Playing an opponent when you know his cards
I played in a SNG last night where the player on my left told the table his cards on almost every hand. At first I thought he was talking about the previous hand and thought it was kind of stupid for him to be showing the table how he would play each hand.
Then he announced he had 4-5 and called an all-in with a board of 2-6-10 against a guy with AA. Of course he hit a 3 on the river since this was on Stars. I think everyone made some interesting notes on this guy after that hand. Other hands of note, he announced T-6 and T-6-K came on the flop. Amazingly, he got no action. Once he limped UTG with an announced AK and led the betting all the way. I CR'd him on the turn and he folded a big pot to my 9-high (top pair) when he failed to improve. He was BB one hand and announced 5-7 after it was folded around to my SB. I raised with 5-2 and of course he folded. I was short stacked later on and he min-raised UTG. I had K-9 and would have been close to pot committed if I called. I delayed a bit while thinking and he was 'nice' enough to tell the table he had K-10. I folded.
I realize his actions are a violation of tournament rules. This really had an impact on the game. I'm curious how people deal with the situation. Do you use the info? Do you tell him to STFU? Reporting him to support is an option but is unlikely to affect the outcome of the immediate game. I was torn between the STFU option and using the info to help with decisions. Of course, in using the info, you have to be sure he's not misleading you. After showing a couple of hands he'd announced early on, I was fairly confident he was telling the truth. A great (but unethical) strategy would have been to show a few hands early on then bluff the hell out of the table once the stakes go up. He ended up finishing fifth. Unfortunately I did not put him out but I did manage to win the SNG.
Please discuss how you would deal with someone like this.
Then he announced he had 4-5 and called an all-in with a board of 2-6-10 against a guy with AA. Of course he hit a 3 on the river since this was on Stars. I think everyone made some interesting notes on this guy after that hand. Other hands of note, he announced T-6 and T-6-K came on the flop. Amazingly, he got no action. Once he limped UTG with an announced AK and led the betting all the way. I CR'd him on the turn and he folded a big pot to my 9-high (top pair) when he failed to improve. He was BB one hand and announced 5-7 after it was folded around to my SB. I raised with 5-2 and of course he folded. I was short stacked later on and he min-raised UTG. I had K-9 and would have been close to pot committed if I called. I delayed a bit while thinking and he was 'nice' enough to tell the table he had K-10. I folded.
I realize his actions are a violation of tournament rules. This really had an impact on the game. I'm curious how people deal with the situation. Do you use the info? Do you tell him to STFU? Reporting him to support is an option but is unlikely to affect the outcome of the immediate game. I was torn between the STFU option and using the info to help with decisions. Of course, in using the info, you have to be sure he's not misleading you. After showing a couple of hands he'd announced early on, I was fairly confident he was telling the truth. A great (but unethical) strategy would have been to show a few hands early on then bluff the hell out of the table once the stakes go up. He ended up finishing fifth. Unfortunately I did not put him out but I did manage to win the SNG.
Please discuss how you would deal with someone like this.
Comments
not a flame, just an observation....
It seems like you weren't torn between these two options at all since you never told him to STFU, yet you used the information he gave you several times to help with decisions.
Seriously though, the only thing you could do is report him to the support and they could turn his chat off for at least the duration of the SNG, maybe longer
He's loaded, stoned, or both, plus some tilt.
Add him to your buddy list, see if he does it all the time, if so, join his sng and take his money.
Personally, it puts ME on tilt to listen to people like that. I always go for the STFU/yplc option. But, then again, I'm an asshole.
D
The negative part was when he wasn't in the hand and the info he's dishing out could be used by the other players to play their hands differently against me. A couple of missing outs can change things.