Standing Up to the Bully

Last time, I wrote about a player in the game that did something unethical in order to win the pot and then tried to play dumb about knowing whether it was within the rules or not. I spoke up in order to make it clear that this type of behavior wouldn’t be tolerated in the game and I thought I got my point across.

Unfortunately, I was wrong. In the intervening time since that article and this one, the player at fault in this situation has tried to pull more angles. Not exactly the same ones, but angles nonetheless.

On the previous night in question, I switched games to play some no-limit and found myself in a very good game. There was a man at the table who was trash talking everyone in that, “I’m going to tell you that this is light hearted if you ever challenge me on it, but really I’m just enjoying being a jerk to everyone. In fact, if you get offended or put off by it, it’s really your fault not mine,” sort of way.

I’m fine with dropping the occasional needle, especially with people who I’m very familiar with, but this was a guy who doesn’t play this game often and he’s bigging himself up while belittling others over and over. He limped into a pot and I made a raise to five big blinds off of a 350-big blind effective stack. “You’re inviting me in, ok,” he said, while calling and winning the pot after betting the flop or turn, I don’t remember. Then he said some more nonsense about inviting me in and coming over. It didn’t make much sense.

He limped into another pot, I made it five big blinds again, and he starts in on his “inviting me in” speech again. I made a continuation bet on the flop, he check-raised, and I folded. He then said something like, “You keep inviting me in, I’m gonna buy dinner for the whole table and the dealer.” He kept berating me over and over for making a “small raise” and just being kind of a jerk about it. I kept my mouth shut.

Then, he limped again and two more people limped behind him. I limped with J-10 offsuit in middle position and a couple more people come along. The flop came down 9-8-3 rainbow and it was checked to me. I bet $25 into $35, one player called and the action went back to Invitation Guy.

He made it $125 with effective stacks of $1,700 behind. The two limpers in between folded and it was back on me. It was a great spot for me. I know this guy has a big thing for me and he’s trying his best to take my money. I’m fairly certain he’s going to overplay his hand on the turn if I get there and I’ve got eight clean outs to the nuts. I don’t want to three-bet bluff because there just isn’t much to represent and he’s laying me a pretty good price. So I called and the player behind me folded.

The turn was gin, the Q, bringing a flush draw. He then bet $400 into $300 and I’m trying to figure out the best way to get the money in. Jamming might scare away hands like 9-8 or even a set which I don’t have any blockers to. Making a normal sized raise to $1,300 seems bad though because it’s not much different than an all-in and looks stronger than a shove I think.

I decided to min-raise to $800. This accomplishes a few things. First, it’s still offering a bad price to two pair, but one they’ll feel inclined to call or possibly jam on. Second, it gives him the opportunity to call with some hands he might have gotten away from if I shoved like 7-6 or 10-7. Finally, he’ll get it in bad here with sets and possibly with pair and flush draw combos that are in really bad shape. I honestly don’t think I really have any bluffs in my min-raise range. It’s probably exactly this hand and while that’s generally bad, it’s fine in these situations where you’re battling with someone and expect them to go off at any moment.

After I min-raised, he very quickly jammed for the $1,700 effective and I called. He had a set, the board didn’t pair, and he started complaining about his bad luck, telling me I played the hand badly. I usually don’t like to rub it in when someone has lost a big pot, but this guy was being super annoying so I pulled out my best cop-in-a-cheesy-movie line and said, “I guess you’re buying dinner.” I was hoping to accomplish one of two things. Either put him on tilt or get him to be quiet and leave us in peace for a little while.

I did succeed in putting him more on tilt and I was very happy about that even though I didn’t get any of the rebuy money he put on the table. I like people who are social at the table even though it’s tough for me to be so. I think there’s nothing wrong with people wanting it to be a social game.

What I don’t like is the tense atmosphere that comes with two types of players. Those that are talking to pull angles, and those that are talking in order to bully their fellow players. I would hate for someone to have been in that game who was new to playing live poker and to never come back because of how this person was treating everyone. Perhaps my comment would have helped someone like that, perhaps it wouldn’t, but it definitely felt good to me. ♠

Gavin Griffin was the first poker player to capture a World Series of Poker, European Poker Tour and World Poker Tour title and has amassed nearly $5 million in lifetime tournament winnings. Griffin is sponsored by HeroPoker.com. You can follow him on Twitter @NHGG