Anyone can become angry. That is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose and in the right way… that is not easy.
– Aristotle.

Before I start this blog I’m going to ask you a few questions. And then I’m going to presume to be you and answer those questions for you. Of course I’ll answer them as if you asked me the questions, does that make sense? No? Not really? Doesn’t matter, I’ll ask ‘em anyway and hopefully my answers will reflect something similar to what your answers might have been!

When attending a pub with your mates for a few refreshing ales do you:

Like to have a quiet drink? YES [X] NO [ ]

Like to have a nice meal? YES [X] NO [ ]

Like to enjoy the company of your friends? YES [X] NO [ ]

Like it when others abuse you or your friends? YES [ ] NO [X]

Like it when others get aggressive towards you for no real reason YES [ ] NO [X]

Hmm interesting answers, now let me ask you another similar set of questions.

When attending a pub poker game with your mates do you:

Like to have a quiet drink? YES [X] NO [ ]

Like to have a nice meal? YES [X] NO [ ]

Like to enjoy the company of your friends? YES [X] NO [ ]

Like it when other players abuse you or your friends? YES [ ] NO [X]

Like it when other players get aggressive towards you for the way you play YES [ ] NO [X]

Hmm interesting answers again.

So let me put this all together.

When you’re out with your mates at a pub for a few quiet beers, you like to enjoy each other’s company and not have your good time ruined by other patrons being either abusive or aggressive. Further to this, when you’re at the pub with your mates playing pub poker, you like to enjoy each other’s company, play some poker and not have your good time ruined by other players being either abusive or aggressive.

Now in exhibit A: If you’re in a pub and someone gets aggressive or abusive, the staff will generally ask that person to calm down or consequently they get ejected from the premises.

So I have to wonder, after having poker in pubs for some years now, why don’t players that act in outwardly aggressive manner or are abusive to other players for any number of reasons, seem to be getting dealt with in the appropriate manner.

My case in point:

Whilst playing cards this past Sunday evening at what is fast becoming a very popular cash buy-in event, a well known player, just before a break absolutely lost it. He was involved in the last hand before the break, all of a sudden he blew up, abruptly standing from his chair, throwing his hands in the air, sprouting out some rubbish about “useless players” and diatribe along those lines. He then stormed out of the building, throwing open doors and thumping down the hallway in something a kin to my 6 year old’s tantrums.

The whole room stopped to watch this spectacle and wondered what kind of bad beat this bloke had copped to eliminate him from the tournament. In fact there was no bad beat, there was no suck out on the river to eliminate him, what had actually happened was he played a crappy hand, saw a flop and then was bet out of the hand. After folding, the turn revealed a card that would have paired one of his and ultimately won him the hand.

So this tirade was actually about the fact that he had been out played.

He came back after the break having cooled down and resumed his seat. Now at this point I believe he should have been ejected from the game for his behaviour, but I’ll return to this later.

The game continued on and an hour later I had been shifted to his table. A couple of times he got a bit hot under the collar for the way people played their cards (it would seem it’s OK for him to play crap cards on a regular basis, get lucky and then call that skill, but I digress).

After a small while a player with a stack that covered everyone on the table 4 times over, was moved to the table, seated immediately to the left of our man with issues. This bloke had enjoyed a couple of Sunday lunch bevvies and was having a good time. The fact that he was constantly raking pots was probably making his day even better. He was having one of those kinds of games where he could have played two baseball cards and still found a way to win the pot. He was pretty harmless though and was a having a good time (pretty much the point of pub poker I would have thought).

Then it happened again. Our friend, Mr. Blow Your Stack When Things Aren’t Going Your Way, made a raise under the gun, action then moved to chip leader, who glanced at his hands then proceeded to move all in.
Everyone folded and got out of the way, that’s when Mr. Happy blew up. Raised voices of “What the fuck?” and “You’re and idiot, what’s the point of even playing with you?” spewed out of Happy’s mouth before he folded. He then went on to berate Mr. Lucky about how bad a player he was and how he was taking the fun out of poker. Mr. Lucky took all this in his stride, smiled, raked in his nice pot and had another sip from his pint. All the while with Happy still going on.

It was only when another player piped in and reminded him, that this was the chip leader and that if he had that kind of stack he would be doing the exact same thing. At this point the whole table was feeling very uncomfortable and not enjoying their poker in the slightest.

My question is this, if it’s deemed unacceptable to behave like that in any other form of society, and acting in a manner that would see you removed from most venues during any other function, why is it being allowed to happen in pub poker? No body seems to want to do anything. I know the management of pub poker games Australia wide would say, “Tell us about it and we will discipline these people”. Frankly I think it needs to be the TD’s in the first instance that need to be able to stand up and say that this kind of behaviour is unacceptable and eject them from tournaments immediately, or give them a warning and an orbit penalty. If the players at a venue are focused on one idiot, because of the way they are behaving, then I’m pretty sure that warrants an orbit penalty and a warning.

In this case, Mr. Happy is a serial offender and is known to players and staff that he has a bad temper. Are these the kind of players that pub poker companies really want playing their game? I would have thought having these kinds of players there detracts other players from wanting to come there next time. And from personal experience with this player, I know for a fact I don’t like playing where he does, because not only is he a bad loser, he’s a very bad winner.

I just wonder where the line is. Do players seriously have to make official complaints before this kind of behaviour is addressed? Or should TD’s be on to this when they know its happening.

I certainly don’t accept that kind of behaviour from my 6 year old, and I certainly won’t accept it from grown adults who know better. I really think these people should seek some kind of help for their issues. Regardless of whether it’s a free roll or a cash buy-in, it’s a game and you should play the game and act in a manner that you would expect of the other people you are playing with. If you can’t do that, you should stay home.

I normally sign off my blogs with “aggressive poker is winning poker” and that’s still true, but let’s remember, that refers to your playing style not your physical attitude towards players, staff and the game itself.

Until next time, Aggressive Poker is Winning Poker.

Swanky.