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Sorting out sitting out......

Tikay10Tikay10 Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 172,746
edited October 2014 in Poker Chat

I'm in a rambly mood this morning, so bear with me here whilst I gently meander to my point.
 
I know I bang on a lot about PLO8 DYM's, which not many of you play, but there is an interesting convention there, which I thought I'd like to share with you, because, you know, it seems to be to be a nice thing. I like nice. I once got trolled for months by a chap because he said "tikay likes nicey-wicey". Lol, sorry 'bout that mate, but that's how it is.  

Anyway, when a PLO8 DYM starts, & one of the players is "sat out", the other players, believe it or not, then go find the "AWAY" player on the other tables & remind them another table has opened & he or she is sat out.

Incredible, really, don't you think? But it happens every night.

The PLO8 crew are a right weird bunch in some ways. they have helped grow the traffic to enormous, previously unheard of, levels, without any help from Sky Poker, any Promos, anything, we just made it happen ourselves. Fantastic!

It maybe that players at ALL formats do that thing whereby they seek out AWAY players, I don't know. Do they?

Don't get me wrong. If a player has been away for the first 5 or 6 Levels, & we can't find him, I'm going to be attacking his dead blind, unless someone else does it first. I have no qualms about that, but because we have tried to alert him or her when it started, really tried, it seems OK to me. Yes, no?

There's also the occasional player who visits the dark side of sitting out.
 
I was 5 or 6 tabling the other night, & the BB was missing for the first 5 Levels, when it was passed to me in the SB, so I raised it up to steal his dead blind. Seemed pointless to check it down & let him win uncontested when he is clearly not there. But he suddenly appeared, re-potted me, I happened (by chance) to have a very playable hand, so we got it in, & he had the Aces. Fair play mate, I got my fingers caught in the jar.
 
I never sussed anything amiss, until he done it twice more, lol. Guess I'm too trusting. The guy was "working" the sit out facility, bless him.
 
Did it tilt me or bother me? Heavens, no. I'd nicked his Blinds 2 or 3 times, & then got caught, so that's fair enough. Cake & eat it.
 
It did set me thinking, though, about "AWAY" players & "sit-outs". 

The PLO8 crew are generally nice, amenable folk, (minimum age 85) & we don't see much of the dark side, but what happens in other formats, MTT's, Cash Games, HU etc?

Do people mess around & misuse the sit-out facility much? If so, is that "fair game", or "a bit naughty"?

Are there rules which forbade such practice? (Etiquette apart, we all know the etiquette is bad, but we don't all agree that etiquette has a place in poker). If so, what are they? Honestly, I don't actually know if there are specific rules to cover this, or even if there should be.

What, if anything, should we do to ensure the sit-out facility works as it is designed to, to ensure we can sit out when we need to, but without ill-intent?

Should we be entitled to sit out whenever & for how long we want? If we do, should we suffer some "punishment" by a mandatory minimum sit-out period? How would that sit with "innocent" sit-outs?

In some formats, cash or HU for example, should we even be ALLOWED to sit out, ever?

Just curious really, as it's been nagging away at the back of my mind for a while now.
 
Thoughts, anyone?

  

«13

Comments

  • MattBatesMattBates Member Posts: 4,118
    edited October 2014
    Can it not be like the live rule that there was issues over and you need to be at your seat to get dealt cards? If that is brought in it would cause more issues if software was unreliable though.
  • VespaPXVespaPX Member Posts: 12,485
    edited October 2014
    I thought you always sat out the first 4 levels anyway ! :-)
  • Tikay10Tikay10 Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 172,746
    edited October 2014
    In Response to Re: Sorting out sitting out......:
    I thought you always sat out the first 4 levels anyway ! :-)
    Posted by VespaPX
    Please!

    First SIX levels.
     
    I like letting other folk do all the hard work.

    I just LOVE those folks who berate me for not playing many hands, whilst they sit there limping into every pot, lol.
     
    More seriously, I tend to play 3 or 4 hour sessions of DYM's, 5 or 6 at a time, so I dont get the sync breaks that MTT-ers get.

    I live alone, & like to go downstairs & make a cup of tea & maybe a pork pie out of the fridge halfway through my session, so yeah, I find the ability to press that "SIT OUT" button quite handy. I'd rather do that than just leave the tables open & so everyone gets delayed because I'm mid-ablution or whatever.
     
