Angle Shoot Poker Term

1. Another move which isn’t exactly classed as cheating in poker — but is considered a highly shady practice — is known as “Angle Shooting.” In Layman’s terms, this means performing a move that gives a player an unfair advantage over their opponents.
2. Angle Shooting usually refers to using underhanded or unethical tactics in an attempt to gain an edge against opponents. This can refer to acting out of turn, hiding high value chips behind smaller ones, or pretending to put chips into the pot. While not usually technically against the rules, angles are moves that are unfair and of poor practice.

1. Angle Shoot Poker Terms
2. Angle Shoot Poker Term

So here I am in Cyprus adjusting to the ten hour time difference between LA/Vegas and I’m catching up on the action at PCA and came across a video update with Daniel Negreanu where he is playing a hand against an opponent and they are on the river. Here is the link, watch it for yourself before you read any further:

http://www.cardplayer.com/cptv/channels/13-other-poker-videos/poker-videos/3964-2010-pokerstars-caribbean-adventure-negreanu-calls-floor

I am going to go out on a limb here and say Negreanu has to know the rules of poker by now. So when he raises his opponent’s river bet and his opponent thinks it was a call and begins to roll over his hand, he knows full well that it doesn’t stop the action. It may result in a warning or penalty, but the hand is not over. In fact Negreanu has the advantage because he has seen part of his opponent’s hand. Then at the end of the video Negreanu say’s “I wasn’t going to call anyway,” yeah right! The whole thing, calling the floor after he saw part of the hand was an attempt to see if his straight was good and decide if his opponent had aces up or a full house. It was a terrible decision by the floor person, clearly being pressured by Negreanu. Kind of interesting that he is helping roll out a new poker tour as an “ambassador” of PS, and he muscles the floor guy, who you can see has a PS logo on his shirt, I was truly shocked buy the whole episode. Let me know what you think.

In this case, the pre-flop angle from above does seem to show his larger chips aren't explicitly hidden. Of course, we never get a great angle after that, so it's hard to know exactly where those silver chips were during the hand play. In the end, if you're going to shove like that, you just need to be 100% aware of your opponents exact stack.

Have you ever heard someone say at the table that someone was “angle shooting?” When someone is shooting an angle, they are exploiting the rules in such a way to gain an unfair advantage. While it isn’t outright cheating, it is considered borderline and unethical. Today we will look at some examples of angle shooting.

Showdown Fakeout

One example of angle shooting that you will see sometimes at the river is what I call the showdown fakeout. It occurs when action is complete and a players calls out their hand without showing.

The opponent says something along the lines of “you’re good” and the person that called out their hand mucks. The “losing player” then shows their cards and claims the pot since they were the only person to show their cards.

This will instantly start an argument and is clearly unethical. However, there are many instances where a player has been awarded the pot because the other player mucked. Always show your cards at showdown. Some poker tournaments, such as the World Series of Poker, require that you show your cards at showdown to win a pot.

A similar instance of this one is when someone shows one card and the other person claims they are good. The person that showed one card mucks their hand expecting to get the pot. Then the other player shows their weaker hand and gets the pot. Always show your hand.

The Fake Check

Another type of angle shoot is a fake check. Someone makes an action that is construed as a check, such as a come here motion or something other than a rapping of the table or saying check.

If a player had his hand like this, is he checking or doing something else?

Then when it appears other players are checking, they said they wanted to bet. Some casinos are wise to this and will either penalize the player trying to angle shoot or tell them that their ambiguous action was a check.

Incomplete Bets

Angle Shoot Poker Terms

You will sometimes see players try and make incomplete bets trying to get a reaction out of a player. For example, a player in the big blind bets 1,000, and a middle position player puts out 1,400. The middle position player then claims that they just meant to call.

This is often done by a player trying to see how their opponent will react, and when they think they have the worst of it, they claim ignorance. Fortunately, many casinos are beginning to combat this, either by making the player keep the extra money in the pot or by penalizing them. If the extra amount is at least half the initial bet, they will be forced to raise.

Angle Shoot Poker Term

Player Disconnected

Another type of angle shoot you will in online poker involves disconnecting. Many online poker sites have disconnect protection that will consider a disconnected player as “all-in” for the money they already have in the pot.

Sometimes you will see a player get disconnected in the middle of a hand and come back after enough time has elapsed to complete the hand. There are times that the player has disconnected intentionally with a hand that they do not want to commit a lot of money on but could catch. This way they have all the advantages of winning the pot but don’t have to commit more money to play the hand out.

This angle is more prevalent in cash games than in tournaments. In online poker tournaments, a disconnected player will be eventually timed out and their hand folded.

These are just a few examples of angle shooting in poker. Typically, a player that angle shoots will have a history of doing so and may even be pointed out. There have even been instances where tournament directors have called out certain players during the middle of a hand, warning that the player did the same thing in a different hand and what he had in that hand.

Angle shooting is heavily frowned upon and considered cheating by many. Once you get the reputation of being an angle shooter, your reputation will be destroyed and it is not worth the risk. Play the game the way it is meant to be played and you will always be welcome in the game.