R-E-S-P-E-C-T

No, I still don't deserve any. Or care. But here's an interesting phenomenon that I've observed from my past couple of weeks of blazing ineptitude on Pokerstars and minor success on Full Tilt. On FTP, I've played mostly two things - Razz about my bankroll limits, or tables with bloggers (some Razz & some HE). And I'm doing much better on FTP than on Stars, despite playing mostly NLHE and SNGs on Stars, which are typically stronger games for me than Razz. So why is that?

I think it actually does boil down to respect. When I'm playing outside my bankroll, and playing with bloggers, I respect the ability of the people at the table to at least play as well as I do, and usually better. So I step up a little. And some of it comes from not wanting anybody I know to see me make a fiendishly donkish play, so I tighten up a little and play better starting hands and concentrate more. When I play at the levels my online bankroll will actually support, I assume that most of the players are uber-donks. For the record, they usually bear out that assessment over the course of time, but that's beside the point. The point is that when I respect my competition, I play more solid poker. Or at least as solid as I ever manage.

So that's all I really have for today. Just an idea that if I can get it into my head that the dork that limps with AA in the cutoff with 5 limpers ahead might not be the abject mobron that he appears to be. Okay, he is, but that doesn't mean that I don't need to assume that my opponents are smarter than me. Because that doesn't really take a lot, so they can manage.

Go read BG's latest. Bad. Ass.