The New Merge Regs must HATE Money

Stay Classy Merge Regs Poker is about +EV decisions. I'm absolutely amazed that people so consistently make huge -EV decisions when they to interact with the casual players that drive the games. I'm of course talking about regs who berate fish. Its one of the most unnecessary and costly mistakes you can make at the table, yet its so common its ridiculous. And the the problem has gotten much worse on Merge since Black Friday. I know because I've been playing on Merge consistently since 2008.

I, and many other pros and coaches, have written at length about how -EV it is to berate casual players. The reasons should be obvious, but apparently its just too difficult to not be an asshole at the tables these days, so let me spell this out one time, starting with some facts about where the casual gamblers on the Merge network come from.

The Merge network is made up of several poker-only skins and several sport books, including sportsbook.com, which has the best domain name in the entire online sportsbetting industry, and that domain makes them a ton of money and gets them crazy traffic. The fish on the Merge network mostly come from the sports books. They are casual gamblers, they know they don't win at poker, and they are there to have a good time. I'm going to repeat that. THEY ARE THERE TO HAVE A GOOD TIME.

Before Black Friday, the games at Merge were usually very friendly and very chatty. Lots of the recreational gamblers recognize each other, and they were generally nice and polite to the pros. They knew who the winners were because they usually had big stacks, and the regulars were not afraid to make friendly conversation with other regs and the recreational gamblers. Overall, it was a very pleasant place to play and was a good experience for everyone.

After Black Friday, there's been an influx of regulars on Merge. Even though the games are still good, the games are dramatically less friendly and often downright hostile. I've seen many multi-tabling regulars say things like "God I love all the stupid ****ing fish on this site," or "OMG that was the worst play I've ever seen." Nice job guys, because ruining the friendly environment is exactly what is going to keep these guys playing poker.

I understand that we all got screwed on Black Friday, whoever you want to blame for it, the fact is that its a lot harder to make a living as an American poker player or as an American poker-related business. I get that, I fit into both categories. Furthermore, people still have money tied up on UB and FTP, and there are very few places to play online. No one should be happy about our new reality.

But of all the people on the planet to be taking out your anger on, you're berating the only group of people left that you can make money from??? Think about that, berating the Merge gamblers is so counter-intuitive to making money at poker its ridiculous, and furthermore, since black friday its even MORE detrimental than it was before, because you can't just go to another site and play with their fish.

The casual gamblers at Merge are basically the only significant group of fish left to American poker players online. There is not an infinite supply of them. They are playing poker as entertainment, by making poker less entertaining for them, they are less likely to return because no one wants to be berated and told how much they suck and get treated like shit. The Merge regs should be bending over backward to make poker a great time for these people, because if one by one they decide that poker "just isn't that fun anymore," then US players will be making even less money, and the one good option left for online poker will gone, and then where will we be?

I learned this lesson the first time I played live for decent stakes, it was a deep-stacked $2-$5 game at Caesar's Indiana, a riverboat on the IN/KY border. It was 8 handed with one huge gambler, the guy was all in every other hand with weak pairs and gutshots. He was the only one ordering drink after drink and trying to have a good time. Everyone else was too focused on getting his money. So he picked up his stack and left after an hour because the table was "no fun," as he put it. Its the same thing online, do you really think a guy like this is going to keep depositing when the guys who play 8 tables are always assholes to him?

If you are a US player on the Merge network, these regs who berate casual players are costing you money, and if you are doing it, then you are costing yourself and other Americans money and shrinking the US poker economy. Its that simple. Things are hard right now, don't make them harder. All you have to do is keep your hands off the keyboard, and that +EV decision will increase your bottom line. Before you start to be an asshole at the table, ask yourself this question: What would you do if the games completely dried up on Merge?

I'm closing this out with a quote from my buddy and fellow DTB coach Jade Lane. Jade played live in Vegas for years before transitioning to online play.

Jade Lane: "I think every internet player should play live for a year or so. They would learn things like keeping the games going, so the cards are in the air when a fish does come. And in Vegas, at $1K NL and higher, if you are berating and chasing away the fish, another Vegas pro will kill you."