This is kind of a random thought post. I was having a poker discussion with the two other poker dorks (I say ‘poker dork’ affectionately) at my office. Occassionally, they’d say things like ‘I owned that table’, or ‘the table feared me’, or ‘I lorded over that table’, or what have you.

I think I may be weird, because I never think about those things. I read other people’s blogs, and they often talk about how they were running over the table, intimidating players, wanting players to fear them, etc. None of these thoughts ever enter my mind when I’m playing. When I think about winning, I don’t think about crushing my opponents, I think about winning the most chips or money. When I think about how others view me, I think it terms of ‘he probably thinks I’m weak tight, and I’ll fold if he raises, so I’m going to play back at him’, ‘he thinks I always have it when I bet’, ‘he thinks I cbet the flop every time when I have nothing’, or what have you. I don’t think ‘I have him so intimidated he will never call me’. Maybe I have low testosterone, but I’m not trying to beat people, I’m trying to accumulate the most chips. I guess I’m kind of detached from the ego side of beating everyone. It’s not a boxing match to me (although I see lots of similarities because of the multiple levels of thinking), I’m not trying to knock a person out of a tournament, or take all their chips at a cash game so they’ll feel dejected and leave, I just want chips. I have no desire to be the ‘table captain’ trying to push people around. If I push someone off a better hand with garbage, I did it because I thought the bet would be a high percentage play based on whether I think they are willing to fold to a big bet. I’m generally don’t talk trash. I want them to feel good about losing. I want them to think they made a nice laydown. I will, on occasion, needle someone a little, but it’s not a major part of my game.

I hope others playing the game I’m in, whether losing or winning, enjoy it, because if they’re losing but still enjoy it, they’ll come back and won’t feel bad about losing next time. When someone feels bad about losing, they’re more likely to not be around, which means no poker, no winning for me.

Am I weird?