Poker: Gross-out tactics

In poker, as everyone knows, it’s vital to keep your head in the game. Concentration and focus are major components to every facet of putting together a winning poker strategy. Your opponents know this, as well, and while some will try to beat you with statistics, and others by trying to read you and putting you on a range, another group out there will do whatever they can to simply throw you off your game, let you make a mistake through frustration or lack of concentration.

One of the ways PokerStars players will take this route is through gross-out tactics. Now there are actually two kinds of players here – those who know what they’re doing, and those who are just naturally disgusting. For the purpose of this article, we’ll stick with the former.

I’m sure you’ve run into one or two (or a hundred) of these people before. First come the bodily functions. Subtle enough to avoid the prolonged attention of the dealer, but prevalent enough to pull your attention away from your cards. A burp here, a gas expulsion there. They might even wipe their nose on their sleeve a few times and leave it there. If someone is sitting directly to your right and wipes their nose on their left sleeve, you can bet it’s no accident.

Their intention, of course, is to cause the “movie theater” effect. To get you almost to the point of saying something, but definitely riled up enough to lose track of the movie/game for a few minutes. That’s when they make their move, and catch you in the trap.

Another gross-out tactic is through UltimateBet.com conversation. A player who swears, depending on the casino, will likely get warned just once, so they have to figure other ways to get their point across. A nasty story or a sexist anecdote are crowd favorites. The only thing you can do here is just ignore them without looking like you’re trying to ignore them. What I mean is, just keep playing your game. Don’t visibly seek out a television screen or start looking around for the waitress – both of those are confirmation that you’re being affected. Your job is to keep making the right decisions – win or lose – and the player will either stop, focus on someone else or get up from the table.

Sometimes, but not always, you can spot these folks by the clothes they wear. Of course, old, tattered clothes aren’t exactly uncommon in smaller casinos, but keep an eye out before you even sit down next time.