name tells

[bazooka_joe]

I think in the absence of any other information, names can often be an indication of a players general ability level...as in all tells these are only generalizations...we all have to call ourselves something and I don't want to offend anyone...these are just some general observations with much, much room for error...

first and foremost (and I'm sure this has been widely discussed)..generally speaking I've noticed that players who have names that profess poker prowess are actually at the other end of the spectrum...the louder the brag, the weaker the play it seems.."pro"..."2nd income" those kinds of names have shown themselves to be reliable indicators of weak play in my online experience...

I've also noticed that *any* reference to ability...the presence of it or absence of it...."I stink"..."Imafish"....those kinds of names, also generally indicate weakness

as to what names indicate strength, this is harder, but names that have some wit to them usually seem to belong to better players.....these are tough to define, but those names that make you smile often seem to belong to strong players.

so, just my thoughts...wondering what others have noticed...

[fep]

Their is a player that list his name preceded by the word loose, i.e. loosejoe (that's not it but close as I don't think it is proper to write about a specific player in publicthis way)

He is a tight player.

I think some players think they are being clever by using their name to throw you off their true style.

fep (what does that name imply? Great poker player? )

[bazooka_joe]

fep, I've notice this too and almost included it in my initial post but not sure enough about it yet..but if does often seem that names purporting one particular style often belong to a player with an opposite kind of style..

[fish hawk]

I don't know if I would get to tied up in the names. My name is Fish Hawk on this board, but not because it relates to poker (although I found out later you could make the fish connection) but because my boat is a Crestliner Fish Hawk. I don't think names mean anything.

[ebohatch]

The other day I played with a guy named BillyBigBalls, and some of the hands he played (and won some) proved it.

[geormiet]

I was actually going to bring this very subject up myself. I think another type name you can look out for are aggressive/masculine sounding names, like BigDawg35, or gimmeurmoney, etc.... These tend to be overly aggressive, loose weak players.

[martek]

Post deleted by moderator.

[Piemaster]

I find that players who are in all-caps, leet or (as geo says) aggresive, tend to be weak.

Strong players tend to use their actual name a lot or something simple and catchy.

[jonnie2thumbs]

Piemaster - what does the name jonnie2thumbs suggest to you?

just going through your old posts as you advised on a blog recently...

[Radford]

I personally just think it's irrelevant what player's names are. I mean, it doesn't make no difference if some guys name has 'fish' in it. Or if some guy has 'tight' in his name. I never take much notice of what the player's names are.

[bagheera]

good thread. i agree that there is a high chance of an "online tell" in their choice of names.

but like all tells, it can be a deliberate act of artifice, or completely inconsequential.

all things being equal, and with no further evidence, i would probably pay closer attention to a player named "Joe Sandler" then I would a player named "PokerAce".

i would assume that joe had at least average playing ability, and peg pokerace as a lag that feels the need to be flashy and bluff and bull his opponents... and until i had refined my opinion of them with observation, i would play against them as such.

another concern is ... players get better with time... so even if they chose a name indicative of lack of skills, they may have improved beyond that point, but grown accustomed to the nickname so use it elsewhere. (ok, so maybe not all players improve with time, but you get my point)