While regular columnist Nick Eastwood takes a much-deserved break, his 888poker Stream Team colleague Ian Simpson has kindly stepped in to spread some wisdom gleaned from his years in the game. This week Ian shares some advice on how to handle personal confrontations at the live tables…
At the live poker table, it is almost inevitable that at some point you’ll have a nasty confrontation.
Whilst poker is a wonderful game that brings millions of people together, not all of those people mix well. Playing online, the worst confrontation you might have could be Vivi Saliba throwing a poo emoji at you, but live poker means you are face to face. Unfortunately that will probably mean you’ll have to not only navigate this immensely complicated game, you might have to do it whilst dealing with a less-than-pleasant character in person.
Now, for the purposes of this article it doesn’t matter that I’m a liberal, mask-wearing, vegan who controls the weather. What matters is that one person encountered his polar opposite, and had to deal with that whilst navigating a $10,000 buy-in event, namely the WSOP Main Event. What timing.
Tilting will never help
You see, sat directly to my right was a gentleman in a MAGA hat. It turned out they were perfectly polite and quite friendly at the tables, which is exactly the type of person I want to be sat with at a major event. That was, however, until I caught a glimpse of the lock screen on their phone. It was a trophy-hunting picture.
Now, I can tolerate differences in political opinion (to a point) but trophy-hunting is amongst the nut low cowardly and despicable things a human can do. Later, I got involved in a big pot with another player, and the trophy hunter started conversing with someone on my direct left. The trophy hunter, on my direct right, announced that he had a video of himself hunting and killing a mountain lion. He took his phone and reached right across me to hand it to the player on my left to watch the video.
I said firmly “I’m in the middle of a hand, please don’t reach across me and don’t play any videos whilst I’m concentrating”, to which they apologised. I remember bagging at the end of the day and being very happy with how I’d played the hand that occurred in that moment, as well as the other hands I’d played that day.
The above situation probably didn’t even register as a confrontation to my opponent, as apart from agreeing with another player at the table that such an activity was less than okay, I barely said a word on the subject to him. Rather than exacerbating the situation, I wanted to have my mental focus on my game.
The best revenge is playing well
Such a luxury isn’t always the case and sometimes confrontations can be quite nasty, and afterwards the players are still at the same table as each other, left playing a meta game of ‘Are they going to bluff more or less, now that we’ve argued?’
Are they going to bluff more or less, now that we’ve argued?
The trick, unless you know for sure which way their range will go, is to not adjust your ranges at all in these circumstances; to apply the knowledge you have gleaned from studying away from the tables in the best way you know how. Bluff with the nut blockers, and call with solid bluff-catchers. If the other adjusts their ranges in any direction, they’ll crash into your solid ranges. Their bottom line will suffer from it in the long term.
However, the long term best play mightn’t feel so reassuring if the person you have a confrontation with ends up knocking you out of the tournament. The only way to be able to tolerate the potential smug look on a luckbox’s face, who not only behaved like an a**hole but also two-outed you, is to be prepared for that eventuality.
In fact, it’s this exact mindset that I apply, not just at the tables, but in life. Sure, there are surprises we can’t account for, but I try my best to visualise all the possible futures I might find myself in. That way, when the worst-case scenario occurs, I’m prepared for it.
Visualising all eventualities
When I recently went to Rozvadov and blasted off $15,000, I had pictured this beforehand and knew exactly how I might feel and exactly where my bankroll would be. I was then able to keep making good decisions after a rotten live trip, because I had visualised that eventuality.
So, if you find yourself stuck on a table with a less-than-cordial opponent, your job is to have studied your game before entering the tournament so that you are confident in the decisions you can make. You need to be ready for the eventuality that you’ll be eliminated by that exact opponent, because if you play long enough, this is almost certainly going to be something you experience and it’s best to be prepared.
If you know you made the best play you could against them, you’ll feel all the better for it.
Follow Ian on X, Instagram and on his Twitch channel.
Nick Eastwood is away.
Additional images courtesy of 888poker/Gema Cristobal