Strategies for Dealing With People Who Berate Bad Players?

If an option, I'd find a new place to play. This one is going to close in the next year.

If it isn't, I'd try to talk to the poker room manager to explain the situation. If uninterested in making changes, I'd finish the conversation with, "I hope you have your resume up to date, because you're going to need it."

If it's as constant as you've described, you're not going to change it on your own, so just find a new room, assuming the culture in that room isn't just a reflection of the wider area, in which case, I'd move far away.

Commerce, the largest poker room in the world, would disagree.

If there are issues with that specific dealer anyway, nothing wrong with addressing the situation with room management. If any of the berating players are regulars at that casino it might be worth talking to them. But usually those players are as bad as the people they berate and wouldn't care what you have to say to them.

You'd prolly get more responses in B&M but if I was there I would be saying something not only to that idiot dealer (unless he knew the guy and was jk) but also to the players who berate someone for "bad play".

I would just say "he called you with 94o! if you were any good yourself you'd realize that you should want that call all day!". I would then start berating them saying they're the bad players for discouraging weaker players to play against them, but that's just me (sometimes I get carried away if they deserved it).

100% agree. I have no problem putting some a**hole in his place. For me the situation is as serious as it gets. They are screwing around with my money.

All we can do in these situations is try to be like the Christ.

Wow, sounds like you have some real class acts in your room.

If both the fish and the berating player are still at the table, it can be a tricky balance of trying to make the fish feel ok about themselves/play plus trying to calm the berating player, all while trying to maintain a good vibe. Not easy. Humour helps, and perhaps try directing it at yourself.

If the fish has left the table and there's only regs left, I would attempt to turn the table against the berator. Such as turn to no one in particular but make sure everyone at the table hears "JFC, that's the easiest money this table has seen in months and this ****ing moron scares him out of the room". And ditto for dealing with the dealer / suggesting withholding tips.

GcluelessgoodvibesnoobG

For me the chasing the fish away is secondary, I just think berating people you've never met is just flat out sociopathic behavior, which I personally can't stand. If it's persistent, I just get up and leave or ask for a table change, regardless if it is aimed at me. I get those that fight back, but that's just not my style or personality.

I would personally like to see Dealers, nip stuff like that in the bud the first time it happens, with a firm but polite: "Sir, I'd ask you to be respectful to everyone at the table, and if you're not able to do that, we will have to ask you to leave"

At low stakes 1-2, 1-3, none of us are making our living playing, so some of the EV has to come from the enjoyment.

I think casinos and card rooms that just let it slide are taking a very short term view

"Let the first man who is not a fish cast the first stone".

Although I would appreciate if Jesus took one fish that entered the poker room and turned him into 3000 fish.

I have never experienced this as a widespread culture but my go-to in situations like this is, and always has been, to speak up while the fish is still there and stick up for them.

Sometimes this takes the form of defending some aspect of the fish’s play. Other times I just start needling the guy doing the berating. (I can’t think of any examples but it’ll usually be something like “didn’t I just see you do X? Who are you to talk?”😉

One example I can think of from a long time ago is I was playing 1/2 100SL (I think the same game davo now plays in but this was 10+ years ago) and I saw a fish call a 3bet with 86o. He flopped an open-ender and called down flop and turn, only to river his straight and stack the 3bettor, who proceeded to start berating him. The fish turned to me (I was on his left) and asked if I thought he played it bad. I told him, “once you see that flop there’s nothing else you can do.” (Carefully avoiding commenting on preflop.)

Once I reassured him he ignored the other guy and stayed at the table. To me that’s worth more than not speaking up.

I sometimes do nothing and sometimes I stick up for the fish. Ex:

idiot: "OMG he called preflop with 94o?! nice call buddy easy money"

me: "we put you on 84o"

or "easy call for balance"

or "gotta protect your folding range"

sometimes I devalue the idiot player, often their play was suboptimal too.

or "this is a casino, isn't gambling allowed here?"

I hate to even talk about poker at the table. I almost did though. The guy with aces misplayed the hand. It was a J44 flop. He bet the pot ($50) from the small blind. He got raised by the cutoff. The button (with 94o) cold called the raise. The guy with the aces shoved for another $250 like he was sure had the nuts. It was pretty obvious the button had a 4. Plus, the button had straddled, so he was only calling an additional $10 pre-flop (with $35 in the pot).

That dealer actually did say to this guy (after the fish left), "Did you just chase that guy out of the room? You want players like that at your table."