    It's quite a complex area, when you think about it. Not my pork pie, I mean "sit outs".   
     
  • Tikay10Tikay10 Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 172,746
    edited October 2014
    In Response to Re: Sorting out sitting out......:
    Can it not be like the live rule that there was issues over and you need to be at your seat to get dealt cards? If that is brought in it would cause more issues if software was unreliable though.
    Posted by MattBates
    I suppose that's possible Matt, don't really know, but it brings in all sorts of other problems I would imagine.

    What do other sites do, or is it not deemed to be a problem generally?
  • REDARROW61REDARROW61 Member Posts: 443
    edited October 2014
    i think sit outs  and players AWAY are different, AWAY players especially during a tourney (not the start) are due to there connection issues.
  • Tikay10Tikay10 Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 172,746
    edited October 2014
    In Response to Re: Sorting out sitting out......:
    i think sit outs  and players AWAY are different, AWAY players especially during a tourney (not the start) are due to there connection issues.
    Posted by REDARROW61
    Generally, yes I suppose, you are right, but not always the case, surely?

    A site, of course, cannot penalise someone with genuine connection issues, irrespective of what "end" causes them.
  • shakinacesshakinaces Member Posts: 1,590
    edited October 2014
    I suppose it has to be poor etiquette, and it isn't something I'd ever do, but if people are trying to find any edge to improve their win rate then good luck to them... if it is wrong to do then it's up to Sky to change the software accordingly (IMO).

    If that was the approach, my guess is that hands would be insta-folded if you are away, which I'd assume is an easy (easier) software change - ie you then don't even have the split second needed to sit back in and click a min-raise.

    Which in turn would possibly be seen as a negative for those who genuinely are away (because they're multi-tabling / answering the phone / sneaking a quick ciggie/drink/toilet break etc)... although not at odds with live play?
  • TeddyBloatTeddyBloat Member Posts: 1,419
    edited October 2014
    In husngs its a thorny issue especially on the big site where regs are organised into groups to protect lobbies.

    Always strikes me as odd that its acceptable to steal off recs but not regs. I always think it imcumbent on regs to help a good playing enviroment, and if that means risking being freerolled so be it. I have in the past folded to reset stacks after an away opponent  returns.

    seeing regs berate and steal blinds off new players whilst being too afraid of politics to do the same to regs grates.
  • VespaPXVespaPX Member Posts: 12,485
    edited October 2014
    Can Sky software tell if someone is "Away" / Disconnected or has just clicked the Sit Out button?

    If they are "Away" and once the action has started then maybe they shouldn't be able join in that hand??

    Bit of a minefield really.
  • Tikay10Tikay10 Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 172,746
    edited October 2014
    In Response to Re: Sorting out sitting out......:
    In husngs its a thorny issue especially on the big site where regs are organised into groups to protect lobbies. Always strikes me as odd that its acceptable to steal off recs but not regs. I always think it imcumbent on regs to help a good playing enviroment, and if that means risking being freerolled so be it. I have in the past folded to reset stacks after an away opponent  returns. seeing regs berate and steal blinds off new players whilst being too afraid of politics to do the same to regs grates.
    Posted by TeddyBloat
    Excuse my naivety Teddy, but I've never played HU, & it's a long time since I have played on "The Big Site", though back in the day I was always on there.

    So what exactly does the enboldened part mean? I don't really understand any of that sentence, sorry.
     
    As Rory Breaker might say, now, you may enlighten me.....





  • F_IvanovicF_Ivanovic Member Posts: 2,412
    edited October 2014
    In Response to Re: Sorting out sitting out......:
    In husngs its a thorny issue especially on the big site where regs are organised into groups to protect lobbies. Always strikes me as odd that its acceptable to steal off recs but not regs. I always think it imcumbent on regs to help a good playing enviroment, and if that means risking being freerolled so be it. I have in the past folded to reset stacks after an away opponent  returns. seeing regs berate and steal blinds off new players whilst being too afraid of politics to do the same to regs grates.
    Posted by TeddyBloat
    Poker for regs is all about winning money and being free-rolled is something that's going to damage your win-rate. That being said if you're a reg that's unlikely to be freerolled since you very rarely have connection troubles then maybe there's more of a case to be made for you to give the rec a chance to return.

