don't tap the glass

I’d say most poker players know what that phrase means. But every poker player should understand the significance. The phrase is referring to the fish, donkeys, or very bad poker players. “Don’t tap the glass” means don’t bother the “fish”, let them lose their money in peace. It’s really annoying for good or decent players to get angry at fish for playing badly. I don’t really understand. If you want to play better players, then play for more money. Don’t embarrass the fish and make them want to quit. For example, if a fish gets lucky in a hand and wins, the good player that lost should actually be happy because he is in a good game. But berating or making fun of the fish could encourage him to quit or change games.

Let’s think about it, there is a big luck factor in poker. Everyone talks how lucky or unlucky someone got in a particular hand. Blah blah blah. But the balance of luck and skill in poker is what makes the game so great. If it weren’t for luck, the game would be like chess. The best players would win every single game. And therefore, the “fish” would never want to play again. However, in poker, everyone wins sometimes. And that keeps the “fish” coming back.

I was playing a HU SNG today and I hit a flush on the river and bet and the player called with a losing hand. He called me a fish and said I got lucky. I guess he had the best hand before the river, but that is irrelevant. I could argue with him that he should have bet the flop and turn stronger. But I’m not going to justify my play and help him improve his game. Instead, I told him “sorry, I’m new to this.” He said, “it sure seems like it.” And that was that. He was a weak player and I would love to play him any day.

Back in high school, a group of guys would play about once week. And pretty much everyone in the game was bad to average at holdem. But anyway, I’d say the worst player in the game was Mike. He was bad at poker and always seemed to have lots of cash. He would usually be good for a $20-50 dollar donation, which is huge in high school dollars. But, he was the perfect example, everyone knew he was horrible but no one said anything. I was probably one of the better players that normally played, and he would always ask for confirmation about a play he made. For example, he’d say something like, “how could I fold there Grant, you would’ve folded right?” To which I would always reply with something like, “Yeah, you just got unlucky”
I could’ve told him that it was a close spot between calling and folding and that I prefer that he bet more on the turn to define opponent’s hand and to price out the flush draw. But why would I want to educate him. I was reading somewhere that you should never do two things to fish:
1. berate them
2. educate them.