Winners Tilt, RegFish And Who Plays For Fun Anymore?

Made one of my infrequent visits to 2+2 last night, and found a great thread which got me thinking about a couple of new terms. This came just as I played a couple of 180 SNGs in which literally every one of my opponents was playing 8+ tables... a combined 'view from the tables' below.First the thread, here is a link: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/36/stt-strategy/making-living-grinding-30s-stars-1131809/ Some diverse viewpoints on grinding, especially the 'contribution to society' and 'social isolation' debate got a little heated! What stuck out for me was a new concept – Winners Tilt. This is something that happens to grinders when they run great in their first couple of sets of SNGs (or hours of cash), bank a good win , feel great and.... stop playing! Sounds innocuous enough, right? Well, the thing is that grinders need volume... and each hugely profitable set will be balanced over the long run with a horrible session where nothing at all seems to go right. So, stopping just because of early wins is very bad for long-term profits. Still, sounds like a nice problem to have! The other idea in this thread was 'RegFish'. This one is not new, though I have not covered it here yet. You see, not all regulars are great players. Some of your multi-tabling opponents have leaks so big that they are break-even at best, or even losing before bonuses / rakeback. Some of them ran hot for 1000 games, thought they could be pros and are now leaking away their bankroll in a prior positive variance-induced delusion of being 'good but unlucky', others were +ev on 4 tables and did not quite understand how much edge they would lose moving to 10, or up a buy-in level....and so on. Anyway, the message for readers is that not all regulars are good – so make sure you know the difference between the regs and the RegFish.

Is Playing Poker For Fun Dead?

I'll admit it, my name is Planet Mark and I play poker for fun... you know, entertainment and relaxation at the end of a tough day writing and updating websites! Seems I might be the only one left though. As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, I played a few 180s recently and almost every player who was not hidden from search seemed to be playing 8+ games, some of them twice that. I was actually saddened. Not because I have any problem with grinding or the people who choose to do this. More because it feels like poker as a fun pass time is on its way out... it is now the good regulars against the regfish. Yeah, it is an exaggeration. No, its not an 'everyone is solid nowadays' moan (my view is the opposite in fact, most of these regulars are very predictable and thus beatable) It is just, well, come on people – did we forget at some point along the line that playing poker is a fun pass time (with monetary benefits!)? Maybe it is a Stars thing? Right, I'll play a week or two at Titan Poker instead and let you know how it turns out! GL at the tables, Mark