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Four Reasons To Play Poker Terribly

Four Reasons To Play Poker Terribly
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Vasilisa Zyryanova Blog Content Editor
  • Fact Checked by: PokerListings
  • Last updated on: June 21, 2025 · 2 minutes to read

The usual advice in the poker community focuses on how to improve your game — because that’s where the most value lies, right? But sometimes, playing badly can actually give you an edge — or so some players on Reddit claim.

In this article, PokerListings explores why some players deliberately choose to play poorly, and who’s the most famous example of turning bad poker into big gains.

Terrible Play Keeps Boredom Away

Trying your best can be exhausting in almost any area — and poker is no exception. If you want to bring your A-game and win money, you need to have energy, focus, stamina, endurance, and self-control throughout the session. Staying focused and attentive can also be incredibly boring — especially when you have to maintain it for hours on end.

On the flip side, if you’re looking to have a good time and treat poker more like a game than a mental sport, playing terribly can be the simplest option. It doesn’t require diligence — just going with the flow is enough.

The original poster, a player named MooseClassic779, shared that they found poor play to be a convenient way to make the game more fun and relaxing:

MooseClassic779

Last night I sat down at a 1/2 table after a long day, zero focus, zero patience, zero plan. Instead of leaving, I basically decided to just vibe and call nonsense hands for the fun of it. Like, open-limped K3 suited, floated middle pair, bluffed rivers I had no business bluffing lol. It was obviously a disaster bankroll-wise but weirdly kind of fun? Like a controlled burn for my poker ego.

Terrible Play Reflects Your State of Mind

According to player SpiritualDevilCR, people tend to play poorly for various reasons — all rooted in their mental or physical state at the moment they say: “Screw it.” They identify four main factors:

  • Social factor – you’ve got something more important going on, like family, work, or friends.
  • Well-being factor – you’re just tired, and your brain is on autopilot.
  • Luck factor – you’re short-stacked, and the bubble is closing in.
  • Emotional factor – you’ve got money to burn and decide to play aggressively, relying on the next bullet.

In all these cases, choosing to play terribly is a sign that the player simply doesn’t prioritize playing well right now — other values are taking the lead.

Terrible Play Can Tilt Your Opponents

Many poker players struggle to keep their emotions in check when even one person at the table starts playing like they’ve got nothing to lose. According to joeydouchebagodonuts, this creates a perfect opportunity to gain an edge by deliberately playing poorly — until your opponents get tilted enough to be exploited:

joeydouchebagodonuts

Sometimes I play with the sole intention of putting bad beats on people I know will lose their absolute minds about it. I’ve always said I’d pay money to have Phil Hellmuth play in the games I play. Not because of me, because of the other players.

This tactic has a similar effect to trash-talking or goofing around at the table: bad decisions and chaotic play draw attention away from your opponents’ own game and force them to analyze you instead — sometimes right into a meltdown.

Just recall how Garrett Adelstein completely lost it after Robbi Jade Lew took his stack with one of the most inexplicable plays ever on Hustler Casino Live in 2022.

Terrible Play Can Get You Into Private Games

That is, if you’re willing to spend big on your image. This is exactly how professional sports bettor and poker player Sean Perry got into some of the most lucrative private games against high-rolling VIPs. On the GG33 Academy podcast, he explained:

Sean Perry

I wanted to be the best poker player in the world — that was my dream. And then I realized that I can make way more money pretending I suck at poker and I’m a generic gambler to get in poker games with billionaires — like, for instance, Molly’s game.

At nosebleed stakes, “silly whales” are among the most welcome participants. So if you’re wealthy enough to be at that table — and smart enough to act like you don’t care about the money — you might just play your way into exclusive circles. That’s the card Sean Perry played, and it paid off before he stepped away from poker.

Sean Perry
Sean Perry

By the way, in live tournaments between 2017 and 2023, Sean Perry earned $6,847,297 — more than half of that from a single tour: the PokerGO Tour.

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