Poker players who love to tell you how to play

I'm going away for a few days this week... in about an hour infact, so no poker related things until Friday after this post.

Last night I played the WSOP round 2, warm-up on Bugsys Club - I haven't played here for some time, however, I thought I'd give it a shot as it was only $11. Things went well early on, I turned my 10,000 stack into 12,000 in the first two rounds. At this point I was being distracted by my wife for a few things and to be honest, as my heart wasn't 100% in it before the game started, I decided to open up a little, if I got knocked out, I wasn't going to be too concerned. Almost straight away I got 5,5 in late position, normally I would call or fold if a big raise came in on this hand, however a short stack doubled the blind and I went all-in. Hoping to steal the pot then and there, if he called I hoped for Ax and the coin flip. He did call and showed Q,Ko - he never improved I made a set, then the boat and he left, with good grace.

What occured next was quite amazing, I was delivered a series of abusive posts by a player who folded 7,7 from the big blind, he ranted and raved about what an idiotic re-raise I made and how moronic the play was. Of course, a 7 hit the flop and he would of won the hand, that was clearly the trigger for his tirade. I found that so unbelievably childish! He read me completely wrong and didn't want to go in with his sevens, a good fold as he was taking the game very seriously, unlike me (shamefully!) but this was no excuse for his attack on my play, no matter how poor it was (and I do concede, I've made better plays) - I hadn't made any comments about this player up until this point and when I pointed out perhaps he shouldn't pass comment on others player's actions he flew off into a "freedom of speech" rant instead. Quite amazing, I had this image of him stamping his feet and threatening to tell his mommy.

In the real world, across a poker table I'm almost completely sure he would of said nothing if the same situation occured. People are so brave behind their computer screens, so willing to put you right on everything they disagree with, no just in poker but on every subject, take a look at some random forums today, you'll find a debate that starts sensibly, quickly turning into a slanging match through various forms of typed abuse.

Well, that's it for me, all chat is being turned off in future, all poorly or non-moderated forums will be ignored, I don't see the point anymore, the little enjoyment from talking about poker is nearly always trashed by small minded players who cannot see any other side of a debate except their own. Good luck to them, more time playing, less time bickering.

Have a good week, I'll be back on Friday.... God knows I need a holiday!