    However, how long do you give (to rec's or reg's) is a tricky decision. Kudos for you resetting stacs against a rec but regardless of the possibility of being free-rolled, is that not costing you money? Seeing as though in lots of HUSNG's the advantage can often come from early stages when the blinds are still small - instead of winning 5% (after rake) each SNG vs that REC you might be breakeven.
  • Macacgirl1Macacgirl1 Member Posts: 865
    edited October 2014
    Sitting out is just further proof that men can't multi-task.
    If I can (perm any four from nine) work, be on the telephone, have a bath, glug wine from the bottle, shovel twiglets into my pie hole, watch a movie, do my nails, listen to music or chat, then its a simple fact that men ain't trying hard enough.
    So there!
  • F_IvanovicF_Ivanovic Member Posts: 2,412
    edited October 2014
    Also meant to add in response to tikay.... I don't think "sitting out" to gain an advantage is even a strategy that works in DYM's... since a) it requires you to pick up a hand only on the BB and b) when you do pick up that hand, you're only going to be min-r - so you only win 2bb's anyway.

    In tournaments it could work if you're on a table of aggressive players all wanting to steal your blind
  • VespaPXVespaPX Member Posts: 12,485
    edited October 2014
    In Response to Re: Sorting out sitting out......:
    Sitting out is just further proof that men can't multi-task. If I can (perm any four from nine) work, be on the telephone, have a bath, glug wine from the bottle, shovel twiglets into my pie hole, watch a movie, do my nails, listen to music or chat, then its a simple fact that men ain't trying hard enough. So there!
    Posted by Macacgirl1
    It has been noticed at the tables , watching your timer go down ! :-)
  • TeddyBloatTeddyBloat Member Posts: 1,419
    edited October 2014
    ivanovic, i understand why people do it. on here its such a small player pool and i've had very positive reactions from people when i've reset stacks. it's -ev for sure but it does make the game enviroment a lot nicer and if it encourages people to pay it forward all the better. also i am a recreational-reg. i played hypers as a losing player as i lovedf em, and i love em even more as a winning player. however it is not even close to being anything other than a handy source of side income. at a selfish level making games friendly encourages traffic. i wont be the ultimate beneficiary as i am low down on the food chain, but i'm  a nice bloke too, so whatever.

    tikay, the politics of hyper husng's on the big site is incredible. i'll try to outline it briefly, but it is a big beast:

    so here goes, ahem...

    regs dont like playing other regs and sitting first in a lobby is a great way to avoid regs as they wont sit you. so virtually all regs on stars use a program called sharkystrator. this is a very cool program that auto-registers you in the next available lobby and is difficult to 'out-click manually'. sharky places everyone in a queue for the next lobby so the regs all sit in a line waiting for the next lobby to come-about all safe from each other.

    the recs dont have this software and so rarely get an empty lobby and so always play regs. the problem is that this is a bumhunters paradise. bad regs waited in line at high limits and the queues got huge upto 60 in a line and depending on rec traffic this led to big gaps between games at mid-high limits.

    one solution is for strong regs to clear the lobbies by sitting these weak regs and force them to move down. unfortunately this meant that small groups of regs where clearing the lobbies for large groups to freeroll off smaller wait times and higher rec/reg ratios.

    so the regs formed cartels or divisions. basically all those in the group set sharky to auto sit anoyone not tagged as a member. anyone not in therefore cannot play recreational players at that level and will be forced to move down. only members of the division gets to play recs. this works and there are former $100 regs now forced into playing 7-15's as they cannot beat anyone semi-decent.

    this is obviously bad for people trying to move up and some groups [100s down to $30] have clear entry requirements. if you achieve a certain ev ROI over a few thousand games against the division you are in and they vote a weak member out. this means to move up you have to play thousands of games against the better players and prove yourself.

    there are some crazy politics above 100's:  the $200 division is no longer accepting new memebers and at the very top you have people like dan coleman [one drop winner] who will only share if you take close to 200k off him. it aint happening, and his bankroll will out last yours. [colman: "I have good news and bad news. The good: Before becoming a 1k reg, you will have won 200k off me. The bad: Most likely not going to happen."]


    heres an interview with a well respected british hyper player on his failed shot at establishing himself as a $1k reg [in which he lost $140k to colman alone].

    http://www.husng.com/content/interview-richard-chadders0-chadwick-i-stopped-my-1k-shots

    one thing to take out of that is that he had to set aside a years living expenses and be willing to lose a 150k+ to take a 'shot' and get established.

