Picking of losers

[Dave B]

this tends to happen a lot, just wondering if other have picked up on it too:

last night at party poker I sat down at a 3/6 table. I get 4 good hands in a row to start ( BB Q 7, flopped top pair heads up, SM 99, button 10 10, next AK). I won the 1st, flopped a set of 9s and lost to a gut shot str8 draw, lost on 10 10 and bluff to a win w/ AK.

But in those 4 hands, I was able to see that the dude to my right was very weak and aggressive and the guy to my left was a calling station. There were 2 solid players w/ big stacks and 2 other guys that didnt seem to know how to play. After 20 minutes I was down $60 after not flopping anything-meanwhile the weak players on each side were catching great cards and had built their stackes to +100-175 w/ 68 suited, k6, q5 and the like.

When I see this, I know that w/ any cards whatsoever, that money should be mine (or at least, someone else on the table). Just like clockwork, 30 minutes later the guy on my left had dumped $300 and reloaded again, the guy on my left had dumped $200 and was on life support and I was up $140.

I even tossed pocket 22 on a big pot when I didnt catch a 2 on the flop and Q 55 was on the table. Turn was 2....ouch! $150 pot gone because I didnt call 2 bets after the flop toward a $60 pot.

I realize this is more of a party poker trend, but it plays out most nights. Some dude catches some great cards and builds a massive stack, but his st8 and flush draws soon come up short and he gives it all back in short order. Also-why are some people more willing to call pocket pairs to the river, even if they are the 3rd pair???? I have yet to figure that one out.

[nicthestick]

my therory goes something like this........ the sites make their money with the rake. the more players, the more bets. the more bets, the greater the rake. If poor players occasionally make that gutshot draw or hit the set on the river, it is intermittent reinforcement. the hardest kind of reinforcement to overcome. Why do you think slot machines pay off small amounts frequently? if the bad players were constantly geting busted, they would never rebuy, and the sites would make less money. But the flip side of this "problem" is, you guseesd it, It encourages poor play. If you play your solid game, you will come out ahead, just about every time.

[Bikerfish]

I have never suscribed to the theory that hands are dealt to encourage bad players.

how can the site tell what you will bet no matter what you get?

As an example - in BB i was dealt A9 off and SB also had A9 off. Several limpers into pot. (No limit cash).

Flop Axx with with flush and straight draw possibilities. We both checked then 1 player bet pot - he was re-raised mininum. SB called and I folded, and so did the initial raiser.

Neither player improved from there, but the SB had to call a big bet on turn putting him all in and busted out to AK.

My point being that we both played the same hand differently. How could the site contrive this?

What I think is probably happening on Party is that I have heard they use different 'skins'. So what we know as Party Poker, someone else knows as another name. I understand Coralpoker is a skin. If this is correct Corals is well respected gambling site, so I can imagine that they will draw a number of number of gamblers, as opposed to poker players, which will contribute to the fast and furious action, and strange plays you see.