OK, here's the deal, I'm wondering how you might have handled or felt about a situation that occurred last night. Note: As I write this, I've had very little sleep over the last two nights. I can barely see straight, but this hand was weighing on me, so I wanted to write it out.
Background:
Playing 1/2 at my local bar game. Cast of characters is a bunch of crafty degens. These tables are often very agro, opening for $12-20. 15 mins earlier, I was felted by a drunk/high hyper spewy kid. In that instance, this kid announced he was cashing out, but since cards were dealt to him as he was racking up, he was gonna play the hand. It was a major suckout, but that's not part of the story. Prior to that hand, he grabs my cased Par-A-Dice 1000 chip card protector and fondles it and then tosses it back. Aside from getting felted (oh well), I am NOT a fan of someone (especially some that I don't know) grabbing anything from my stack area w/o permission, especially not my card protector. I'm not overly superstitious, but to many people, card protectors can also be good luck charms, etc... To me, my card protector symbolizes more of a routine, and maybe a bit of zen/run good (not sure how to explain it). It's protecting MY hand... Suffice it to say, after the guy felts me (and another player), he finished cashing out (for $900) and hits the door.
A new guy takes his place (another hyper villain, who announces he really likes action tables, and chose our table over the 2nd cash table that's running). I make an announcement to the table (friendly banter) that if anyone else touches my card protector, I'm going to "punch them squarely in the jaw", and joke that he touched my card protector, and then sucked out runner runner against me... The table laughs, but there's a serious note in my message, that it wasn't cool to grab my sh!t...
OK, fast forward a couple orbits, I've recovered nicely and am now sitting on around $380 on a total BI of $240. I'm on the button and joke that the book I'm reading says you're supposed to play aggressive on the button. The new agro guy (directly to my right) opens for $12 (I don't really put him on anything strong), and I look down at a sexy
. I raise to $25, and our hyper dude calls. I don't think he puts me on anything due to my pre-hand button statement.
Flop comes
and hyper dude (who I read doesn't see anything on the flop he likes) checks. I C-Bet for $40, and Hyper dude looks like he's strategizing. He's either got a monster or nothing IMHO. He announces raise, but doesn't seem overly confident (is he acting?). Anyway, he goes all-on, and after calling my $40, he has $95 behind. The dealer counts his stack, and announces it's $95 to call. I start to replay the hand, his actions, etc... in my head. The table is quiet, awaiting my action. Here's where it gets interesting...
Another hyper lag from across the table (he's currently standing nearby drinking a beer), reaches over the table and grabs my card protector and says "hey, what's this?".. Now, I'm not sure this hyper lag was at the table during my prior speech (he was probably at the bar getting a drink, not sure). The whole table erupts, people's eyes bug out, almost as if they all expect me to fly across the table, grab this guy, and start to pound the crap out of him (which I would never do, it's just poker). However, truth be told, this did completely interrupt my thought process and send me into a hot-head moment for a few seconds, like WTF? I try to regain my thought composure and refocus on the hand, but the moment escapes me, and I'm having a hard time focusing at the moment (yes, very little sleep, my fault, I get it). When I am faced with hard poker decisions, and I don't have a solid read or there's some negative karma/action ongoing, I often opt to fold and pic spots were I have a better read or position. I frustratingly muck my hand (I was close to calling), and the hyper villain shows the bluff with
.
Now, I didn't cause any sort of ruckus at moment, but the table announced that they really thought dude was gonna get his butt kicked, and he sorta apologized by saying he had no idea I had announced not to touch my card protector (should I need to announce it?). I blew it off, as getting all pissy about something that has already passed, only will hurt my chances at making good table decisions in the hands that followed... The dealer told me after the game broke that he was pissed at the dude, since regardless of the ju ju and superstitious crap of a card protector, there was all-on action, and I was facing a big decision, and this guy rudely interrupted the hand by grabbing my card protector (which I might add, was on top of my). Had I made the call, my stack would have likely been +$225.
In this instance, would anyone have flown over the table and punched this guy? Would anyone care? WWYD?
