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 he Guardian Poker Column |
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| Victoria
Coren |
| Friday July 14, 2006
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How to play poker
(How to play has been running from issue 16) |
If Zinedine Zidane played online poker, he would never
have headbutted Materazzi for a comment as harmless as "Your mother is a
terrorist whore". Relative to the chat-boxes on some gaming sites, that remark
would be considered friendly banter.
In the old American road-gambling
days, you wouldn't swear at poker opponents for fear of being shot over the
table. Even in British games, politeness was the advisable default mode, lest
you received an invitation to join the victim of your sarcasm in the car park.
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To this day, a certain etiquette is
expected in live poker games. "Slow-rolling" (taking too long to reveal the
winning hand at the end of the betting) is considered inflammatory. Acting out
of turn, crowing when you win a pot, or insulting a loser, is also extremely
bad form.
You can't slow-roll online, as the computer reveals your hand
for you. It mechanically prevents you from acting out of turn. But you can
choose to shout vile curses at your opponents, because they can't hear. That's
the internet for you: when a guy is looking at online porn in the privacy of
his own home, he also does things that he shouldn't do in a crowded room with a
lot of people watching.
But some people, protected by the anonymity of
the computer screen, enjoy typing their insults into the chat-box. The other
day, I watched two players trade invective on Paradise Poker. As the lines at
the end of this column declare every week, Paradise is my website of choice - I
write poker tips for them, and they sponsor me to play some live tournaments -
but I was playing under my unisex screen name. I decided to tell them I was
female to see if it made any difference. Charmingly, the insults were toned
down and the chat-box restored to its proper function (to debate hands calmly,
throwing in the odd bit of small talk or funny comment to re-create the banter
of a social game).
Clearly, the players were aware that it isn't very
nice to abuse strangers (or anyone) in this way, and were actually quite
capable of controlling themselves. What they may not know is that it's also a
more lucrative strategy to stay friendly.
You've got a week to work out
why that might be, before I spell it out next Friday. In the meantime,
remember: however significant the money, poker is a recreational activity that
shouldn't be used to make people feel miserable. |
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