So I just had something happen to me on Friday that has never happened to me before.
I was at the local tribal casino registering for an upcoming tournament and I decided to play a bit of craps. Now I haven't played any non-poker casino games in quite awhile and am trying to avoid them as much as possible. For whatever reason, I decided to take $200 and try and double it up. This is when, for the first time, someone placed a bet for me. And it wasn't just one bet, nor was it a $5 bet. It was multiple $20-$45 bets on the field (wins 1:1 when a 3,4,9,10,11 is rolled and 2:1 when a 2 or 12 rolls). I didn't quite know how to interpret this. He was obviously drunk and was making martingale (doubling the bet with each loss) type bets on the field. He managed to always win when he had increased his bet up to $300 or more. I was the only one that was cheering for him when he won which may be what prompted him to make some bets for me (I also think he had more money in front of him than he knew what to do with). These bets ended up working out very well for me as they helped me turn my original $200 buy-in into $900 before leaving.
This whole ordeal got me thinking about why anyone would ever do this for someone else. He was basically giving me, a complete stranger, money to bet with. Then I realized that there are parallels between this and when people make calls in poker when they know they're beat or play in a way that is obviously going to lose money in the long run. It must mean that making money is not the primary reason for what they do. They enjoy the thrill of the game, and if placing those bets on the field for me increases this craps player's enjoyment of the rolls of the dice because he has someone to cheer with, then to him, it's worth it.
This line of thinking makes me realize just how important it is to let the bad players enjoy themselves at the poker table. If they make a bad play against me and suckout, I should cheer for them. Let them enjoy stacking my money, because I want them to keep playing this way. I want them to be entertained by playing badly. If they're not entertained by playing badly, maybe they will decide to play better or, heaven forbid, leave the game!
It amazes me how many people out there get so upset about bad beats from bad players. They must not understand how the game of poker works.
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3 comments:
great book fodder...
This is a key insight Rob! Good for you for recognizing it. I love playing poker but that isn't the only reason I talk a lot while at the table :-)
Keep this insight in mind in the future. It's a win-win if you keep the bad players happy (if they are losing money they are likely playing for enjoyment / entertainment - make sure they are entertained). You can think of it as you are an actor and you're getting paid to entertain them as you take their chips.
He was hitting on you silly:)
T=)
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