Mercy just ain't professional

Should you have mercy at a poker table?  Most people would probably agree that there are no friends at the poker table but you also may be surprised how many people at a poker table will get upset at you for trying to take every last penny they have.  And yes, I am that guy.  I want every dollar you have.  Every dollar that you put on the poker table that is.  If you sit down with me at a real money table where the stakes are anything bigger than $20 I am there to take you down.  If I am in a home game with family or friends that may be a little different because the idea is fun and socializing--but in a game where the money won or lost can fill up my car with gas, or more, I play to win.  I play to win every last cent I can get.

It may sound cutthroat and ruthless but I look at it as a business.  I don't play poker for a living (yet) but it does supplement my income--some months more than others--and that money that is on the table is leaving in somebody's pocket, and I think it may as well be mine.

One of my favorite characters in film is portrayed by Paul Newman in The Hustler and The Color of Money.  He plays Fast Eddie Felson, a pool hustler and gambler who makes his money investing and gambling on excellence.  In The Color of Money he says that his profession "isn't about pool, it isn't about love, and it isn't about sex.  It's about money.  The best is the guy with the most."  He later says in the movie when Tom Cruise is feeling pity on an old man he is about to beat out of a few bucks, "You never ease off on somebody like that...not when there's money involved.  That's the problem with mercy kid, it just ain't professional."  That is how I try to live my poker life.  It is about money.

Last Saturday I came across a fellow poker player who did not appreciate my no mercy policy.  There is a player--let's call him Kevin--at my poker club who is a classic, "undisciplined" degenerate.  This guy has a gambling problem and an attitude problem to go with it.  Everything that you shouldn't be in a poker player, he is.  He has major tilt issues, poor money management, plays long sessions when he is losing, and plays on his ego.  He goes after players and has specific people he wants to bust constantly.  He also has the amazingly stupid belief that he should always have the biggest stack on the table.  And this is in a game where he is usually the 4th or 5th best player at the table--AT BEST.  He will be in the poker room every day for two or three months until he has taken such a beating that he leaves for months at a time.  But he always comes back and he is always the same. He always has disputes and arguments with people at the table and frankly is a real ass when he is losing.  I am a pretty laid back guy and him and I have never had any real issues, though I have never been buddies with him.

On Saturday afternoon I was playing in the game and had a $300 stack and he raised it up to $7 with a $500 stack and I called with KQ.  The flop came KQ2 (two spades) in a 4 handed pot.  We all checked to Kevin and he bet $23.  It was folded to me and I made it $65.  He called instantly. He was putting his money in the pot before the dealer even confirmed the total.  This is something he likes to do to try to slow people down when he has a hand that he does not want to fold.  Kevin doesn't understand that this behavior costs him more money than it saves him when playing good players.  Now I know for sure has a strong hand (perhaps AK) and he is going to pay me off.  It could indicate a strong draw, but I know I am ahead and it is likely a made hand with the preflop action.  The turn was a 7 and I bet $120.  Again, he called almost immediately.  The river was a 9 which was not may favorite card on the chance he had J 10 but other than that I was certain I had every other holding of his beat.  I bet the rest of my chips on the river which was about $110 more and now he tanked.  He studied me and I just stared at the board, trying to give nothing away.  He then said to the player next to him, "How do you raise with Q2 and hit that flop and get in this spot?"  Now that I know he has Q2 I am very happy and was almost certain he would call.  He began to talk to me, asking questions like "Is my two pair no good?"  He went on talking to me for a good two minutes and I did nothing but stare at the board and tried to give nothing away.  I really thought he would call and did not want to say anything.  He then said to me, "Just tell me my Q2 is no good so I can fold please."  I said nothing.  Finally he folded and was very angry.  He actually was mad at me for not showing him or telling him that his Q2 was no good.  For the rest of the session, for hours he would refer to that hand and was angry at me all night.  He said something to me after the hand along the lines of "you didn't have enough of my money to where you could just give me a break?"  I didn't say "NO ASSHOLE" like I was thinking but I did say "what are we doing here if not to win money?  Why did you just reload to $1000 in chips if you aren't trying to win money?"  He said "To bust your ass."  Which I responded "that is exactly what you should do."

The rest of the night he said every time I was in the blind he was raising the pot no matter what (smart guy huh?) and was on tilt for quite some time. He offered the dealer a $100 tip if he busted me.  He must have loved it when I busted another player with a Nut flush over a lower flush and saw me win more money.  He thought I had enough.  But I didn't and I don't now.  I will try to win every dollar Kevin brings to the table now and in the future.  And with the target that he has placed on me now probably only increases my chances of winning in the long run.  He is playing on ego and will make a mistake at the wrong time and I will take his money.  I will not have mercy on him or anyone else.  As Fast Eddie says, "it just ain't professional."

Disciplined Degenerate