but the hawks will be back!

That will do for now, and I hope somebody appreciates the biggest post to date. This week I will hopefully get the chance to play more than two or three games and get back in the black!