A Word About Standards During APF Games

harry_lime · A Word About Standards During APF Games

A Word About Standards During APF Games
- from the APF Backstage team

The Alternate-Poker Forum is steadily growing; with this comes more members, more games and the inevitable influx of a few players who do not care as much about poker as we do. These few play a win or bust style of poker which has very little to do with what we are trying to achieve here.

We have recently had a situation that highlighted this point. We feel this could be used to illustrate some of the things we expect from players at MLP events which revolves around a respect for the game and respect for the other players.

The process took place "backstage", here are the unfortunate details.

The example:
The member in question has been observed in our games repeatedly going all-in pre-flop, re-raising repeatedly all-in post flop and taking a general "I don't give a s**t" attitude towards the game and other players at the table.

Naturally this turned the games into an all-in or nothing situation for the majority of hands which was highly frustrating for the other players at the table and obviously not the way we wish our games played.

I should point out at this stage, this has nothing to do with a player not being good enough; we realize everyone has different standards and all players from the best to the worst make mistakes. We want all players of all standards to come here and hopefully improve their game by playing in quality events and feel very strongly about this endeavour. What we are talking about here, is a complete disregard for the game by a player who clearly knew exactly what they were doing.

After the last occasion, we had a chat about this backstage and were agreed that a reasonable course of action would be to approach this player and give them a warning, that if this was the style of play adopted at future MLP events, we would have to review their membership.

This was not done in an aggressive way but stated what the APF concept is all about and how we wish to maintain the standards of our games for the benefit of all. Sadly, the reply we received made it very clear what this member thought about this and left us with no other course of action than to ban the member from further games.

Decisions:
We absolutely do not want to dictate to any of you how you should play poker. However we reserve the right to protect the standard of our games for all of our members.

This is not a subject up for discussion and whilst it may be argued if we have the right to judge these situations; the fact is someone has to and in this case it falls into the hands of admin and the moderators. We never reach these decisions lightly and always discuss things thoroughly before any action is taken. I am sure that most of the members that take the time to read this will applaud these actions as they are essentially for your benefit, as we try to guarantee the continuation of the excellent standard of our games.

This process also applies to any members abusing other players at the table during one of our games. Unfortunately, this had also happened recently and again, action was taken over the matter.

Just to clarify our process again:
- A member is seen showing a lack of respect for the game and/or respect for the other players (be it in play or abuse).
- This member will be reviewed by admin and the moderators backstage.
- A warning letter will normally be sent by one of our moderators to the member in question.
- Administration reserves the right to ban a member should they continue to abuse our games.

Overview:
This does not mean a witch hunt will begin on our members. In fact I think I am safe in saying that 99.9% of our membership should simply keep doing what they are doing and continue to enjoy our games. This is much more about setting a standard for future reference so that everyone understands what being apart of the Alternate-Poker Forum is all about - Great poker, great people and great events.

Verbal Abuse During APF Games

APF as a community aims to promote a good standard of poker play, this includes how members treat one another.

If you read comments made in APF game that are unsportsmanlike and/or contain the casual use of profanities, cursing directed at a player or the table as a whole, please take note of the comments you feel are inappropriate.

At some site's you can copy and paste the chat directly from the window, at other from the hand history, and some can be recorded via a screenshot.

Please then send any details to muratore via a PM, to be addressed at a convenient time.

The administrators and moderators are members of this site whom give their time freely. We hope you would agree that it is unfair to go to any of them with a complaint while they are active in a game. Unless the member in question is breaking the poker room rules, there is very little that can be done at that time.

APF reserve the right to review the membership of a player abusing a fellow member.

KNOWHEN2

Well there is only one thing to say
Thanks guys
Its nice to know u ppl are on top of things and that MLP leagues will stay quality games.

+1

PS... maybe this post or something similar should be sent direct to all new MLP members as standard.

:druid:

harry_lime

kpjdjcj

i would like to think of my self as an extreemley agressive player (some times to agresseve

) but the all in's is just a pure luck game with no skill and one i would not want to play so hats off to mlp for the decision.

vegasjj

Excellent decission - and a great thing explaining it all!

Cards may be good or bad - luck on your side or someone else's but we all have been on all sides, and respect the other player and the game. I feel "among friends" playing here. Of course I want to win, and so does e1. A clean game does include a bluff a good hand a aggrssive move a slow play... we all do all of it ... but with skill (in my case lack thereof

) and passion for the game and respect for others.

I am totally happy that you are protecting the spirit of this group!

THANK YOU

Cheers
Judith

Arjonius

Even though I'm a new member who has yet to play an MLP game, I'd like to voice my unequivocal support for maintaining standards that include respect for the other members. There are forums where intentionally disrupting other players' enjoyment is tolerated. I trust MLP wont succumb to accepting such lowest common denominator behavior.

Cheers

elbandido32

I really like this move and while people have different styles of play this type of play makes for a very uncomfortable tourney! U all warned that player and he or she showed disrespect then take them out!

Mad4Cards

Right then... I'm a member of a few different forums and was dubious about getting involved in another one. Having read this thread I would like to say that I am definately staying put on here! I actively avoid freerolls on one of the forums I use because the standard of play is attrocious. I'm happy to play tournies with no prizes if I can pit my wits against other serious players and therefore improve my game. Bring it on!

harry_lime

Just a little word on last nights Buy-In League game :

Apparantly we had one player in the game making constant all-ins, over the top raises and re-raise plays and generally disrupted the game in a manner that goes against our usual standards. He/She also refused to reveal their forum name when asked so we do not know if this was a forum member or a password stealer.

