Vicky Coren reaffirms my faith in tournament poker

NickyOD

Lately my faith in tournament poker has been somewhat tested by the hoards of rude, selfish and inconsiderate human beings who have occupied the poker spotlight. At the WSOP this year there were a large numbers of players who liked to cheer an opponent's defeat, make nasty personal remarks at the table, and insult the way other people play. To make matters worse a lot of these players aren't very talented and have not so much earned their success but been gifted it through a series of rather fortunate circumstances. Jamie Gold's win in particular has really upset me. Not only is an awful player but someone that seemingly nobody likes, and with good reason. He is ill-mannered, inconsiderate of other players at the poker table and has a superiority complex and an ego that knows no bounds.

Players like these seem to be having a detrimental effect on the manners of new players world wide. Many threads have popped up on this forum about the awful behaviour of players in clubs around the country. Someone suggested that this is because they see it on TV and think it's acceptable, as if a seat at a poker table is a license to say whatever you like to people.

Yesterday Vicky Coren took down the London EPT. Vicky is one of those players you always like to see do well not just because she is a good poker player, but because she is a genuinely intelligent and nice person. She iddin't have anything to prove before the event (at least not to the people that mattered) but her win proves that you don't need to be an arrogant obnoxious ****e to win a poker tournament.

It's just disappointing that the EPT is not more prevalent on TV so that aspiring poker players could see someone win a major event with dignity and class for a change and that some of that ethos might rub off on people.

"the most important thing to me, much more than winning, is to try and be a fairly nice person whether winning or losing and do both as gracefully as possible" VC

hotspur

Delighted that Vicky Coren won too, very very funny, clever, and nice person.

DeVore

Yeah, she's a genuinely nice person from what I've see... So's Mike Muldoon who came 4th!! GET IN THERE!!

DeV.

Fatboydim

Wholeheartedly agree Nickie. Compare Vicky to Tiffany Williams for example. Miss Williams [although not rude] is devoid of everything but luck. I don't wish to denegrate her as such but Vicky actually knows how to play. She's been around longer than most of us on the poker scene and she's never rude.

It's good to see one of the "Nice guys" win for a change.

Now if only the poker gods would smile on us.:D

Scouser in Dub

Vicky Coren also explains why not alienating the players that inflict the bad beat / out draw you is also good sense.

Her Guardian column on a friday is generally worth a read

kincsem

Congratulation to her. It must be good for the image of poker, and for women in poker to see her taking a big tourney.

Bandana boy

kincsem wrote:

Congratulation to her. It must be good for the image of poker, and for women in poker to see her taking a big tourney.

Here here

I dont think bad manners is as prevalent in poker as watching TV might have you believe
its just that A holes make for better TV and are going to get the screen time
In fact i was watching some of this WSOP late 1 night last week while in the US on bussiness
Despite having a really early and important start i was watching till up to the wee hours in the hope of seeing this 1 kid eliminated as he was such a twat.

he was still alive while coverage went off the air and i will be tracking the show that shows his elimination that has got to be better for TV ratings than a bunch of nice guys playing poker