What Does Your Handle Say About You?
There's one way to know a little bit about your opponents at the poker table without even playing a hand.Look at what they call themselves.
Of course, you won't find people with nametags calling themselves "Loose Goose," "TightIsRight" or "LovestoGamble" at a live table, but online, at sites such as Ultimate Bet , Bodog , Poker Stars or Full Tilt , their "nametag" under their icon might give you a clue.
It might say something about their play, and we'll talk about that in a bit. More than likely, it will say something about their interests outside the poker table.
So let's have a little fun. Try to match some poker bloggers' handles to the descriptions below.
A) Drizztdj
B) Joe Speaker
C) Pokerpeaker
D) Iggy
E) Katitude
F) Good43
G) Peacecorn
H) AlCan'tHang
I) F-Train
J) HighonPoker
1. A mountain climber and guide.
2. Guy who's favorite book is "Homeboy" by Seth Morgan. Hint: His name is the protagonist of the novel.
3. A big fan of R.A. Salvatore.
4. A big fan of poker who plays for the surge of adrenaline he gets from poker.
5. Fan of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "The Confederacy of Dunces."
6. A place kicker on his college football team.
7. Someone who believes there isn't enough love on the Internet. Or enough yellow vegetables.
8. A guy who had to visit the hospital because his blood alcohol level was too high.
9. Someone who named herself after her name and her tattoos, as well as her occasional desire to rant.
10. A New York resident.
Just so you can't cheat, or at least you'll have to put a little effort into it, we'll talk about those above answers in
more detail. But for now, I've noticed a few things about the handles.• People usually play the opposite of their handles. If a guy names himself "LooseyGoosey," he's usually a tight player. I call it the Full Tilt rule, where people play the opposite of the avatar, such as a donkey that usually plays like a shark.
• You can find some pretty funny names. I've seen "wtf.nh.gg." as first reported on a few blogs. I've seen things like "You Win. Nice SucOut."
• Names can mean cockiness, although I haven't seen it as much as you might think. I've seen plenty of "Imda1tob8t," but generally those players don't act as cocky as you think they would.
WARNING! SPOILER ALERT!
OK, so you've done the quiz, right?
Some love to name themselves after a favorite piece of pop culture, such as a book, a band or a video game, as Drizztdj and Joe Speaker named themselves after characters in their favorite books.
Others like to name themselves after their lives beyond poker. I'm Pokerpeaker because, yes, I love poker, but I also love to climb mountains and work in the summer as a part-time guide. That's where the peaker part comes from. Peak-er. Get it? That's also where Good43 gets his name. He was a place kicker for his college football team. Good For 3! Get it?
Peacecorn was one of the first to have a blog - I believe they were called Weblogs when she started one. She was Gracie back then. But when others wanted to call themselves Gracie, she knew she had to change her name. She found inspiration in some drama in a forum. "I decided there was not enough peace on the Internet," Peacecorn/Gracie said, "And there was not enough corn."
Katitude loves felines. She has cat tattoos and her first name is actually Kat. Here's how she got the second part: "I was going off on a rant, my friend laughed and called me the kat with the cat-attitude," she said. "And as we drank more and shot down more stupid people, it became Katitude."
She can be a sweetie, though, hosting her own $1 rebuy tournament on Full Tilt and will purr for you. But only if she feels like it.
F-Train's first name was not F-Train. He started his blog just as a personal blog, not a poker blog. So he started playing under the screen asphnxma, which was the name of his character in "Halo." And how did he select THAT name? Um, well, he was fighting over the controller at the time he was entering his name ("Halo" WAS pretty popular). Strangely enough, that name fit the game. It is about aliens after all. Anyway, he switched to F-Train after he was given the name by one of the original and best bloggers, Pauly.
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"Now there are some sleepy mornings on the train going to work, when the conductor will get on the PA and announce 'F-Train to Manhattan, next stop...,'" F-Train said, "and as soon as he says 'F-Train,' I snap up and look around to see who's calling out to me."
Finally, some handles just talk about a love for poker, albeit in an almost poetic way. That's where HighOnPoker got his name.
"There's a moment after pulling off a bluff or taking down a monster pot with the nuts that I get a surge of adrenaline," said Jordan, who uses HighOnPoker as his name. "It's a feeling of uncompromised elation that I can't describe in words. That feeling is why I play poker."
Answer: 1 - C; 2 - B; 3 - A; 4 - J; 5 - D; 6 - F; 7 - G; 8-H; 9-E; I-10.
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