Best Ways to Prank Someone at Poker Table

Horrible idea

Really long and painful slowroll.

I've found taking their money by beating them at the table is the most effective.

This. Period. Exclamation point.

One of the very first rules of poker a professional should learn is that if you are expending any emotional energy in a hand, you are likely being played. To a professional, any interaction should be calculated in terms of EV. Sure, it is reasonable to sacrifice short term EV in order to gain more long term EV, but letting emotions get involved should be beyond you.

Put another way, don't let bullies get to you. The best response is to let them play in a way that will win you the most money.

"Pranking" complete strangers is something done exclusively by *******s and I guarantee nobody but you will find it funny. If you really want to resort to this, I question who is the actual bully here.

I myself choose to just be an adult. But you do you, OP.

Pranking a stranger in a casino, what could go wrong? Punched in the face, attacked when you leave, they get injured due to the prank and sue your ass and **** knows what else but hey you had a laugh.

I'm disappointed after clicking on this thread. I thought it was going to be about pranking your buddies, not getting back at bullies.

That being said JimL's advice is good. I've found that if they can't elicit an emotional reaction from you then bullies will typically give up and move on to someone else. If that doesn't work just call out their behavior directly or call for the floor.

Only thing I can really think of is to not show your hand at showdown if you're not the first to show, especially if they bluffed and are looking for a reason to muck without showing. Maybe even take a drink as you wait on them.

This wasn't a bully situation, it was more of a drunk guy having fun.

(This was at the Rio poker room - about 5 tables going on)
Drunk guy asks another player at the table what his name is.
About 10 minutes later, drunk guy stands up and says, 'Hey, can I have everyone's attention. It's my friend "Tom's birthday today. Let's all sing him 'Happy Birthday'.
He gets the whole room into wishing "Tom a happy birthday.
Everyone at the table thought it was pretty funny, the other tables had no idea and genuinely thought it was "Tom's" birthday.
However, drunk guy got too much of a good reaction and proceeded to do this repeatedly every 10-15 minutes, until the floor finally told him, 'no more'.

Pranks aren't funny (see Impractical Jokers - or just gouge your eyes out with a spoon)

The OP suggesting doing something with his seat brought back a hilarious school memory from 35 yrs ago, well not for the victim anyway. In class one fella decided it was a good idea to sharpen a pencil to a needle point and hold it under another student when he sat down. I can still hear that scream today and will never forget it.

I wouldn't prank a bully. It will in the end escalate things.

The funniest thing that I can remember people doing as pranks was in the 20/40 LHE at Foxwoods. People would buy in for $1,000 usually. So there were a lot of people who had a lot of red stacks of 20 $5 chips. The prank was to take 1 chip off of each full stack and put it on the shorter stack (or on top of all the stacks. So when the person came back and at some point was going to put his chips in a rack all of the stacks would be short a chip... The funniest part about this was that the dealers at Foxwoods let it happen. They would like shake their head from side to side and smile. It never ended badly but people did get annoyed. I remember saying "Seriously?" when it was done to me. And everyone at the table smiled while looking down at their chips.

The prank I really didn't like was when I went to the bathroom and left my card protector on the table (which at that time was a gold plated pocket watch that my wife had given me). When I got back it was missing and I would get upset and wonder if i had put it in my pocket and then eventually it would reappear in front of me. One session it happened twice and at that point I just put it in my pocket every time I left the table. I still do...

I got another bully tonight. One guy at the table was calling everyone gay f bombs and bitches and lying sacks of ****. I tolerated this semi-bully even though he basically called me a f*gfot because he was terrible at poker and spreading his insults equally. He finally caught the wrong person immediately after he sits down and there was almost a fist fight and they get kicked out. Me and the remaining people are talking about the incident and new bully sits down and starts complaining angrily about us talking for no reason at all. I tried to joke with him about it and he tells me Im weird and starts calling me weirdo repeatedly and talking to me like a 5 year old, organizing his entire demeanor around mocking and agitating me. One dealer finally speaks up for me which gives me the courage to confront him and tell him he's disrespectful. He starts acting like a victim for being called out (which is standard bully behavior) and then everyone surprisingly takes my side and is like yeah youre a bully, and he again he plays the victim. So far he has stopped bullying. He played a victim for a little bit longer, and is now dead silent while the rest of the table is having pleasant conversations. Another dude is talking about how he did 11 years in prison and is the nicest guy at the table. I think bully is mad that other people are happy and he is sad that he cant socially dominate the table.

So this story isn't about pranks or bullies. But one day I was at the table at Foxwoods (20/40 LHE game) and for whatever reason my arms were on the table like I was protecting a plate of food in front of me - which of course wasn't there. It was just my cards and chips. So this guy asked me why I was doing it and I said that it was a habit I had when I was in jail in order to protect my food. As soon as I said it one guy says "Yeah" another guy says "with you" and another guy with some tear drop tattoos running down from one eye says "Got that right". I had no idea there were 3 guys at the table who had spent time in jail and yes I wasn't the 4th because I made up the story about why my arms were on the table. So I gave them all a thumbs up and moved my arms slowly back off the table. Thankfully nobody asked me how much time or where or what I had done.

The correct answer is "If I told you, I would have to kill you."

Loudly announce, "I'm All-in" when the action is on you. Then when the villain calls and shows a winning hand, say, "I was just kidding!" and pull your chips back to your stack.

Guaranteed to make the villain look like a fool while the rest of the table laughs with you.

Place a tac on their chair.