Dealing with Disrespectful Behavior at the Poker Table

Being able to tolerate other players is part of the game. If it's getting under your skin that much you probably need to look internally and find out why you are taking it so personally. I tend to needle people that I know will tilt. Could be part of his game. But if he's crossing the line you can politely address it and escalate to the floor if needed.

But I'm going to be honest, if you are the type of guy that uses sunglasses at the poker table you're absolutely the kind of guy who will tilt when needled. Sunglass guys are almost always the same. Don't use them

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If you slow down the game constantly by taking time, you are going to aggravate people at the table. Even if they don’t act like this guy, many people will be aggravated and just not say anything. It will also make people not want to give you action or make them want to bluff you more (ie play more theoretically correctly against you vs passively) since you think a lot and are likely to make big lay downs. I would work on playing faster and keeping the game fun and action for everyone. Just my opinion.

If you are generally taking more time than the other players at the table, you should fix that and most players here won't have much sympathy for you. By the sounds of your story, with you putting your sunglasses on while thinking about reraising a guy, you really sound like an annoying guy that everyone hates to play with.

It sounds like nobody at the table stood up for you? If that's the case, you're definitely the root of the problem.

This is most likely why you aggravate the other players (although only one player called you out on it I'm sure everyone else at the table was thinking the same thing if you're constantly slowing down the game). You don't beat the game by pausing and trying to read someone's tells on every decision or thoroughly analyze your hand when facing a preflop raise or what other players would consider simple decisions.

There are a lot of players in my games who take a long time, but most of them are above 80 years old or they have a mental handicap and I don't mean to be that guy or anything but once I read "I then put on my sunglasses" I'm sorry to say it but the other players are most likely right, that you're taking too much time with your decisions.

To answer your question, no one should have to deal with name calling but you just have to shrug it off and ignore these people and let the supervisors handle it from there. Yes the atmosphere remained tense but that's the nature of the game we're all sitting around a table trying to win each other's money it's not a tea party.

First step of the solution is play faster. You are slowing the game down needlessly. While true the other player should have handled it better (btw most of the ways he should handle it will tilt you as much or more) if you were not slowing the game down he would never have started anything. He put up with you for hours also and you admittedly knew you were bothering him and probably the whole time able. This is what allowed it to escalate. Don’t wait hours and you will only be scolded to speed up.

Alternative Thread Title: "I constantly annoy the table for hours and got called out for it."

ChatGPT, write me some poker forum rage bait.

1) The glasses should already have been on .. lol
2) 100bb is not a very big pot .. at least shouldn't be at most tables. A 100bb 'bet' is worth some consideration.

3) This is not an old school tournament where timing tells can give away hand strength. It's cash .. and some decisions are easy and need to be made quickly. Doing so will afford you some tolerance when the hand escalates. You should not be taking the same amount of time when considering your action when there's an open v when there been a 3b, 4b or you're considering an all-in.
4) Allowing a Player to bother you will ultimately affect your decision making .. and may be the reason the Player is acting this way.

5) Always address these issues with the Dealer first as a lot of casinos will just kick out both Players no matter the issue. if you're new to live poker, then ask a Dealer or Floor what they think about your whole 'game'.
6) You left, which means it was a 'W' for the other Player and someone at the table probably bought them a drink!

Welcome to the forums, interesting first post for sure .. GL

1. Ignore asshats at the table.
2. Don't be the guy in #1.

I feel like the responses in this thread could have been a little less harsh towards a new player. We're all here to learn.

Based on your post we don't know how slow you play. One word of advice on that one: The wait feels always at least twice as long to everybody else than to you while making your decision.

You're free to wear sun glasses when ever you like. But if you care about what others at the table think about you, don't put them on while making a decision. If you look around the table at that moment, I'd bet half the players who pay attention to what's happening are rolling their eyes.

If you feel harassed it's usually best to address the dealer who might call for the floor. Once the floor comes over you're also getting a reaction from the rest of the table who either side with you "that guy has been rude to everyone" or don't say anything which likely means they don't agree with you (or even agree with him).

Most transparent trolling since that person who suggested pots get awarded based upon a dancing competition.

Thank you all for your helpful advice and comments! I will definitely pay more attention to how much time I take for my decisions. Even though this wasn't the core of my question, your feedback has prompted some valuable self-reflection.

GL DT!

But it was. Everything affects everything. Your question was the equivalent of "What should I do when my sister slaps my face? All I was doing was poking her in the ribs." Was the villain right to do what he was doing? No. And the correct action for you, as was said many times, is to ignore it. But that doesn't mean you don't take a look at your actions and see if they helped lead to the situation. Most people play live poker to have a good time. These people are your customers. It pays not to have them annoyed with you.

Question-are you honestly taking the time to run through your game tree, evaluate all tells, consider all prior history of your opponent as well as their current mind set, or are you hollywooding because tanking a long time then theatrically putting on your glasses is what you saw on TV?

Most poker decisions do not take that long at the lower levels of play. There simply is not enough useable information to consider.

