Player Notes: What is angle shooting?

You mean like in pool? We’re not talking geometry here. An angle shooter is a poker player who uses questionable tactics to exploit their fellow players.

You mean like in pool? Very funny. The game of pool has had its hustlers, it’s true, but we’re talking about poker and the fine line between breaking the rules and giving them a thorough bending.

Where I come from, we call that ‘cheating.’ It’s not quite the same thing. When you cheat, you’re breaking a formal rule; when you’re angle shooting, you’re generally staying on the right side of the rulebook, but often just on a technicality. There’s usually some plausible deniability involved, which makes it harder to punish.

Got an example? Let’s say someone picks up a stack of raising chips and moves them forward with their hand but doesn’t actually put them down on the felt. Are they raising? Are they thinking? Or are they shooting an angle, trying to elicit a reaction before they make their move?

But doesn’t ‘forward motion’ mean a bet? Does it? Everywhere? And if the chips never leave his hand? Could there, even rarely, be an occasion where they just happen to innocently make that motion while they’re thinking?

Well, I guess that maaaaybe there might be a… Exactly. That sliver of doubt is where the angle shooter operates. Here’s another one: Let’s say you’re facing a big bet, heads up. You put a hand on top of your cards and push them forwards, as if to fold. Your opponent lets out a huge sigh of relief, and you quickly pull your cards back in front of you to continue with the hand.

That sounds dodgy as heck. It sure does, but it happens.

Yeah, in some disreputable underground club, maybe. This was at the European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event in 2019. Then there’s the story of the guy who rivered the nuts and then, after his opponent bet, said, ‘Raise… I mean call!’ and put calling chips in. He explained he didn’t speak English and then looked very disappointed when he was forced to put in a raise.

That wasn’t at EPT Barcelona too, was it? No.

Phew. It was at the EPT Grand Final in Madrid, 2011. And the tournament director, Thomas Kremser, felt obligated to tell the others that the player who was doing this had done the exact same thing before… also with the nuts. His opponent still decided to call.

Is this a European problem? Afraid not, but it’s in the news again this week thanks to an incident at the final table of…

Let me guess: the EPT Main Event? How did you guess? In this instance the eventual winner in Monte Carlo, Aleksandr Shevliakov, made a ‘misclick’ — he claims he thought the pot was unopened, so he made a small raise, which looked like an attempt to steal the blinds. It turns out the pot had already been raised, which Shevliakov claims he didn’t notice, so he was forced to put in more. His opponent went all-in, figuring he was just on the steal; he wasn’t — he had . Shevliakov knocked his opponent out, was accused of a ‘fake misclick’ and labeled by some as an angle shooter.

So… was he angle shooting or not? It’s tough to tell. Players were on the side of 'Angle!' after a lengthy X post from the person he knocked out. He’s since protested his innocence and lots of people now believe him. There’s really no way to be 100% sure one way or the other. Players can make mistakes, especially in high-pressure situations. It’s why it’s tough to take real action without much stronger evidence of wrongdoing.

Do say: Exactly what you mean in a way that can’t be misconstrued as a form of manipulation.

Don’t say: “Raise, I mean, call, I don’t speak English,” after pushing your cards towards the muck and pulling them back when your opponent puffs his cheeks out.