Angle shooting is described as an immoral or unethical act, intentionally played by players to win over the inexperienced poker players. Though this activity is considered as an unethical way, angle shooting may not be called “cheating”, as it does not violate the poker laws.
We can simply illustrate angle shooting as when one player peeks into the other player’s cards when he/she fails to hide it properly and take advantage of this scenario. There are even more complex types that are more unlawful and almost can be regarded as cheating.
Poker:
Poker has risen in prominence since the beginning of the 20th century. It has progressed from being predominantly a leisure sport which was limited to a small group of fans to a mainstream game for both competitors and viewers. No w even “online poker” is available to play with many professional players and there are multi-million dollar cash games.
Poker is a very popular card game in which players wager their hands according to the laws of poker games. Poker games are mostly played on the traditional card deck which varies in the number of cards playing, the number of face-up and face-down cards, and the numbers exchanged by poker players.
The first round usually begins in a forward motion, when a poker player takes a coerced bet which can be blind or ante in modern poker games. While in standard poker, the players place a bet according to the cards in their hands, which they think is higher in rank than others.
The action will proceed in the clockwise direction(forward motion), as each player will match or “call” the preceding maximum bet or fold, losing so far the amount bet and all other hand involvement. When a player matches the bet, he/ she may “raise” the bet amount.
There are many different games that can be played under the title poker and several tricks are used to win the games. Angle shooting is an infamous trick in poker, which is used to take advantage of the opponents, immorally. The one who plays in this way is known as an angle shooter.
What Exactly is Angle Shooting?
You might have already read the intro about the angle shooting. These four are the strategy involved while playing angle shoot and make sure you are not deceived by these acts.
- To manipulate the behavior of the opponent. This is by making them believe that the angler was about to behave differently than what was actually intended.
- To know more about an adversary during a poker hand. This is by watching how they would react while playing their hand.
- By supporting the angler to win more money or by reducing their losses.
- To trick their opponents properly when it comes to determining their hand power correctly.
A typical technique in angle shoot is to rely on the other player’s misinterpreting behavior at the table. This trick can be pulled off easily while playing live poker rather than on online poker.
Angle Shooting Tricks:
There are four main tricks played by angle shooters in the tournament and try to escape from these bets in the poker rooms.
- The Ambiguous Check:
Look out for the opponents who will make vague expressions, or make comments whose meaning is not quite obvious. These are the two methods that will trick you into sharing your numbers or, more cunningly to make you believe that you can catch the person who is performing the trick.
This takes a variety of forms that could involve an angle shooter making a move that will look like a test to check how you are going to react. However, they would instead insist that they have not checked properly and use the new insights for their own advantage.
Ambiguous check also includes cheaters making indefinite comments like ”you got it” or “I am beat” to trick the other players. They also mimic the usual body language of a player who is about to collapse.
If you ever consider yourself in this tricky scenario, it will still help to question the player, what they mean about the comment they have made there.
- The False Fold:
The false fold is a technique in which the angle shooter may push their cards forward to make others believe that they are about to fold. Often they will use their body language to indicate that they are going to opt-out of the game. Sometimes they can also mention something tactful, which can be interpreted as folding. The only goal is to muck your hand and once you do, they will raise their hand and argue that they never wanted to fold in the first hand.
Another tactic of the false fold is when a player picks a bag of chips to give an impression that they are going to call. They even put their cards face up while not moving them near the betting line. They then hope that the opposite player will much their hand, and once they do they will claim that they have called. As the angle shooter has shown his/her hand and the opponent has mucked theirs, they win here no matter how good the opponent’s cards are.
The safest way to escape from this trick is to always respond only after the angle shooter has declared his/her move. You probably know who is the one that will do the angle shoot.
- Playing out of Turn:
Playing out of turn can be achieved in different ways, but the ultimate goal is to trick some details out of players. The angle shooter here bets or tests to check your reaction even when it is not the shooter’s turn and to use the situation. If the opponent wants to call and the shooter doesn’t want to, he/she will bet as it is not their turn and wait for the opponent to check them. When the opponent has checked the shooter, her/she will check them behind. This is such an easy and effective technique.
- The Short call:
Many call this as the most tactful poker angle to be played, and you might have already experienced or witnessed this trick in the poker rooms. Imagine a scenario in which the players need to call in 50 chips. Our angle shooter will put in the chip even though he/she is not sure of the winning. The opponent shows the cards and thinks that he/she has won the round, but the angle shooter instead admits that he/she has only put in 40 chips and the gamble isn’t finished yet. In case the angle shooter wins it’s pretty doubtful that he/she put their low-stages gambling to anyone’s notice.
How to Avoid Angle Shooting?
Although the above tricks are not technically cheating, there is nothing the poker room can do about them. As a player, you or the others have to call out the angle shooters when they indulge in malpractice. You or others can at least use “warning” against the shooters. You can also avoid shooting by,
- Sometimes angle shooting is done without the knowledge of the player and you or other players can teach them about them. Not everyone knows and practices it and it is your or other players’ duty to teach them about this unethical gameplay.
- Instead of merely pointing out the angle shooter, make sure you describe what they exactly did to create a possible angle shoot. You can also teach how they can avoid these practices next time.
- If someone intentionally angle shoots, you can intimate the dealer about the action and they will sort it out with them.
- Ask the floor manager to interfere in a continuous and extreme angle shooting scenario, which disturbs the game and if needed to rule out them.
Examples of Angle Shooting:
Imagine, “A” bets on the river for 50,000. “B” moves his chips as if he/she opts to call and player 1 reacts to this. Now player 2 has an idea of what player 1 is onto.
The second example is when a player discovers pocket aces and calls “Five” and tosses a 5000 chip. The dealer informs the player that calling a five refers to an increase in 5000 and not a 500. The shooter now behaves puzzled, tricking the table into thinking that he was going to increase 500. Technically speaking, this is not against the rules but is an immoral and unjust act.
Angle Shooting in Online Poker:
Online poker games are played by a wide number of players when compared to live poker games. The chances of angle shooting in this are less but not zero. Players use tricks such as,
Disconnecting the network:
Few poker rooms prevent players from losing their hands in case of connectivity issues. If any player’s connection is lost in the middle of the match, his hands are still eligible for a shutdown and they have to compete for their share. The shooters will deliberately use this trick to get a shutdown without putting extra money.
By False Chatting:
Angle shooters use the chat room where they can type anything they want and they give information about their game and hands. Not to mention, these pieces of information are always false.
Conclusion:
Well if you wondered what is angle shooting in poker, you have got your answers now. When you play poker next time make sure no one is practicing this and if someone is doing, warn them immediately.
