1/20/2011

Irony's a Bitch & HUD's are just cheating yourself....

Right off the top, thanks Waffles! Anyone that can make me work out the thoughts in my head should be very afraid, but also, just a little proud for covering a few of the more subtle nuances of a card players thought process.

I can't begin to think of where I should start this post. Let's see, I joined our little kuh-myoo-ni-tee with every intention of taking advantage of the free lessons and information available about NLHE. Then I met a few Bloggers and suddenly, I joined in on all our Blogger games. So despite wanting to join in to gain an advantage, I found myself becoming part of a group that treats everyone the same. If I was going to get any good at NLHE, I'd have to play my way towards improvement. I'd soon learn that there would be no taking advantage of posted information about weakness or habits and it was all thanks to one simple fact,

CARDS CAN'T THINK!

You see, if the smart player chooses to take advantage of technology and all the programs and HUD's available to make them a better player, I'm all for it. It simply means that I will have a real edge at the table the next time we sit down and play, face-to-face. What a HUD or program advantage can give you is a 'bot' decision that as a percentage on the whole, is probably the correct call to make based on Status Quo. But that's really the beauty of playing cards isn't it?

Status Quo is a moving fucking target!

Add the RNG into the equation and Hell, there will be enough $1 payments made for the bad beat stories requiring telling, to pretty much wipe out the entire deficits of North America and possibly Ireland or Greece combined.

Point is in my humble opinion, if you need a HUD to play cards you're either;

A) admitting that you're beat and need the help
B) hopelessly indecisive at gambling
C) the angle-shooter we despise sitting at a table with
or
C) a cheater that sees an advantage in using a bot

This of course is just my opinion. I'm sure there are many others out there and honestly, I'd actually like to hear them too! No matter what side of the fence you hang your hat on. Don't get me wrong here, I'm certainly no pure and white snow driven angel kids.

I just get a great deal of personal satisfaction knowing that when I do manage to win, I did it without a bot, HUD or some other type of program making me feel like I did something special. Because to me without the extra help, what I've done is every bit as satisfying as doing it sitting at a live table and honestly, is there a better feeling for a card player?

And to me anyways, that's what it's all about really. The cards can't think so when I do it right all on my own, I not only beat my opponent, I beat the game. I think the personal satisfaction from that experience is what's sadly lacking in the online genre today. I-got-tech-so-I-don't-give-a-crap-how-I-win has taken over our generation and to me, quite sadly, the next few to come along as well.

The way we're going you can say 'screw it' to the Star Trek dreams of no monetary values and might as well just say 'hello,' to a world full of douchebags just looking for an edge or an angle.

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....

3 comments:

Shrike said...

Disclaimer: I've never used any poker tracking software or a HUD. But I'm thinking of doing so in the near future.

I don't think using such programs necessarily means you fall under any of those four categories you mention above. Why not? Because I would argue that there's nothing inherently wrong with using an efficient method to either a) track your own results or b) gather the same information you'd have at a live game.

For example: let's say I'm playing a live game of stud poker. As an observant & serious player, I will pay attention and track all of the dead cards and mentally keep tabs on how aggressive the various players are. If I want to play some stud but can't find a game - trust me, finding stud game is a big PITA - I have to go online to indulge my poker hobby. In an online game, however, the pace can be so fast that I might not get a chance to see what people might be folding on 3rd street. Yet (let's take Stars in this example) if I open up the chat window I can retrieve that information as I am playing out the hand. Or I can have a piece of software that does this work for me in real-time and saves me the trouble.

The lines can certainly blur if your poker software spews out guesstimates at equities and so forth, but I don't think all poker software is inherently unethical to use.

I have more thoughts on this - I guess it's time for a blog post of my own on this topic!

-PL

Snuffy said...

I will try and post a rebuttal on the Corporation site in a couple days and will let you know when it's done.

lightning36 said...

I wonder if your topic is the essence of what defines a recreational player from others.