I agree with the sentiment, but wouldnt say this, youre basically piling onto the fish by calling him weaker.

As for my answer, id 100% be attacking him/defending the fish. I can see a lot of different things id say.

“Let the guy play how he ****ing wants with his own ****ing money jackass.”

“Its 1/3, none of us are exactly phil ivey, you included”

“Youre just butthurt because you lost.” And if they say like “dude they played 94o!” Id be like “tom dwan played T6o last week in a 4 bet pot, whats your point?”

Next hand id look at my cards and say “well i was thinking about (raising/folding) but i better run it past dave first.”

Maybe even “Dude we are here to have fun, im sorry youre here to just be a small person desperately trying to feed your ego. Youre better at poker than us, and we are better at ****ing your wife than you.”

I do think itd be hard to overcome a room full of these *******s but it could be that theres a silent 75% that will start siding with you if you start enough ****. Also when the floor inevitibly gets called over you oughta say that his **** attitude is pushing customers away, and you just want him to stop yelling at people.

Of course I would use my discretion if the fish was still there. If he was, I would just tell the berater "everyone plays different, that's what makes the game good bud, if everyone played the exact same way how would that even be a game?" and then say nice hand to the winner.

Was going to ignore this thread, I don't think OP can do anything. Hard to see how people can't know it's bad in general, also seems bad for H to be trying to "educate" the floor/dealers without being asked.
At least I don't escalate to defend them to the extent Tomark would and I've occasionally lied to them like CallMeVernon did, but I've felt kind of shitty so I try to be non-committal/background now unless a dealer/floor might need to be involved.

Anyway, this is the main reason I didn't not post...

...like what kind of odds would you lay that a random poster on here (or live reg. in general) is closer to sociopath than "normal" (I appologise to all mental health professionals).

Only met a few live players who exhibited those tendencies. As for posters here, I also see it on other forums (on other topics), and online in general. I believe this was spot on:

"Social Media made y'all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it" - Mike Tyson

The anonymity and physical separation of the internet allows everyone to act like a dick. The only thing stopping anyone is their conscience and a sense of empathy, the lack of which being the defining characteristics of sociopaths.

Whether the guy berating the fish was a sociopath or not still doesn't give him the right to berate someone who he lost a hand to. If nothing's said to him, it just gives him a green light to continue doing it. If he doesn't like being told he was wrong, he doesn't have to play, that's his choice, but whether or not he's a "sociopath" or just a guy who loses his temper is pretty much irrelevant since we're not his doctors.

You can try talking to the guys that are doing the berating, but often times the move is just to ignore it and be friendly to recs when you can. The person doing the berating may go on tilt themselves, which could be good for the game. Berating players are not going to be in the state to be reasoned with anyways, so trying to convince them to stop, possibly after they lost a big hand themselves, is likely just to cause more problems.

For a dealer berating there is no excuse, I would tell them something, maybe even complain to the floor. But you want to weigh your options because you aren't there to make enemies with dealers and managers either.

Among friendly regs who occasionally lose their cool, a good needle can be helpful. "Nice job berating the recreational player today buddy."

idk man. just berate the beraters in spots its obvious they did nothing wrong so over the top that they understand what theyre doing. ask the dealer as innocently as possible if he's so good why is he dealing. simply declare WAR. they berate we RAISE.

as for the rest, i think gambling attracts people much closer to whatever you're defining sociopath is as opposed to civilian (non gambling population). people that say poker players as a collevtive are the most honorable or best people they've met are either being hustled or intentionally disingenuous (hustling) imo. poker rooms in general bring out alot of suffering and insecurity in people who love for any opportunity to project that onto others imo.

Don't take on their poison and dont let their pathetic souls get in the way of your path by trying to control their ill fated existence. As for the fish racking up that's their prerogative to be weak and run like a coward... you can't control that either so just carry on and live life one hand at a time...gl

When you berate a player for berating bad players, you are berating a bad player. Think about it.

I wouldn't mind so much if they ever stopped or even slowed down, but I don't think I've ever seen it ... but I have seen a player continue to berate literally everybody after almost every pot they lose and also get irrationally angry at me, for one comment.

Yeah as far as the sociopath tendencies, the only way to win is to make someone else lose, and cut into their fun as well. Good poker players, especially pros are just parasites. They (we) receive money while contributing less than nothing to society (the only thing we contribute is making the game less fun by causing others to win less often)