Dealing with difficult players
Consider this, you are enjoying a night out and a friendly game of poker, with poker chips in hand, and one person with a huge mouth can spoil it all at the drop of a hat. You sit there for awhile and try to make the best of it and just hope they will either be quiet, go away or just pass out somewhere. When none of those things happen and the person continues to ruin the night out, here are a few options you may want to consider.
The first thing to remember is that the loud mouth probably will not pick up the playing cards and go away, they are a difficult person that is in your space. You will have to learn to deal with them for however long you choose to. Difficult people are in every walk of life, so learning to deal with them is clearly the only and best option to move forward with. They are sometimes looking for a reaction from others and when they don’t get it they are totally thrown off track. Always keep your eyes on your high end quality Paulson chips when confronted with difficult people. You never know if there are just creating a distraction to get to your chips.
The next thing is to be sure to keep yourself in check, you do not want the loud mouth to know he/she is bothering you in any, or they will really crank up the volume. Be aware of your body language and facial expressions, sometimes that can give away more than you want it to. Hold on to your casino chips and just let go of any anxiety you are feeling.
As much as possible you need to stay in control of yourself and the situation. Just remember to keep things in perspective and not get too upset by the actions of another person, focus on your night out and enjoying the game at hand. If you need to walk away from the poker tables for awhile, then do it, give yourself a chance to calm down before returning.
Another option in dealing with the impossible person is to kill them with kindness. Often times they may be expecting a negative reaction from others and when they get a positive reaction it totally throws them off and ruins their night. Just showing them that they cannot get the best of you will work wonders. Maybe offer to pick up a few clay chips they may have dropped or something like that.
The last option in dealing with the jerk, depending on how your game is going, is to call it a night and go home. If you are not on a winning streak and are preoccupied thinking about the jerk, then just let it go for the night and try again later. Simply return your las vegas chips to the chip set and that is the end of it.
There will be other nights where you can play and get the full enjoyment from the game and your winnings and not have to deal with the jerk. Just remember if you don’t care about whether poker is a game of luck or skill, and can focus on your game, not allowing the jerk to get to you, you have an advantage over the other players, so you may just end up ahead at the end of the night.