Needling as an angle

Astroboy

Any opinions here? Any feel it's unethical. I normally don't do it but there was this one guy on Party 50NL table that was trying to needle me. I, in turn, started needling him even harder. He tried to bait me on a made flush but slow played himself. So of course, I pointed it out. The very next hand I was dealt AK in late position. Said player was on the button (two to my left). I limp in and he raises $5. SB calls and I call. Flop comes Axx. SB bets $5, I raise to $10 and Button goes all in for $72. SB folds, and I hesitate. I first thought he had the ace with a pretty high kicker. Maybe even two pair. But I also had a good feeling he was making a move because of our previous encounters. I call his all in and he shows down a pair of 3s. Point being, I never intended to needle him as a tactic but in the end it seemed like a pretty good one.

Tilter

HHmmm. Do you mean needling as table talk? I don't like it but I guess it will be always part of the game

PokerEH.com

Personally, I think its fine. If you watched Mike "The Mouth" at the 2004 WSOP on ESPN, Needling can be very much a part of the game. There is an easy option for anyone online to turn off the chat feature, so if they are offended, they can simply shut you off

Personally, I almost never chat. I do find sometimes watching others chat can help me determine their play. Often players about to go on tilt will start complaining about other players bad plays.