The title of this blog was borrowed from Chapter 42 of Daniel Negreanu's book, "Hold'em Wisdom for All Players". Some of my friends and I have been discussing "soft playing" lately, so I would like to quote some of Daniel's "wisdom". I will say that I agree with it.
"What I'm about to say may surprise you. You might be a cheater and not even know it.
If you are in a poker game for money and are taking it easy on one of your buddies, you are cheating yourself, your friend, and every other poker player in the game. I realize that's a bold statement, but it's absolutely true.
In the poker world, we have a term for this type of play. It's called soft playing. When two friends, spouses, relatives or flat-out cheaters don't bet against each other, they're soft playing.
Soft playing destroys the integrity of the game of poker and it's wrong, dead wrong. [Bold and italics are mine.]
Poker is not a team sport. It's every man for himself. It's perfectly okay to root for your buddies and hope they do well, but when it's time to play the game, you have to give it your all.
. . . [and] for fairness to prevail, you have to play hard against everyone at the table. That includes Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Betty and Little Timmy. I mean, really, if you can't check-raise your own mother, what kind of player are you anyway?
Soft playing is, more often than not, totally innocent. But you need to be aware that there are snakes out there . . . . "
Thanks, Daniel. And having said all that, I still admit that I was wrong for betting into my friend Phil when I had a made straight flush on the river and was definitely going to get paid high hand money. I just got caught up in the moment.
On the whole, however, I agree with everything Daniel Negreanu said in Chapter 42 and this book in general is a great addition to anyone's poker library.
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3 comments:
I have read that, and I generally agree. There are, however, players that fall into different categories for me:
1. Players I don't really want to take money from (friends, relatives).
2. Players that I am indifferent to, therefore glad to take their money (casual aquaintenances, total strangers).
3. Players that I really dislike (no names here, but you know many of them) and will go out of my way to take their money.
4. Players that I like and if I cut them some slack they will cut it back to me. We all need this at times. In other words, like when I was playing Monday, hit quads on the turn and told the player sitting next to me remaining in the pot who is a very nice guy and stuck a couple hundred, "I check, don't bet". If he bet into me after that, well, I would not hesitate to check raise him. Consider this: I cut some slack to a nice guy, desirable player who was losing a bunch, who coincidentally was sitting to my left, with position on me nearly every hand. So, if that is soft play so be it.
Truthfully, I do play poker for multiple reasons. One is the comraderie while I am away from home, second is my addictive personality, third is liking to win money, but honestly it does not impact my life one way or the other if I win or lose...though an extended streak of losing would cramp my style somewhat. However I do manage my bankroll pretty well, so that is a small danger. For professionals, such as Daniel, poker is their job, and therefore they have no incentive not to play hard every hand.
There are two golden rules: do unto others as you would want them to do unto you. Benny Binion had a sign on his desk: golden rule: he who has the gold makes the rules.
And if any of your readers are interested in purchasing Daniel's books, please visit www.CardSharkPokerStore.com.
Lynne,
I have a slighy different take on the soft play issue, I base judgement of the play on the intent. If there is no intent to cheat or team up to gain an advantage then I have no problem with it, for example if a husband and wife find themselves heads up and they want to check it down I have no problem with it. But if the the hand is 3 way, and they bet aggressively until they run out the 3rd player then check it down I call that team work. I'm sure you know there are several TEAMS at some of the places you play. The only good thing is they are not good players or good at cheating, they are easy to spot if you are paying attention. I like to see them loose. There are also several couples (spouses) that like to play togther and I feel like they are HONEST players, even when they go easy on each other.
BTW Phil, took it easy on me in a hand once at the moose, I had a strong hand he had a Monster, I made a ten dollar value bet and he JUST CALLED with the nuts. I know his intent was just to be nice, no one was cheated, I was down a little he was way up. He and I both know that we normally will try to WIN from each other, but "choosing" to take it easy once in a while can be a nice gesture.(thanks Phil)
Take Care
Jim
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