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Nice Hand?

The proper way to behave- a discussion.
There are a few authors who, on a regular basis, try to improve the behavior of the poker playing public. There has been extensive discussion on this subject in magazines like Card Player for years, and I have expressed my own feelings towards this in my latest column here. The authors who join in on the discussion know that the behavior of a significant minority of the (better) poker players hurts the overall poker industry. For instance, there are a lot of people who try to show how great players they are by criticizing weak players, educating their opponents on how they should have played and needling players they don't like. Most people will agree that one of the worst things someone can do is to criticize weak players on the way they play. These players come to the casino to enjoy themselves, to have a good time and quite often they don't even care if they win or lose. Now if some self-proclaimed expert starts lecturing these people, a bad thing for poker has happened. The player who is being criticized may think this game is not so much fun after all, leave the game and spend his money elsewhere (on the slot machines, the craps table or by going to the movies or a night club, for example). If he is not that easily driven away, and if he thinks the player offending him might in fact have a point, he might start tightening up his game and become tougher to beat. Either way, the bad behavior of just a single player may have disrupted a potentially profitable situation for all players, with the player doing the damage making a complete fool of himself. If this guy isn't able to beat some of the weakest players out of their money by simple waiting for them to give it to him, then who the hell is he going to beat?

To prevent situations like this from happening, a few poker writers have told that the best thing to do is to look at things from the long-term perspective; that in the long run the money will be yours if you keep playing your A-game; that driving the bad players off or making them play better will be detrimental to your bankroll; that it's actually good for poker when they draw out on you to win a big pot, because if they would never win there would be no game; and that therefore you shouldn't criticize them when they draw out on you and rake in the pot, but instead smile at them, tap the table and say "nice hand". Well, while I definitely agree on all of these things, I cannot understand why you would ever say "nice hand" when your opponent takes the pot away from you, a pot that he shouldn't have been fighting for in the first place. Let's say you raise before the flop with aces and get (cold-) called by one player only, who is a nice and friendly guy, but also a calling station, a live one, a sucker -you name it. The two of you see a 942 rainbow flop; you bet and get called. The turn is a three, you bet, he calls. The river is an eight. You fire again, and get called once again. You show down your aces, fully expecting them to be good, but you're in for a rude surprise when your opponent sheepishly opens his hand- 84 offsuit. First he cold-called your raise with this hand, then he flopped middle pair-no kicker which seemed good enough for him to call you all the way to the river and he then got rewarded by making a second pair on the last card- even though at no point in the hand he was even close to getting the right odds to call. When you get your big hand cracked, these writers suggest that you tap the table, smile at your opponent and say: "nice hand", to show that you're not bothered about losing the pot. But how do you think your opponent will react when you say this? Will he seriously think that in your opinion 84 offsuit is such a nice hand? Do you think that just because he plays bad, he doesn't know that 84 is a piece of cheese, a trash hand, garbage, and that trying to outdraw pocket aces with them is plain suicide? So how do you think he will take it when you say "nice hand"? Will he think: "Oh, what a nice guy. He doesn't mind losing with aces because he noticed I had a nice hand as well" or will he think the guy with the aces is giving him the needle and is trying to ridicule his play in front of everybody? I'll bet you ten dollars he is going to think the latter, especially if the guy saying "nice hand" isn't a laid-back, nice guy but a serious, professional player trying to make a living out of the game.

So if you should not say "nice hand", what should you say?
If you cannot act credibly when you try to show that you don't mind losing the hand, then it might be best to just tap the table and say nothing at all. If you are someone who is able to be nice and friendly, even when losing a pot to a long shot, then simply say: "Well done, man" or laugh at him and say something like "Man, you're a tough nut to crack" or "Geez, I think I'm going to need at least a straight flush to beat you". Let him enjoy this win, make it seem like it doesn't matter to you which cards he plays- or how he plays them. If your words or actions get him to look back at his cards, he might think: "hey, what the hell am I doing? OK, so I won the pot, but if I'm going to try to outdraw his premium hands on a regular basis, then he is going to end up with my money for sure. I guess I'll have to tighten up my game from now on, or the night might prove to be very costly." If you make him look back at how he played the hand, he might think: "Hey, this guy only raises with high cards or big pairs. If only low cards flop, his maximum hand is therefore one pair, and he may even be in there with just two big cards. If I play back at him on the flop and he doesn't have the big pair he is representing, I might be able to make him lay down his hand, even though I might not have a pair myself. In this hand, I was definitely wrong not to raise on the river, because with only low cards and no flush possible, the maximum hand he could have was one pair and I had that beat. So not only should I adjust my starting requirements and start folding more often, I should also try to improve my play after the flop."

If others perceive you as a serious person, as someone who is trying to analyze everything that's going on, then you might get players like this to think more about the game and you might have cost yourself a lot of money. But if you just laugh, smile and make them feel like they're the kings of poker, like there's something special going on right here and that they are part of it, then they might get the positive reinforcement they need about their horrible plays- and might start playing even more horribly. Mike Caro has taught me that there's a strong correlation between the atmosphere at the table (the noise, the laughter, people having a good time) and the potential profit for the professional player. Exploit this and you may win a lot of money you might not have won otherwise- while enjoying yourself in the process.

Take care, you guys, and good luck.