Why Pro Players Are Annoyed With Other Regs Making Mistakes

Even in Competition, Other Pros Are Perceived as Colleagues

For regulars, playing poker is a real job, especially if they are part of some kind of community: a school, a training group, or a stable.

So, they apply the same standards and expectations to poker as they would to a regular job — you’ll get paid consistently, the game will play out more or less as expected, and other professionals in the field will do their jobs correctly and as expected.

So, when players make mistakes, it most often causes frustration for two reasons:

1. In a healthy work environment, we expect our colleagues to do their jobs well — even if the environment is competitive. There are fewer professionals than amateurs — we instinctively expect people to do their jobs well for the benefit of all, and when this doesn’t happen, frustration is a more than normal reaction.
2. Workplace snobbery, based on a high assessment of one’s skills and corresponding expectations of colleagues, increases sensitivity to unprofessional behavior and “incorrect” work performance.

It’s also important to remember the perfectionism aspect that’s inherent in a significant portion of people, which often manifests itself in irrational frustrations along the lines of “I could have done it better,” even in situations where you have no knowledge of the other professional’s thought process.

Sympathy Increases Our Annoyance for Someone’s Mistakes

People make mistakes all the time. If you observe yourself and your loved ones, you’ll notice that throughout the day, each of you makes many small mistakes — placing things in the wrong places, pressing the wrong buttons, dropping or knocking things, bumping into things, making slips of the tongue, and so on. People without specific mental disorders or psychological trauma usually don’t pay attention to these mistakes, especially when they’re made by a complete stranger. But everything changes when someone you know makes a mistake — and the bigger the mistake, the more frustrating it becomes. Especially if it is easily preventable.

That person’s likeability and the significance of their mistake play a key role in how intense our reaction actually is — it works the same way at the poker tables if your attitude toward the opponent is more positive.

Interestingly, personal affection being reciprocal isn’t particularly important here — it’s enough that you have a heightened sense of sympathy for the person. This phenomenon is widespread in society — just look at the level of frustration people feel when they follow actors, musicians, or bloggers and they make mistakes.

Regs Errors Break the Game’s Predictability

A recreational player, by definition, most often plays casually and not by the rules, so to speak — they come to play for fun and a good time, and their income doesn’t depend on poker. As a result, they play as they feel, so a certain unpredictability is a completely expected feature of their game.

But this approach doesn’t work for professionals — because they “know the rules,” aka theoretical norms and acceptable deviations from them for game balance or exploit.

That’s why when regulars “break” these rules, it can be irritating, since by doing so, they violate expectations and increase the unpredictability of the game. Ultimately, their mistakes affect your ability to assess their play and make decisions based on precise, accurate data — because they mess up the overall stats.

Some Mistakes of Others Are Not Actually Beneficial for You

In rare poker situations, an opponent’s poor play worsens your position — and that can’t help but be annoying.

If the chip-leading reg had made the right push on the bubble instead of folding, we’d already be in the money.

If the second-stack player had folded an unsuitable hand as he should have, instead of getting into the pot, my odds would have been better.

And so on — situations like these are rare, of course, but they happen — and they can be annoying for very real, logical reasons.

So, Is It Okay to Get Irritated by Other People’s Mistakes?

It actually is, especially if you know your opponent personally or at least have an understanding of their current level of skills and education in poker.

It’s hard to rejoice at someone else’s mistake, or even perceive it neutrally, when the person who made it is someone you like, has some kind of professional image in your head, or is so familiar from stats that the mistake is an unexpected anomaly.

Experiencing mixed or negative emotions in such a situation is completely normal, but the key is to not let them take control of your behavior and influence your gameplay. It’s also crucial to refrain from lecturing a player who has made a mistake, especially during a game. Not only is this terribly unethical, but it also leads to a loss of focus, can provoke tilt and conflict, ruins the atmosphere of the game, and generally doesn’t help anyone.

However, if you know the player personally, you can discuss their mistake with them after a session, asking them to explain the logic behind it. After all, there are mis-clicks, there’s fatigue, but there’s also reliance on specific factors and thoughts that you can’t possibly know about at the time the player makes their decision.

There are only two situations where you should be concerned about your reaction to others’ mistakes.

First, if it affects the quality of your game, your resistance to tilt, and your overall emotional state. In this case, it’s best to reflect on the reasons for such a strong reaction and try to minimize it using healthy methods, including seeking guidance from a mental coach or therapist.

The second is if the people whose mistakes in the game irritate you are fishes, recreational players, VIPs and any other newbies.

It’s their mistakes that professionals capitalize on, but these types of players aren’t really your colleagues — they often have little understanding of what they’re doing at the table or why. If this irritates you, it would be helpful to talk to other regulars and mental experts about your own mental game.