    ----


    you can imagine the politics and ego that goes with all this.

    one phenomena the sharky queue caused was that of 'sit-declining'. if there is a reg you dislike in an open lobby you can sit him then decline a rematch meaning he goes to the back of the queue and waits another 30mins for another game. you can destroy someones hourly doing thyat and this is frowned upon and 'sit decliners' are auto barred from entering divisions. also if you value your chance of moving up annoying leaders or established members of divisions is really bad, so blinding them down and not sending back etc is a no-no.

    sitting regs can cause some horrendous ego problems. i use sharky and only avoid players i have marked as being worth avoiding [if an unmarked player is in a lobby and no-one ahead of you wants to play him but you do then you jump to the front and end up sitting the player]. one player i have been sitting has blocked scope stats and i genuinely thought he was a rec, here's the chat off our last game. there is some i didnt save where he accuses me of being an $5 av buyin player taking the p--s sitting $15 regs.

    CezarPoker21 said, "fu borstal"
    CezarPoker21 said, "gonna sit u everyday u little ****"
    tommyborstal said, "whats up mate?"
    CezarPoker21 said, "i said FU CK YOU"
    CezarPoker21 said, "thats whats up"
    CezarPoker21 said, "and that im gonna sit u every fukin day"
    tommyborstal said, "oh ok good luck brother"
    CezarPoker21 said, "im not ur brother biitch"
    CezarPoker21 said, "fu k off"
    tommyborstal said, "sorry if i upset you,dont like to make people upset"
    tommyborstal said, "good luck"



    CezarPoker21 said, "why?"
    CezarPoker21 said, "and why the **** do u sit regs"
    CezarPoker21 said, "when theres so many fish"

