Sunglasses and the likes

RMcG

Can anyone please explain to me why they wear sunglasses while playing poker. It really is gone past a joke at this stage. Instead of knowing people in the Fitz from their faces I am now getting to know names from the brand of sunglasses they wear.......what bloody advantage is it??

During the festival I was chatting to a guy next to me and we were discussing how unbelievably hot it was, and whether or not we should get the air con up full blast..meanwhile next to me there is a lad with not just sunglasses, but a cap and a feckin hood up over it with a jacket on over the hood with his collars sticking up......oh yes and i almost forgot....of course he had his ipod coming out of hs ears as well........now ive tried the ipod buzz.....but from experience ive made some pretty silly mistakes with it on, like calling the blinds when there was a raise inbetween and la la la.....they do come in handy for long boring cash game sessions or when you want to drone out the sound of someone harping on about a bad beat or the likes.....infact my ipod came in very handy a little while ago....

There is this 'person' in the Fitz that just always feels the need to tell you how you should have played your hand and she.....or it could be a he.....really gets on my nerves....but anyway we were involved in a pot and the flop comes i have middle pair.....she has a top pair....i check and she bets, i dont believe she has top pair so i call, its not a huge bet.......i check after the turn and she bets small again so i call....then on the river i hit two pair so i value bet to her and she calls...........now remember it could be a he, i havent specified gender........but anywayz i am delighted and i know whats coming........so she is staring at me and her...or his....face is the most beautiful shade of red i have ever seen......and i await her babble on how poorly i played the hand.....just as she jumps into it....i say "just a sec"...and i put my ipod phones in my ears and turn it up full blast........satisfaction...

But kind of straying off the point a little, in that ipods or MP3 players can be useful at times...maybe... but sunglasses, caps, hoods.....or the whole bloody lot is just nuts......it really makes me laugh.......like the chap in question was just short of wearing a fake Osama Bin Laden beard....and more than likely a few hops short of a kangaroo........

When do we draw the line....at what stage will a tournament director step in and say...listen son what your wearing there is just not appropriate......should people be allowed wear whatever facial accessories they like????......what would happen if i sat down in the Fitz or in any tournament with a full balaclava on and sunglasses over the eye slots....or maybe a leather gimp mask and every time i want to raise i just rattle my handcuffs!!!!!!!!

Ive even seen it in the Thursday freerolls.....anyway would the poker fashion gods like to have their say.....ooooo im sure they would....

Later

Imposter

RMcG wrote:

...what would happen if i sat down in the Fitz or in any tournament with a full balaclava on and sunglasses over the eye slots...

Now there is a good idea!

People wear sunglasses because it gives them an excuse when they misread their cards.

impr0v

I believe the sunglasses thing was initially so that one could check out the size of other's stacks or look for their reactions to cards without them seeing where you were looking, and also because of the lights in some large casinos.

The hoody and other paraphernalia is probably just the manifestation of bad fashion sense, or an attempt to replicate some pros that they have seen on TV dressed in the same fashion. Phil Ivey at the last WPT final (or one before? saw it on TV recently anyway) looked like he was prepared to go fishing through a hole in the ice immediately after leaving the table.

The I-pod and hoody thing could also be an attempt to shut out everyone else in the room to the point where one might as well be playing on the interweb and can therefore play the game one plays there without distraction or losing focus.

accensi0n

trends

Benglian

Well come on I know that some people take it too far, but it is bloody obvious isn't it?
It's to prevent people getting a read from your eyes.
I have had people (good players) stare me down for a full minute when I was bluffing and I was bloody uncomfortable. There ARE reads there to be noticed... Since I started to wear sunglasses (only the last 3 sessions) I feel much more confident of my poker face, so I can jettison the baseball cap...

As for the ipod thingy.... I just started with that as well, and I thought it would be terrible (missing raises, comments etc.) but actually it's very good. Because I have little or no audio coming in I concentrate THAT MUCH MORE on what is going on at the table.
It is also VERY GOOD for calming me down after a bad beat/bad play, and of course for blocking out the players who complain all the time.

Sunglasses and an iPod...?

Never leave home without 'em !

califano

lol great post RMcG

when i see someone wearing shades, suspect head wear, quirky clothes lets just say i file them instantly and unfavourably in my mental index. the jury is out on ipods users for me. i just think theres something a little arrogant about those who choose to listen to an ipod whilst playing poker but as i say im not 100% on condemning the ipod at the poker table users yet. maybe im just jealous because i couldnt do both if i tried. always judge a book by its cover i say unless they prove you wrong. if these people turn out to be nice people at the table or off it i update the index accordingly.

RMcG

So you wear sunglasses so people cant get a read from your eyes....now getting a read on somebody is a key element of poker....its a huge factor in seperating average players from good players....so how far should you be allowed take it......??????? Should you be able to block out your whole face???....with a balaclava......or if your hands shake a little should you be allowed wear cast iron gloves.....or just construct a cardboard house all around your body so that nobody even knows who you are......sunglasses are acceptable at the moment but will they be forever??...what i really want here is a member of the sunglasses and hats crew to explain why their 'tell' or 'read'...blocking system should be allowed and not a balaclava for example....or maybe you guys think that balaclavas should be allowed.....basically for a sunglasses wearer to explain where the line should be drawn.........and why....

Dub13

The way I see it is if you cant take someone looking at you then you are in the wrong game....I also think getting reads on peope is overrated,dont get me wrong it CAN be important but its not as important as some make out.

As for the iPods.....I have never used one while playing poker,I may use one if like at the WSOP you could be playing for over 10 hours a day,just to kill time.

