Digital Cowboy

A few weeks ago, I sat at a (virtual) table with Keith Sexton in a HORSE tournament.

I won.

I didn’t just beat him. I took control of the table and bluffed him out of at least three pots. I also beat everyone else at that table. I wasn’t prepared for the fame/notoriety I got.

From that point on, I’ve had stalkers in the online poker world. People I don’t know telling me that they “know me.” But not just that, they also know that I’m a donkey (a poker term for a fool - you just keep carrying money to the table) and an “idiot.” It took me a while to figure it out, but there is a new generation of poker player that thinks they can use SharkScope to measure a person.

That “idiot” comment came from someone just before I busted him in heads up play. He said he “knew” I was an idiot because of my “ROI.” (That’s from sharkscope.) Those were the last words he typed as all his chips were shipped to me.

That’s a fool’s errand and I welcome it. If you think you can size up a player by reading dubiously collected stats of their performance over the last two or three years, PLEASE sit at my table. Did it ever occur to any of you math geniuses that I’m working on a table image and you’re gullible? When I want to win, I usually do.

I just beat Keith Sexton again as well as everyone else at the sit-n-go table where I played him. This time I chatted with him a bit. He’s a very nice guy.

I’m not overly impressed anymore with beating Keith. He plays every day for a lot more than the $55 buy-in at that (online) table. He’s also there to build interest and dump money so that others will. No matter what it looks like, I’m not stupid.

But there were 7 other people there that also lost all their chips to me. Again.

I came away thinking that, though this is another win for me, it also puts the target on me again.

I may have to lay low and play low for a while because every stupid teenager with access to his mother’s computer and credit card will be gunning for me - checking sharkscope and concluding I’m an “idiot” or “donkey” or “river-chaser.”

In that respect, I’ve learned what it’s like to be a “pro.”