    crazy politics and ego on display.
  • CHILLIECHILLIE Member Posts: 432
    edited October 2014
    I came across a very weird away player during a hand in a dym, calls the pre flop bet i missed so checked his bar then goes red at a pace of a snail turn card comes down which i miss again but put a bet out there then all off a sudden hes back with an allin shove,sneaky little @*%$,teach me a lesson for the steal attempt but did put in chat u can only do that once.
  • CHILLIECHILLIE Member Posts: 432
    edited October 2014
    I played a well known reg in a 21 pound hyper some time ago,we used to speak in chat wish each other gl and all that,well i lost connection blinded out the whole game grrrrrrrrrr when i looked back through the hand history he had raised every blind sign, i replayed him after sorting out my connection issues asked him did he even consider waiting, he said yes for a split second fair enough i thought if thats how it is,but i believe in karma played the next 5 21 pound hypers v him won them all karmas a b@@TC when it strikes,hence to say i dont say gl in chat box now.
  • tomgooduntomgoodun Member Posts: 3,757
    edited October 2014
    In Response to Re: Sorting out sitting out......:
    ivanovic, i understand why people do it. on here its such a small player pool and i've had very positive reactions from people when i've reset stacks. it's -ev for sure but it does make the game enviroment a lot nicer and if it encourages people to pay it forward all the better. also i am a recreational-reg. i played hypers as a losing player as i lovedf em, and i love em even more as a winning player. however it is not even close to being anything other than a handy source of side income. at a selfish level making games friendly encourages traffic. i wont be the ultimate beneficiary as i am low down on the food chain, but i'm  a nice bloke too, so whatever. tikay, the politics of hyper husng's on the big site is incredible. i'll try to outline it briefly, but it is a big beast: so here goes, ahem... regs dont like playing other regs and sitting first in a lobby is a great way to avoid regs as they wont sit you. so virtually all regs on stars use a program called sharkystrator. this is a very cool program that auto-registers you in the next available lobby and is difficult to 'out-click manually'. sharky places everyone in a queue for the next lobby so the regs all sit in a line waiting for the next lobby to come-about all safe from each other. the recs dont have this software and so rarely get an empty lobby and so always play regs. the problem is that this is a bumhunters paradise. bad regs waited in line at high limits and the queues got huge upto 60 in a line and depending on rec traffic this led to big gaps between games at mid-high limits. one solution is for strong regs to clear the lobbies by sitting these weak regs and force them to move down. unfortunately this meant that small groups of regs where clearing the lobbies for large groups to freeroll off smaller wait times and higher rec/reg ratios. so the regs formed cartels or divisions. basically all those in the group set sharky to auto sit anoyone not tagged as a member. anyone not in therefore cannot play recreational players at that level and will be forced to move down. only members of the division gets to play recs. this works and there are former $100 regs now forced into playing 7-15's as they cannot beat anyone semi-decent. this is obviously bad for people trying to move up and some groups [100s down to $30] have clear entry requirements. if you achieve a certain ev ROI over a few thousand games against the division you are in and they vote a weak member out. this means to move up you have to play thousands of games against the better players and prove yourself. there are some crazy politics above 100's:  the $200 division is no longer accepting new memebers and at the very top you have people like dan coleman [one drop winner] who will only share if you take close to 200k off him. it aint happening, and his bankroll will out last yours. [colman: "I have good news and bad news. The good: Before becoming a 1k reg, you will have won 200k off me. The bad: Most likely not going to happen."] heres an interview with a well respected british hyper player on his failed shot at establishing himself as a $1k reg [in which he lost $140k to colman alone]. http://www.husng.com/content/interview-richard-chadders0-chadwick-i-stopped-my-1k-shots one thing to take out of that is that he had to set aside a years living expenses and be willing to lose a 150k+ to take a 'shot' and get established. ---- you can imagine the politics and ego that goes with all this. one phenomena the sharky queue caused was that of 'sit-declining'. if there is a reg you dislike in an open lobby you can sit him then decline a rematch meaning he goes to the back of the queue and waits another 30mins for another game. you can destroy someones hourly doing thyat and this is frowned upon and 'sit decliners' are auto barred from entering divisions. also if you value your chance of moving up annoying leaders or established members of divisions is really bad, so blinding them down and not sending back etc is a no-no. sitting regs can cause some horrendous ego problems. i use sharky and only avoid players i have marked as being worth avoiding [if an unmarked player is in a lobby and no-one ahead of you wants to play him but you do then you jump to the front and end up sitting the player]. one player i have been sitting has blocked scope stats and i genuinely thought he was a rec, here's the chat off our last game. there is some i didnt save where he accuses me of being an $5 av buyin player taking the p--s sitting $15 regs. CezarPoker21 said, "fu borstal" CezarPoker21 said, "gonna sit u everyday u little ****" tommyborstal said, "whats up mate?" CezarPoker21 said, "i said FU CK YOU" CezarPoker21 said, "thats whats up" CezarPoker21 said, "and that im gonna sit u every fukin day" tommyborstal said, "oh ok good luck brother" CezarPoker21 said, "im not ur brother biitch" CezarPoker21 said, "fu k off" tommyborstal said, "sorry if i upset you,dont like to make people upset" tommyborstal said, "good luck" CezarPoker21 said, "why?" CezarPoker21 said, "and why the **** do u sit regs" CezarPoker21 said, "when theres so many fish" crazy politics and ego on display.
    Posted by TeddyBloat
    Wow. as the well known phrase goes" The love of money is the root of all evil"
    . Am so glad I will never ever reach that level and play with that type of person, thank you for this post teddy, and thanks Tikay for the refreshing way the "game" in my humble opinion is supposed to be played..with good grace and courtesy,true in all aspects of life I suppose. good luck at the tables.
  • EASYFIXEASYFIX Member Posts: 332
    edited October 2014
    In Response to Re: Sorting out sitting out......:
    In Response to Re: Sorting out sitting out...... : Please! First SIX levels.   I like letting other folk do all the hard work. I just LOVE those folks who berate me for not playing many hands, whilst they sit there limping into every pot, lol.   More seriously, I tend to play 3 or 4 hour sessions of DYM's, 5 or 6 at a time, so I dont get the sync breaks that MTT-ers get. I live alone, & like to go downstairs & make a cup of tea & maybe a pork pie out of the fridge halfway through my session, so yeah, I find the ability to press that "SIT OUT" button quite handy. I'd rather do that than just leave the tables open & so everyone gets delayed because I'm mid-ablution or whatever.   It's quite a complex area, when you think about it. Not my pork pie, I mean "sit outs".     
    Posted by Tikay10
    Melton Mowbray I hope...... with a bit of salad cream
  • mrsduckmrsduck Member Posts: 1,901
    edited October 2014
    Wow Teddy, that's one of the most horrific things I've ever read! Insane!!
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