blonde poker forum

Ok so you are playing in your biggest live event to date and you have gone 10% with your poker friend. You do not share winnings its just you have decided to go 10% since it is quite a big tourney.

Now the tables have been drawn and you have been put right on your friends table!! Oh dear.


Now i want you guys to tell me if you play any differently here, do you play your normal game and if you have a chance to bust your friend you would, or would you totally avoid action with your friend.

I want responses from pro's and normal, social poker players please

im a social player. i just play my game in the normal way:)

I'd play as normal, any special treatment for him is collusion surely and puts the rest of the table at a disadvantage?

I would always play my normal game, unless it was tikay of course, then I would try that little bit harder to bust him.

Seriously, I think soft-play is the scourge of poker. I played a satellite the other day, 4 seats, 5 players left, and two friends openly saying "check it down, we don't bet against each other"

Normally don't swap % with anyone to avoid any conflicts of interest (though did do 10% with BigArmo in 2006 WSOP main event - but no chance of even being drawn together til at least day 3).

In your position though i play my normal game regardless even if it means busting him out.

Was this is the World Heads Up Championship?

I echo Red's sentiments exactly.

In fact, it's bad for me to be at a table with one of my (few) close friends, as it's a sort of "who can bust the other" thing.

But for absolute certain, you SHOULD & MUST play "properly" - & that includes confrontations when the need arises - against mates with whom you swap %'s.

My regular "swaps" are only with Thewy, Chili, Irish Denis & a few others, but to soft play them (= cheat) would be unthinkable.

Sadly, many don't see it that way, & collusion & soft play is rife. But everyone knows who does it, & these low-lifes are held in contempt by almost the entire poker community.

In Super-Sats it is even worse.  In the Online Grosvenor Super Sats, I've lost count of the number of times players have rung me " let's avoid each other". Yeah, right.....I even had "I'll R, you RR, & I'll Pass, as I have a shed-load of chips, after that we will check our hands against each other down".

Don't do it. Ever. That's my advice Dan.

Thanks for the awesome response tikay, i personally HATE soft playing against friends, im just worried what my friends or players i have % with would think. Sounds like everyone is pretty fiesty at the poker table, i wont be backing down... :D

Dan, if your pals think less of you for playing "properly" you are mixing in the wrong company.

I know Matt (Dale) is a genuine guy, and if it happens that you & Lucy end up on the same table, he'll expect you to do the done thing, & try to bust her, as she will you. That's how it should be.

I've shared Tables with Chili when she's been totally boracic, & still "targeted" her & busted her, thats how it has to be.

I was in Italy one year, with Thewy, & I was on a massive losing streak, & a bit down. Bubble time came, it was a Televised Final & I was aching to Final, I made a move, Thewy called me in a flash with AK & busted me. Quite right too, & that's why I love these guys.

I don't "swap" with Red, but he's a very close friend, & he busted me in a Super Sat "on the bubble" with no regrets from either side.

Grown-Ups, see?

Hey ive never actually come across this situation, but i always think about it.

I always play the same game - I have played on the same table as Bern and we will knock each other out no problem - with an apology at the time though. We always have 10% of each other.

ditto

You are different - I don't even notice you.

I think you need to give more clues Ariston - how could anyone work out who you're referring to from that...

yeh yeh whatever. If I'm willing to take her out of a game at the first opportunity you can imagine how I deal with Grandad etc

soft play is cheating at the end of the day. If you are willing to try and not knock your mates out of a comp then you shouldn't be entering the same games as them.

If anyone was silly enough to swap a % with me, I'd be desperate to bust them for making such a schoolboy error. :D

I must confess that I do soft-play in tournaments from time-to-time. But only when up against one other player. That person is.....Mrs Mantis. Yes, faced with the very definite choice between either an amicable heads-up encounter with the better-half or a loveless, sexless, take-away reliant existence I suddenly find more checks in me than a branch of HSBC!

I do see soft-playing regularly though....but I must say that it doesn't bother me much.

Poker is a game of small percentages and marginal advantages, so finding ways to squeeze any drop of juice into your game should be seized if your goal is to win tournaments. If you improve yourself by 1% you are a better player than you were before and this is surely what every student of the game desires. By soft-playing you loose the opportunity to be a better player and if people choose to go down that road that's up to them. My Dad kicks his ball out of the rough every time we play golf. 

Look, when you sit down at the start of a tournament your goal is to win. This is what every poker enthusiast craves. To give yourself the best chance of achieving this you must possess a single-minded determination to win all the chips in play. You immediately compromise this purpose as soon as you deem certain chips unavailable. " I can't take Bob's chips because we have swapped 10%....and I can't win Dave's because he bought me a pint last night". Playing for a fraction of the chips can only put you at a dis-advantage right from the outset I think.

When you are reaching the latter stages of an EPT or World Series event it is unlikely that any fellow soft-play buddies are going to be seated around the table to help smooth your passage to the final table. So why get into the habit? I think that it is a good idea to cultivate a habit of ruthless purpose and I think that you do this by playing for you, and you alone.  Playing pat-a-cake with the guy next-door is only going to hinder your progress imo.

I think a % swop works best if both players agree to have a play hard and whatever happens happens attitude. Getting into the "zone" in any sport is the ultimate goal. I don't think you can achieve this in the ruthless world of poker if you are thinking....."I wonder if John will mind if I raise his blind?"

Finally, one of the best aspects of poker for me is locking horns in pots with fellow regular players. A well-contested hand against a player you respect and like is what the game is all about....This is POKER baby......You could stay at home and tap the table.

Bust them 1st opp

play normal game

I see this happen a lot in one of the local pool clubs that has quite a large base of players. I only played infrequently, due to working shifts, and went for the social aspect as much as the poker.
Most of the players that regularly money or go close have swaps with each other. They quite openly discuss how they let their friends win chips tp keep them in the tourney. When I stated I thought it was cheating they thought I was mad!!!
Haven't played there since