[frob23]

The way I have always played is that there are no friends at the table itself. There are no family members, boy friends, girl friends, partners, friends with benefits, cohorts, BFFs, or any other such creature on the poker table. Poker is a game of individuals playing for themselves and only that. I know certain things about the way my cousins play, the way my sisters play, the way my step-brother plays, and the way many of my friends play... these things often help me decide how to act or react at the table.

I wouldn't bring it up with any of them unless they were about to go into a game that I felt would brutally take advantage of this for more than they could afford and which I wasn't playing in. If I was playing in the game then I would never breathe a word of it.

The poker table isn't a kind place... teddy bears and security blankets are best left at home. I know this sounds harsh... but it's also essential to keeping the game as pure as possible.

If I went and told my cousin (for example) that she never over-bets the pot in draw, after the draw, without a full house or higher... you would think that I was just helping her by letting her know how predictable that one move of hers was. That's actually true, by the way, she'll only bet larger than the pot (often much larger) in NL draw if she's boated up or better. Knowing this make it really easy for me to lay down straights and flushes. But imagine I told her that. And right before we went to play in a NL draw game... together.

Now, if we get involved in a 3 way pot with another player and she makes an unusually large raise... what is likely happening? It's very likely that she could be signaling me that she's got a strong enough hand to take this pot and that I should just fold and get out of the way. I likely would, because of the knowledge she knows I have of her play. Without my intent, I have caused her to collude at the table against a 3rd party.


Ok, truth be known... my cousin that plays like this has alligator blood. If she recognized that I recognized this, she would start to occasionally make this sort of over-bet when she was against me alone... simply because it stands a high chance of success. I could see myself being hurt a lot more by sharing this than anyone else because she would ruthlessly attack my belief of the strength of her hand. But the collusion reason is still the main reason that you don't share tells or other things like that with people. Because you're basically telling them how to signal to you the strength of their hand.