Recently, I was sitting next to a snappily attired young player who put in a raise or two on the flop with a nut flush draw. After the hand, which he won by making the flush, someone said to him, “Nice raising on the flop.” He launched into a speech telling us how the math of the situation gave him a positive expected value (+EV) situation on the flop. He really was enjoying his own lecture.

While I do not give poker lessons at the table, I do sometimes offer behavior lessons. I leaned over and quietly told him, “Look. Everyone who knows the game already knows how smart you are. Everyone else is just learning more about poker. Just make the play, stack the chips, and don’t talk about it.” To his credit, he nodded, piped down, and stacked the chips.

You should never discuss or explain a play at the table. If you happen to be right, all you do is make your opponents better. If you are wrong (and many frequent explainers are), you simply look foolish.