Don't tap the Tank -- How do you handle this.

[PokrLikeItsProse]

Insist that seat 7 is a much better player than seat 4. Hopefully, seat 7 sticks around, the rest of the table joins in for a group mugging, and seat 4 is on tilt because you disrespected him. Continue needling seat 4 for as long as he runs his mouth.

[Howard Beale]

Here's what I do:

Sometimes seat 7 will be the type who is playing the way he is with the goal of making people like seat 4 'insane'. As odd as it may sound there ARE some people who come to play poker to get their jollies that way. You don't need to comfort that type at all. As a matter of fact a 'Congrats! You're making them all nuts!' is in order.

If seat 7 doesn't appear overly disturbed by seat 4's berating I'll just keep repeating that different people play poker according to their own styles and, since it's THEIR money, they can do whatever they want.

Most commonly seat 7 will be a totally horrible player, unaware of how bad his play is, and doesn't like being told so. In that case I try to find ANY justification for the way he is playing and praise him for it more loudly than seat 4 is telling him off:

'He had a double-runner-runner gutshot'
'He flopped bottom pair and could've caught trips'
'He's really good at reading hands'
'He thought you were bluffing'
'He's on a tremendous rush. I'd play exactly like that if I
was on a tremendous rush' etc.

Lastly, you can just tell seat 7 outright that 'we are all here to have fun and don't pay attention to the nasty guy in seat 4 who's making all of us feel bad.'

[oddjob]

i usually say stuff like

rather be lucky then good!
holy cow you're on a rush, if i was on your rush i'd play every hand!
to seat 4: you're just getting outplayed, watch him get even more upset, then laugh at him iwth seat 7
holy cow you can't miss!

reinforce their bad play, as being on a rush, and that they need to keep doing it.

[Mr Rick]

I'll side with the fish - mostly I'll say "Everybody has different styles of play, his is working for him". In one case I played the same hand (well mine was suited), won with it, and then asked the nasty guy why he wasn't picking on me.

One time I got singled out as a "Fish" and the guy wouldn't stop putting me down. Finally a true fish asked the guy to shutup - pointed to the rules on the wall (it was Foxwoods) which stated that you are not allowed to comment on the play of others. Now I'm conflicted about going after the fish that stood by me.

[Pov]

I disagree with some of the posts in this thread in how they attempt to stick up for the bad player. Defenses like "he can play his cards any way he wants to" are very good. Misdirecting the player doing the berating is good. But trying to help the bad player justify his play is IMO not a good move most of the time. Frequently the bad player *knows* they are bad, but either doesn't care or just can't help themself. Furthermore they know that you are better than them. They may tolerate the needles of some ass who has to show how smart he is, but once you start patronizing them, you're making it very clear why you're doing it and IMO that is much more likely to drive them away from the table. They may not mind being called names or losing on their own terms, but no one wants to feel like they're getting taken advantage of. These people usually aren't stupid, they just aren't good at poker.

[pocket300]

I think I know exactly this kid you are talking about at Harrahs AC. I have only played there twice but both times i played there it was with this same guy at both tables. He really is obnoxious and loud and just downright annoying, not surprisingly though both times I have played with him, I have watched him drop off about 2500. Once was playing 2/5 and the other was at a 1/2 game early into a saturday morning because the 2/5 game had broke. I wish I could remember his name because the first night I met him he was drunk and probably introduced himself 7 times. I like the room at harrahs, its just too cramped. When you have to turn around and say excuse me to the guy at the table behind you so you can get up, thats a problem.

[MadeHand]

Do people really buy it when you praise bad play? Isn't it insulting their intelligence?

[Mr Rick]

[ QUOTE ]
Do people really buy it when you praise bad play? Isn't it insulting their intelligence?

[/ QUOTE ]
They do buy it when they have a big stack in front of them, IMO, (which is just about the only time I'll go that route). I'll usually point to their stack and say - "Seems to be working for him". Most people like to believe that they are not terrible poker players just terribly unlucky. When they are running good they attribute it more to: this is the way it should be, rather than dumb luck. Also, this has the added bonus of getting under the skin of the guy doing the insulting because he likely knows that a short term win means nothing.

My mentor tells me about a friend who is a smart guy in the world. He has dropped over $100k on-line and is working on $200k. My mentor asked him to read a book (Hilger I think). The guy gets back to my mentor and says he couldn't finish it because in the examples he knows that Hilger is wrong. He (the friend) says that he has just been extremely unlucky.

[Dondoh]

I was a bartender for about 10 years. One night, out of sheer boredom, I decided to try to be really nice to people.

Don't get me wrong, I am a nice guy and was a very sympathetic and friendly bartender. What I am talking about was being REALLY overly nice to folks.

I decided to pick a persons fault and compliment them on their lack of it. For instance, if someone was tight as a tick, I would say how generous they were. Or if they were really nasty to folks generally I would say something like "I know you can sometimes put up a hard front, but you are the nicest person in this place underneath, I know it."

Well, I started small and was amazed that anyone would take any compliment if it was offered well.

I tested it in the most outrageous ways and never had anyone catch on. Some might have denied it, but it was that kind of half-sincere denial that let me know they were definately taking the compliment.

So, I think being nice to the fish is a great thing to do. It will piss off the "authority" at the table and make the fish have more fun.

I never can understand why anyone feels the need to humiliate someone who just shows up to have a good time.

[jimmytrick]

As long as the fish is smart enough to value bet when they hit I'd say to the other guy:

"Heck he had good odds to play that especially since you are dumb enough to call down"