Some thoughts on complainers in poker

This article is going to “name names” but let me just say that for how much I might bash the two players below I also respect them for being outspoken, just as I respect Daniel Negreanu for the same thing. The difference I see between the three people below and Negreanu is that Daniel doesn’t see every single thing that happens as a major issue or slight to the poker community. So Allen Kessler and Jon Augiar, keep fighting the good fight and take the following as constructive criticism.

I really don’t know Allen Kessler or Jon Augiar at all, and I don’t have a problem with them bringing issues to the forefront of the poker world when it’s called for. What I do have a problem is the incessant complaining about anything and everything they see as negative. The problem is that these are often things that are simply petty complaints, or simply negative to THEM and their bottom-line, and not to the poker world as a whole. They seem to have this strange sense of entitlement that game of poker, and the people who try to make money providing poker games and tournaments, are indebted to the poker players, and must be publicly called out for any slight.

We get it, you like slow structures and low rake (who doesn’t), but the fact of the matter is that the slower the structure the less poor players will win, and in the end we have to preserve a balance between the two to keep the poker economy sustainable. Additionally, if a casino isn’t making money on poker tournaments they are going to stop hosting them, and/or they will not devote the money to advertise them properly. As much as I would prefer seeing a $1,000 buy-in tournament have a $60 fee, I’m aware that a $100 fee could in fact be better for me in the long-run, IF, and this is important, the casino uses the added money to promote and improve the event.

Another thing I have noticed is the way they express their outrage in an odd passive aggressive way. There is never “I contacted so and so privately and they said this, can you believe it!” instead what we see are flippant comments directed at people followed by faux outrage that the person may actually defend themselves or make a rude comment back towards them.

What would be great would be if these complainers (and others like them) simply stepped back from the situation for a minute before trying to offer-up an opinion –sort of like Mitt Romney on the recent Embassy attacks, just wait a minute before you launch into a tirade.