Bad Behavior is Contagious

I’m writing this from Celebrity Cruise Line’s Solstice where I am on a Card Player Cruises poker vacation in Alaska. If you’ve never been to Alaska, it should be on your bucket list, and what better way to see multiple ports while only having to unpack once than on a cruise ship? In Ketchikan, we went on a great excursion called the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman’s Expedition. The venue was one of the crab boats used on Deadliest Catch and the crew was made up of all retired commercial fishermen, including one who fell overboard on season two. Hearing their tales just reinforced how lucky I am to have chosen poker as my profession.

The Card Player Cruises poker room is full of people enjoying their passion for poker. There is a lot of laughter and the sounds of people having fun. We do have a very strict no-abuse policy and our passengers know the rules; in fact, I can’t remember ever having to issue a bad-behavior penalty during the cruise.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about an incident that occurred at the Parx Casino during a $1,500 buy-in event which has caused a lot of controversy in the poker world. Everything I know about it was gathered from reading media reports and from reading tweets from the player involved as well as Matt Glantz’ replies to him. For the record, I don’t know the player, and I wasn’t there, so everything I know about the incident comes second hand.

Apparently Ryan Eriquezzo was disqualified from the Parx tournament due to unruly behavior. According to Parx tournament officials and Eriquezzo’s account of the incident, it started when he took a bad beat, losing with pocket aces heads-up versus pocket queens after getting in about 200 big blinds before the flop. Tournament officials say that Eriquezzo subsequently crumpled up the cards, threw them beyond the table, and made derogatory, rude comments to the dealer. He admits to tearing up the cards and throwing them, but denies making the comments to the dealer. Due to his behavior, he was disqualified from the tournament and his remaining chips were taken out of play.
Many players have spoken out on Eriquezzo’s behalf, saying that the punishment didn’t fit the crime. Others have supported the tournament officials’ decision, saying that abusive behavior like this should be met with the strictest ramifications possible.

Eriquezzo took the incident to Twitter, making disparaging remarks about the Parx Casino and appealed to Parx Poker Ambassador Matt Glantz to help him. I really respect Matt’s replies. To paraphrase, he promised to investigate what happened, which apparently he did. He then tweeted that although Ryan was his friend, he needed to take responsibility for his actions. He also remarked that players need to respect their cardrooms and behave appropriately so as to not have problems, penalties, disqualifications, etcetera.

I echo Matt’s sentiments. When I give poker seminars, I usually end them by encouraging players to keep poker in perspective. Players will take bad beats…lots of them! If they can’t control how they react to the beats, they need to get another profession or hobby.
Why am I so insistent on wanting a pleasant atmosphere in the poker room? It’s because I know from playing for 40-plus years that toxic environments drive good people away. I’ll never forget the time I was at the grocery store and saw a man whom I used to play with three times a week; I asked him if he had changed poker rooms since I hadn’t seen him lately. His reply was: “I quit playing poker totally. I only have so much free time from work and I don’t want to spend it having to duck cards being thrown or having to listen to whiny players telling everyone else how badly they play.” That really struck a chord with me and I wondered how many other recreational players have quit playing because they don’t want to be in abusive environments.

I also know that bad behavior is contagious. If it is allowed, others may join in. I still remember how awful it was to play poker back in the ‘70s and ‘80s when there were no penalties in poker for bad behavior. I do think that enforcement of the rules can go too far. We aren’t playing in a church and there should be some leeway before penalties are given, For example, if a player takes a beat and mutters an expletive to himself or wings the cards towards the muck (not aiming directly at the dealer) a bit harder than usual, it should be overlooked, or at most, a warning issued, as long as it is an isolated incident and not a pattern.

Tournament directors have to make decisions “in the moment.” They don’t usually have replays to rely on before they act. Instead, they have to rely on what they are told by the eyewitnesses if they didn’t see the incident first hand. Do yourself a favor and be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Respect the poker room and the other players and the staff. When people are flying airplanes into buildings, when world citizens are hungry and homeless, when children don’t have enough water to drink, when diseases are killing people, is getting a bad beat really worthy of a tantrum?
Keep it in perspective! ♠

Linda Johnson is a member of the Poker Hall of Fame and the Women in Poker Hall of Fame. She has a WSOP bracelet and is an instructor for World Poker Tour Boot Camp. Linda is available to host seminars, charity events, fundraisers, and corporate nights. If you wish to contact Linda, contact her at [email protected].