ITH Poker Forum

[leofric]

Not sure if this is the right forum but it seems a little ranty so I settled on this one.

Angle shooters - are they bad for the game or should we accept that all rules are to be "stretched" and that ultimately poker is a game of using everything you have to beat the other guy?

If something is illegal or against the rules then fine I have no issue.

If something is poor sportsmanship such as slow-rolling at the end then - well ok its poor sportsmanship - but if its done to put the other guy(s) on tilt then isnt it a legitimate tool?

Dont get me wrong - I'm not saying this is how I want to play. My whole strategy is to stay under the radar for as long as possible. By definition angle shooters are drawing attention to themselves. I'm just saying that if something is that wrong then the rules need to be changed to ban it. If that means no f-bomb then so be it - we now all know the rules and so should try to avoid breaking them.

Besides - I always keep the chatbox open online - not to chat but to see what others are saying. If someone appears a little tilty this is useful info, if they are "tapping the aquarium" then it also opens up the probability that they arent that good. If someone wants to just pursue another with a stream of abuse - doesnt this mean we can exploit this? Either they are tilty themselves or likely to only want to be in pots with the other guy.

So if people want or need to push these grey areas - isnt it a sign of their personality? And isnt that something which we could exploit later?

[nsidestrate]

The kinds of angle shooting that really irk me are when an experienced player uses the detailed rules of the cardroom to screw over an inexperienced player. Enforcing minor technicalities of the betting line or the way that the played cuts his chips to prevent him from raising, that sort of thing.

[philhux]

Angle shooters are scumbags pure and simple. Thing I don't get is half the time it is over such small things that people only do it because there is no punishment or just to prove that they can.

I still believe that there should be a universal set of poker rules so there is no grey area, room for interpretation or to shoot an angle. Using obscure local rules, quirks or people you know at your home casino also falls into this. Nside I hate this too.

Any time I see someone shooting an angle I will have my eye on them like a hawk. If I am totally sure then I will call them out on it, if not then I will keep watching them keenly. I've often had it the case where I have received abuse and hate at the table for standing up to people like this but I don't care.

I would put something like slowrolling in a different category because the hand is over. If it is a slow roll combined with speechplay designed to get your opponent to muck his hand then this is shooting an angle.

If I'm playing with an inexperienced player then I will often tell them once if they are doing something wrong. cutting chips wrong, betting line, protecting cards - whatever. If they then do it again then that's up to them.

[leofric]

The kinds of angle shooting that really irk me are when an experienced player uses the detailed rules of the cardroom to screw over an inexperienced player. Enforcing minor technicalities of the betting line or the way that the played cuts his chips to prevent him from raising, that sort of thing.

I do take your point that it tends to be used against less experienced players (which Live I would definitely fall into) but at the same time isnt the best way to learn not to do something if it costs you? It also seems a pretty pointless thing to do anyway long term since all you're doing is scaring a fish away from the table for the sake of one hand.

Then again wasnt there a player whose angle was to announce raise then only put in enough chips to call when he had a monster? That way when he was "forced" to put in his raise it was more than likely to be called.