A display of Discipline........?

Exactly. Where give free advice? Players who don't know what they're doing need to pay for the experience.

Everyone has probably noticed my blog signature:

(Never interrupt the enemy when he is making a mistake - Napolean Bonaparte )

Many think this an axiom but it is an actual quote by the French General /Politician who is often thought of as one of the greatest Generals of all time.

Why I use it is because, in my view, poker has many similarities to war. There are tactics, strategy, attacks, withdrawals just to name a few elements of battle. How this applies to this blog is that last night I played a game and a player either lacked the discipline or felt the need to impress the table with his assessment of each player and the play just made. Needless to say he was entirely wrong on each "assessment" and went out chasing an inside str8.

These people are not rare - all of you are familiar with these players - it seems that the rule is one per table - at least you're guaranteed to run in to a few of them in every game.

I pay close attention to the game and occasionally discern an exploitable weakness in a player. Those of you who know me probably will agree I'm one argumentative SOB I like to think that this happens only when there is a legitimate reason to argue rather than the sake of argument alone. Especially during a game I am mindful to avoid pointless (meaning tactically useless) babbling - to do otherwise displays some lack of discipline. At least I can never find a reason to let another beat me at using something I alone may have observed to help me win.

How this applies to the subject of this blog is that I'm totally puzzled why players cannot control themselves during a game. Would it not be a better to:

• Use what you have observed to win the game. Isn't it senseless to tell the table your take on the observation? Doesn't that give opponents valuable insight as to what you might do if the situation presents itself again?
  
• Not alert the other players to what your perhaps superior observation skills alone might have detected. It's kind of like a batter who is expert at smacking fastballs out of the park telling a pitcher who loves his weak fastball "don't throw that weak fastball - I'll smack it out of the park". Wouldn't this batter hope he tried it?
  
• Allow the player to continue the mistake so he cannot correct the weakness? Do you really want your opponent to know what you have seen so that he can quit doing it?
  

I understand attempting to tilt others for tactical advantage - I guess it occasionally works with weak-minded players. In my view it is more often an expression of the lack of discipline of the offending player.

This is my rationale. I'll exclude the totally recreational, minimally skilled player. The premise of my argument is that every player who uses the mechanical tools of playing poker well almost never loses because of forgetting to "carry the two" when figuring odds. In other words the math of this game do not require a PHD in physics. Often losses and wins for that matter, come from conclusions drawn and actions taken that differ from what the mechanics tell you. Advanced players drawn advanced conclusions and take advanced actions from information basic players cannot even see.

At most levels of play, players who don't have the discipline to know when to be quiet rarely are disciplined enough to take their game to an advanced level. The comical thing is that most of these "virtual Phil Ivey's" observations and "expert" commentary is inaccurate anyway. The comical thing is that most of these "virtual Phil Ivey's" observations and "expert" commentary is inaccurate anyway and perhaps practicing the discipline of refraining from this type of commentary will leave some brainpower for the game....

Merlin333