To answer your question, if a player is needling you while you are in a hand, don't let him put you on tilt. Address it after the hand, and then just suggest that if he think you are taking an excessive amount of time, he is welcome to call a clock and let the floor mediate, but distracting theatrics while a hand is going on isn't cool

But honestly, if you are taking so long that a cash game table is getting annoyed at you, that is the real issue

Thank you for your comments. I didn’t really want to resolve the situation, but it was interesting to read your suggestions. For those who are curious, here is the resolution:

I’ve been playing this game for several years, mostly at low limits 2/2 to 2.5/5 with 200 BB deep. Nonetheless, I am of course a recreational player. I try to constantly improve and see poker as a challenge. I never used to wear sunglasses, but now I like to use them to recognize other players' tells unnoticed. I even had special poker glasses made. I know some people don’t think much of them (different topic).

The specific situation was as follows: I was on the button with Ace-King and raised to $16 preflop. Two players called. The flop came King, 8, 9 (rainbow). After the other players checked, I bet about $50. One folded, the other called. The turn brought a 7. The villain checked, I bet $50, and he called. The river was a brick. He checked, I bet $80, and he raised to $210 with only about $40 left behind.

I took some time, maybe 30-40 seconds. During this time, the player next to me reacted. When I put on my sunglasses on the flop, he quietly said to himself "what an idiot," but loud enough for me to hear.

I had already put on my sunglasses on the flop to better observe reactions—not theatrically, but because I knew it would be a tough hand. I was playing against a new player who had only been at the table for a short time and had maybe seen 4 or 5 hands by then. So it was still in the first orbit, and I hadn't really had time to get a read on him.

While I was considering going all-in, the player next to me, who was not involved in the hand, sighed again. This did not influence my decision. However, after enduring it about 50 times, I turned to him and asked what his problem was. He was sitting directly to my right. I also mentioned that I don’t comment on the fact that he folds almost every hand and has played a maximum of 10 hands in five hours. After venting, and with the all-in player still looking very nervous, I pushed him all-in. He called. When I showed Ace-King, he folded his cards. I only had top pair with top kicker. The remaining $40 was a gift from him.

Overall, I was already $800 up at that point and was able to leave the table with over $1000 in winnings. The atmosphere at the table was relaxed, except for that one player. He had been drinking beer all evening and playing few hands, but constantly making derogatory comments. My straddling also seemed to annoy him, which I continued to do deliberately.

I want to emphasize that I did not tilt or put on a "Hollywood sunglasses show." I just pay very close attention to tells like breathing and eye movements. This method helped me make the right decisions in the situation described.

I got along very well with the other players. We had good conversations and enjoyed the game. In the end, some even said goodbye with a handshake. No one complained about my supposedly long tank times, as I only take more time when it is really necessary. After a few years of experience, I don't have to think too long about certain decisions, but in some situations, it makes sense not to act immediately, which any experienced player can confirm. The other players were unaware of the annoying player’s taunts and were visibly surprised when I finally addressed him.

In conclusion: Despite the rude behavior of this one player, it was a successful evening for me, and I took the opportunity to leave the table when the atmosphere became unpleasant. Thank you again for your tips and suggestions!

I genuinely mean this. I really do.

From what I get from your posts in this thread is someone who is looking to be offended by other players reactions.

I am guessing it isn't other player who are the problem. Look internally.

I agree 100%.

I always think of this game when I was dealing. The player in seat 9 was taking a long time on every decision and thebpkayers were complaining. I had only tapped in a few hands ago so I was unable to completely judge the accuracy of the complaints. He was slow with every decision, but over 3 or 4 hands it could have been simple variance that gave him a couple of tough decisions.

He gets in a hand and the flop is something like Q83 rainbow. 1st player bets, another player calls. He starts to tank. He is in seat 9 so after a few seconds he checks his cards and I can see he has A7 suited. Ace high with at best a backdoor flush draw. Another player immediately calls clock and I immediately call floor. Floor shows up and asks if player had enough time. Any other time I would say no. It was quick. In this case I immediately responded yes. He has nothing realistic to think about. Sure, I have no problem giving the benefit of the doubt to a player, maybe he has a read. Whatever. But given the fact that everyone was complaining about the speed of his play, he gets no benefit.

The player waits the full count down and autofolds.

The slow play happens the rest of my down despite the fact I could clearly see his cards the whole time.

Frustrating. Not only for all of the other players, but for me as well. He was literally costing me money.

I know there are pots of dealers who complain about pkahrrs playing slow. I get it, slow play costs them money. However I consider myself a player first and a dealer second. Even though I am a very fast player, I fully recognize that there are times when a player needs to think things through.

Furthermore, I fully recognize that the times to play slow are probably during times where most players consider the action automatic. They think it should be an auto fold or an auto call. However those are the decisions that separate the good poker players from the great. A great poker player finds a fold where very few would or fonds a call where they should fold.

I get it.

But thise hands are extremely rare. Literally
If a player is taking a long time with almost every decision, they are just an ass.

if you're taking more than two seconds to call a $130 raise with the pot at $540 on the river then maybe just check behind in the first place

$540 ??? lol

How do sunglasses help you observe others?

I would understand if you didn't want to give something away yourself (kinda), but this dude is effectively allin, its not like he is gonna read you for strong and hero fold the last $40 with like $700 in the middle.

If you are putting on sunglasses 30 secs into a decision to help "get a read"... you are the ahole. And if no one at the table defended you then they must have been happy that someone finally spoke up.

??

I’m glad the previous responses from others made you respond with this exact comment. Keep working on yourself.