Hitman Actual

Benglian wrote:

It's to prevent people getting a read from your eyes.

Not really, it's more so that you can study other players without them knowing you're doing it. I doubt that there's anyone so good that they can get a tell directly from someones eyes, at least in the Dublin casinos.

In saying that, wearing shades in the regular tournaments on the Dublin scene is a bit pointless. The only time I think I'd wear them is at the final table of a 500euro+ game, or maybe in the Irish Open, etc. The newbies coming in wearing their sunglasses and hoodies in the small games are just unknowingly advertising the fact that they are, in fact, newbies.

One newbie in particular I remember from the 270 game in May, who was sporting trademark Devilfish shades and goatee beard. In a satellite before-hand he took great pleasure in telling other players their mistakes. In the game proper he lasted two rounds of the table. First off, he calls a raise-reraise on the button with AJ, and then when the original raiser goes all-in and gets called, he contemplates calling the two all-ins before eventually folding. Ace-Jack... a powerhouse hand, apparently! A few hands later he calls a raise on the button with A2. Flop comes 522, and the money ends up all-in. Original raiser (a strong Fitz regular) shows 52 for the flopped house, and newbie is out wondering what he did wrong.

In contrast, I remember Dave O'Callaghan wearing the hoodie and sunglasses when he won the Barcelona Open a while back, so I'm sure that helped his game there.

As for music, I find it to be a help in long tournaments.

Doc Farrell

Myself and now Paddy Hicks listen to mp3s to drown out the whinging and break the tedium. On the 2nd last table they tend to get turned off.

Big Dragon wears shades but admitedly he is a bit of a plonker.

NickyOD

My reason for wearing sunglasses has become more and more for practical reasons than for reasons of poker. I have very sensitive eyes and also wear contact lenses which dry up in under the heat and flourescent lights which I dispise. My eyes get very sore and bloodshot after 4 or 5 hours of poker. Darker light is easier on my eyes so that's why I weak shades but I'll often just have them on top of my head until my eyes feel tired.

If I am playing at a table with tough players however I'm more inclined to keep them on because I don't want them to know where I'm looking. Being caught checking out someone stack is a serious tell and I don't want to be seen looking when I'm thinking about a blind steal. A good player will pick up on this.

As for iPods I usually keep one handy purely so I don't have to listen to some asshole trying to be table captain, talking through his ****ing ass and trying to tell me how to play my game.

Shortstack

I don't think I would ever wear sunglasses in the Fitz or Merrion. I have worn them in larger events and would wear them again in those. Maybe I am insecure about my ability sometimes in the bigger events and wearing the shades gives me a bit of confidence.

I doubt I will ever listen to an Ipod at the table though, firstly it ruins the social aspect of the game, plus I want to hear the crap that people say, you can gain a lot of information by listening to all the conversations going on around you.

Doc Farrell

Mike, u need to listen to the same crap more often, then u'll be begging for a pair of spoons to drown it out, never mind an ipod!

Marq

Is this Rob McGuirk?

RMcG

It is indeed...i am in trouble?????? hehe

pokertroll

Would have a similar view to Mike. They are a useful crutch in the big games, especially for observing players unnoticed and when involved in a staredown. I did find that my eyes got sore wearing them for the whole of day 1 at the WSOP. Also mis-read the board a couple of times late into the day with flush possibilities being my biggest blindspot. In the other event I played, I had my shades with me but only wore them when involved in a pot and this worked out much better.

I have yet to try wearing them upside down but it worked well for Andy Black so maybe there is something to it;-)

Waylander

I agree with Pokertroll and shortstack. I would not wear them in a regular tournie here, but when I did play in a biggie I wore them and found them to be very helpful. I could look around where I wanted without being observed and this gave me more confidence.

RMcG

Thanks guys for the input.....three of you guys agree with the use of Sunglasses in big events....fair enough, but no one has commented on where the line should be drawn......how would you feel in a BIG event when you are just about to play in a BIG pot....you stick on your sunglasses and your opponent pulls a potatoe sack out of his BIG pocket and sticks it over his head.......if you catch my drift.....

pokertroll

RMcG wrote:

you stick on your sunglasses and your opponent pulls a potatoe sack out of his BIG pocket and sticks it over his head.......if you catch my drift.....

Wouldn't bother me too much - look at the unabomber for example - I have also seen players hide behind their caps and hands which has nearly the same effect of wearing a balaclava.

Fatboydim

I think we should be allowed to have stand ins. How it would work is this. You look at your cards and decide if you want to play. If you do you call your stand in over and they take your seat. You communicate via mobile as to whether or not they raise, call or fold. Your opponent can't get a read because your stand in doesn't know what cards you have.

Brilliant!

RMcG

haha excellent

bohsman

Guilty M'lud

I liked the fact that I could hide behind them when people were trying to get reads and I could count peoples stacks and look for tells without them knowing I was looking, 9 hours into the 2nd day my nose got very sore from them so I turned them upside down, advantages included being able to look at your cards under the shades, also the sunglasses in general were great because the room was really bright and 15 hours of it would have been painful, dont think I would wear them in a small tourny though

DeVore

I havent worn shades in the Fitz and probably wouldnt though there are times when a good player is staring me down that I would give anything for a pair!

In the WSOP hall I did wear them regularly in the cash games as the lights were harsh there. I go 50/50 on the iPod thing with one ear in and one ear out.

Personally I dont read much off players so they could come in a welders mask for all I care. BTW, isn't the Internet the final conclusion of your argument?

DeV.