On a trip decades ago to Eastern Europe, my cartoonist friend Mo spotted his all-time favorite piece of graffiti:
HOME FUCKING IS RUINING THE PROSTITUTION
I mention it only to explain the odd title of this post…
So when sports betting was legalized in New York, I initially saw this as a boon to my poker game… because guys who are following their bets online and on poker room teevees play distracted, and play worse.
I don’t gamble on anything but poker (and don’t really consider poker gambling), so I can be that much more attentive to how people are playing compared to the next guy.
But I’m starting to feel the +EV of the distraction really isn’t worth it.
In some of the home/private games I play in regularly, more than half of the table has their head buried in their phones, checking their bets and parlays and offers and hedges. Or are swiveling around to check plays and scores on TV screens. Or endlessly (and to my mind not at anll interestingly) discussing these bets and upcoming games or matches.
Result: The pace of play has slowed to a crawl. If I thought it was bad before, having to tell people the action is on them three times, or repeat over and over again that there was a raise ahead of them, after they finally wake up and throw in only a limp… Well now it’s ten times worse than ever.
And conversation, if it even counts as such, seems now to be almost entirely about wagering on sports. As someone who enjoys the social aspect of poker, this too is a detriment to the game IMHO.
For my own game, I’d already instituted rules saying no watching movies or games on your phone, and no playing online concurrently with the live action. This caused some grumbling but no loss of players. And it has improved the game speed a ton.
Not sure checking FanDuel or whatever is so easily stopped or policed. But I may try. Can’t get other hosts to do anything about it.
Do others find this to be a problem? Or should I just lump it and recognize this is never going away?
HOME FUCKING IS RUINING THE PROSTITUTION
I mention it only to explain the odd title of this post…
So when sports betting was legalized in New York, I initially saw this as a boon to my poker game… because guys who are following their bets online and on poker room teevees play distracted, and play worse.
I don’t gamble on anything but poker (and don’t really consider poker gambling), so I can be that much more attentive to how people are playing compared to the next guy.
But I’m starting to feel the +EV of the distraction really isn’t worth it.
In some of the home/private games I play in regularly, more than half of the table has their head buried in their phones, checking their bets and parlays and offers and hedges. Or are swiveling around to check plays and scores on TV screens. Or endlessly (and to my mind not at anll interestingly) discussing these bets and upcoming games or matches.
Result: The pace of play has slowed to a crawl. If I thought it was bad before, having to tell people the action is on them three times, or repeat over and over again that there was a raise ahead of them, after they finally wake up and throw in only a limp… Well now it’s ten times worse than ever.
And conversation, if it even counts as such, seems now to be almost entirely about wagering on sports. As someone who enjoys the social aspect of poker, this too is a detriment to the game IMHO.
For my own game, I’d already instituted rules saying no watching movies or games on your phone, and no playing online concurrently with the live action. This caused some grumbling but no loss of players. And it has improved the game speed a ton.
Not sure checking FanDuel or whatever is so easily stopped or policed. But I may try. Can’t get other hosts to do anything about it.
Do others find this to be a problem? Or should I just lump it and recognize this is never going away?
Last edited: