The art of trash-talking in online poker. By Jacob Lewis

Wish I would've actually blogged about the online trash-talk on Halo2. Stoned 15 year-olds are probably a lot more funny than overly serious college kids.

The art of trash-talking in online poker. By Jacob Lewis: "When playing online, you can try to keep tabs on the other players to learn their habits, but with thousands of people moving in and out of various tables, all with names such as Acebuster44, TizShowtime, and TopTitty19, it is almost impossible to fix on a weakling. If you sit in front of your computer and fidget and slump and cough and sneeze and cry, no one will notice. If your hands shake uncontrollably before hitting the 'raise' button, it won't make a bit of difference. So, how do players identify the easy money? They use the few fleeting seconds between cards and bets to be as nasty and as immature as possible to try to draw you out.
Because you have space for no more than half a dozen words, and the bets move quickly around the table, trash-talking is usually brief and uncorrected. This often causes snide remarks to have the quality of coming from a 12-year-old dyslexic with a mean streak: 'Get a life, dubmass.' If you play your hand poorly, you may get called a donkey or a fish, as in you went fishing for cards. Check-raise someone and get 'bitch-slapped.' Verbally, of course. Mothers and grandmothers are fair game, as is your place of employment?more often than not it's Taco Bell. While it's common enough to be handed the conciliatory 'nh' (nice hand), which requires a polite 'ty' (thank you), if you slow-play the table out of all their money, the abbreviations may turn to curse words. "