The cost of growth.

Players come and go. Many leave unnoticed by most, if not all. Those that are noticed are not necessarily missed. Like the players you can’t help but notice because they draw attention by doing something that clearly annoys the other players at the table. Those players seldom seem to have much success. There are exceptions though. There’s the players who have figured out that a player doesn’t have to be good to climb up the leaderboard and finish near the top month after month. All you have to do is enter a lot of MTTs and go “all in” early and often. You might get wiped out early but if you don’t you take an early chip lead. That chip lead is an instant insurance policy that prevents you from getting wiped out because no one at your table has half as many chips. Now it’s time to ease up on going “all in” pre-flop. Instead, raise the initial bet every hand, by a moderate amount, then buy the pot. Be the bully. It’s ugly poker but it’s a proven strategy. This seems to work especially well on the Omaha Hi-Lo tables. I remember when there was a player who consistently rose to the top of the ranks. Finished first most of the time but always in the top 10. He NEVER won ugly. He also NEVER trash talked. He often bid others goodbye after knocking them out with a sincere “gg”.

He’s gone. I have no idea why. I hope it’s because he found something he enjoys more. I hope it wasn’t because he noticed less and less friendly remarks at the tables. I hope it wasn’t due to a wave of new players frequenting the tables with ugly strategies, a lack of manners, and an abundance of trash talk.

It appears the relaxing friendly games are becoming more of a niche thing. There’s not really anything to discourage bad manners and rude behavior in an online environment. There’s nothing in the rules that dictates that you must be a good sport when you knock someone out of a tournament. It’s entirely acceptable to send them off with “LOL”, “ROFL”, or “HAHAHAHAHA”! I used to make a point to leave the game with dignity and grace. No matter who knocked me out or what the circumstances were, I always issued the parting salutation: “nh gg”. I don’t say anything now. Nobody does except the obnoxious bully bingo players that offer a sarcastic “gg” after defeating a better player by virtue of blind luck.

I don’t even have any words to wrap this topic up with. Often times, I enjoy coming up with some kind of clever humor to close with. This just isn’t anything to laugh about.

You’re not wrong.

I have my mood swings. I try to stay even keeled. A string of bad games will still get to me. I get that way, I know it’s time to walk away and take some time off.