Is it a big deal for folks (strangers) to reach over to your chip stack and pick up your card protector to examine it? Again, I don't really mind, so long as people ask, as then it gives me an opportunity to talk about nice poker chips
Background:
Playing 1/2 at my local bar game. Cast of characters is a bunch of crafty degens. These tables are often very agro, opening for $12-20. 15 mins earlier, I was felted by a drunk/high hyper spewy kid. In that instance, this kid announced he was cashing out, but since cards were dealt to him as he was racking up, he was gonna play the hand. It was a major suckout, but that's not part of the story. Prior to that hand, he grabs my cased Par-A-Dice 1000 chip card protector and fondles it and then tosses it back. Aside from getting felted (oh well), I am NOT a fan of someone (especially some that I don't know) grabbing anything from my stack area w/o permission, especially not my card protector. I'm not overly superstitious, but to many people, card protectors can also be good luck charms, etc... To me, my card protector symbolizes more of a routine, and maybe a bit of zen/run good (not sure how to explain it). It's protecting MY hand... Suffice it to say, after the guy felts me (and another player), he finished cashing out (for $900) and hits the door.
A new guy takes his place (another hyper villain, who announces he really likes action tables, and chose our table over the 2nd cash table that's running). I make an announcement to the table (friendly banter) that if anyone else touches my card protector, I'm going to "punch them squarely in the jaw", and joke that he touched my card protector, and then sucked out runner runner against me... The table laughs, but there's a serious note in my message, that it wasn't cool to grab my sh!t...
OK, fast forward a couple orbits, I've recovered nicely and am now sitting on around $380 on a total BI of $240. I'm on the button and joke that the book I'm reading says you're supposed to play aggressive on the button. The new agro guy (directly to my right) opens for $12 (I don't really put him on anything strong), and I look down at a sexy
. I raise to $25, and our hyper dude calls. I don't think he puts me on anything due to my pre-hand button statement.Flop comes
and hyper dude (who I read doesn't see anything on the flop he likes) checks. I C-Bet for $40, and Hyper dude looks like he's strategizing. He's either got a monster or nothing IMHO. He announces raise, but doesn't seem overly confident (is he acting?). Anyway, he goes all-on, and after calling my $40, he has $95 behind. The dealer counts his stack, and announces it's $95 to call. I start to replay the hand, his actions, etc... in my head. The table is quiet, awaiting my action. Here's where it gets interesting...Another hyper lag from across the table (he's currently standing nearby drinking a beer), reaches over the table and grabs my card protector and says "hey, what's this?".. Now, I'm not sure this hyper lag was at the table during my prior speech (he was probably at the bar getting a drink, not sure). The whole table erupts, people's eyes bug out, almost as if they all expect me to fly across the table, grab this guy, and start to pound the crap out of him (which I would never do, it's just poker). However, truth be told, this did completely interrupt my thought process and send me into a hot-head moment for a few seconds, like WTF? I try to regain my thought composure and refocus on the hand, but the moment escapes me, and I'm having a hard time focusing at the moment (yes, very little sleep, my fault, I get it). When I am faced with hard poker decisions, and I don't have a solid read or there's some negative karma/action ongoing, I often opt to fold and pic spots were I have a better read or position. I frustratingly muck my hand (I was close to calling), and the hyper villain shows the bluff with
. Now, I didn't cause any sort of ruckus at moment, but the table announced that they really thought dude was gonna get his butt kicked, and he sorta apologized by saying he had no idea I had announced not to touch my card protector (should I need to announce it?). I blew it off, as getting all pissy about something that has already passed, only will hurt my chances at making good table decisions in the hands that followed... The dealer told me after the game broke that he was pissed at the dude, since regardless of the ju ju and superstitious crap of a card protector, there was all-on action, and I was facing a big decision, and this guy rudely interrupted the hand by grabbing my card protector (which I might add, was on top of my
). Had I made the call, my stack would have likely been +$225.In this instance, would anyone have flown over the table and punched this guy? Would anyone care? WWYD?
Is it a big deal for folks (strangers) to reach over to your chip stack and pick up your card protector to examine it? Again, I don't really mind, so long as people ask, as then it gives me an opportunity to talk about nice poker chips