I'm sure this player will not read this post but i want to assure all our regular and newer members that we are looking into this and that we will take the necessary measures to protect the standards of our game.

Such a shame that with one of our best fields ever that we had to have one player like this and that he/she was lucky enough to take a fair few others out with such poor poker. Unfortunately, as most of you know, these things will happen from time to time and i hope everyone will have patience and trust that we will sort this out.

MLP games will not become the refuge of donks (except me of course) and those individuals that treat our games and our members with disrespect will be weeded out !

CancunGirl

I was only an observer yesterday and saw of what you speak. Thank you for investigating and it was unfair play.

PoolDemon

the best place is getting better & better, great to see it, way to go, keep up the great work !!!

DangerMouse

I`m glad to see this forum acting to stop players who act in a disruptive way at games. As a moderator at another forum we had to deal with a similar situation. The opinion we came to was that if this player was being invited round to our houses to play they would have worn out their welcome and we wouldn`t have invited them back to play.

Whilst forum games are conducted online I feel (and obviously you do too) that similar standards should be kept. So hats off to you for acting on this situation.

BioRock

Well it was my first game and I had so much fun at the table in question with old friends and hopefully new friends. When I was invited I was told the level of play was fantastic and with the exception of the over the top maniac it was all that was promised. I look forward to playing again.

As for the lucky maniac, well that seems to be the new style of play... where it comes from or why it's so popular is beyond me, but it very rarely makes the FT and mostly hurts good players who play with their wits and skill as opposed to chucking it in the middle on junk hands when they catch a piece of it or preflop which seems to be that type of players preferred move. With that said I have to applaud MLP and it's staff for it's great work in trying to prevent this type of play from becoming the norm here.

Well done everyone... you all should be very proud of yourselves.

Pip

I too would like to take time to back the mods decision on this matter. My main objective in joining in these games is to improve my poker. At times you do get a very aggressive player, but this player does seem to be just a nutter. I therefore applaude you for doing a good job this time around and in the future if every it happens again.
These players invariably get trapped, but usually after he/she has taken out one or two others beforehand.
Keep up the good work.

harry_lime

Update :

Ok, i wanted to give you all an update regarding last weeks situation where we had one idiot player that got lucky and ruined the league buy-in game for the players at his table.

As i expected, there is not much the poker rooms can do about this. Standard policy is that only players that are abusive to their opponents or are suspected of cheating will be investigated. Also, quite rightly, they do not give out private information about players such as e-mail addresses and IP address. This is as it should be really.

What this ultimately means is that, as we cannot ascertain whether this player is a forum member or not, we may be forced into other measures. Should we find that this player (or others like him) enter our games again, then we will simply go back to the old pre-registration system that we used in seasons 1 & 2. We don't want to do it but retaining the quality of our games is the most important issue and if this is the only way we can monitor closely who plays, then so be it.

So please watch out for a player called radoibrv and if he joins the game, just be aware of the type of player he is and adjust your game accordingly. Most likely, he will be a double up for one of you and then gone. I cannot see him getting so lucky a second time with the players we have here and as annoying as the situation is, we will simply adjust for the next game.

Thanks for your patience everyone.

Cheers harry

fooraces

I know Im a Mod but if I wasnt, I would have to say that the quailty of games is so important!, for the players to return and play them again! and if we need to go back to the pre-reg system to keep a good quality game, so be it!

Im all for keeping the spongers, and password thiefs out! no matter what it takes! to let someone who got into one of our games and get away with our money sucks! 4As

PoolDemon

I'm not sure what you had for a system in season 1 & 2, but why not make us pre-reg for any MLP games, & mass email the password, instead of posting it on the calendar ?

I know it's extra work, but the integrity of the league is enforced simply by proving that you are a member of the forum in a pre-reg system, also if we have a new member signed up, maybe have a standard letter sent to them that they must read, enforcing our opinions of game play, maybe even give some examples of what we consider bad play...show them if they are new basic hands with winning percentages beside them, it would suprise many that value ace rag suited vs QQ as an example, of how far behind that ace really is...

Personally, I very much look forward to any MLP game, yes we all make a bad play once in awhile, even donkish at times, but the majority of play is so good that it makes up for that, the early on all ins are rare, unless it's already a big pot, and that big of a bet is simply to say, I have the nuts, are you going all in on your draw ???

harry_lime

PoolDemon

jut a thought on a pre-reg system, could it not be automated, you would have to be logged in, then either in the thread about the tourny, or in the calendar section (or both) have a button that you click to register, & have it set up to send out the password on a certain date/time to those that clicked it ???

if there is a glitch, have a contact that is usually online that is a mod that can verify your membership, & IM or email you the password then...

harry_lime

Ramster

Another forum i am a member of has a thread that is locked to anybody unless they are logged in and they post passwords there
Not sure if it can be done here but it seems to work there

harry_lime

Ramster

PoolDemon

c'mon, log out, look, log back in, geeze, way too much work Harry, besides, then i'd have to bug you to get my password, cuz i wrote it down, then spilled coffee on it, then it got set on fire by the toaster, then the left over bits got peed on by one of my dogs, then finally it got thrown out last week...

scruffymojo

always gotta be one ahole inthe mix,