This is a followup to Tuesday’s piece about my weekend trip to Las Vegas.
Sometimes, I meet the nicest people around a poker table. Other times, not so much. Here’s a recent example.
I was playing in a no-limit hold’em game at Bellagio. On the second hand I was dealt, I busted a guy (my set of tens over his set of eights) who had slightly fewer chips than I had.
As the dealer pushed me his stack, I gave her two red $5 chips. He must not have seen that, because he asked with a condescending tone, “How much did you tip?”
Not that it was any of his business, but I politely told him $10. He snorted, as if to indicate I was being a cheapskate.
I followed up: “Was that okay with you?” He raised his voice and said, “I was just asking a question.”
Staying calm, I replied, “I know, that’s why I answered. Then I asked you a question.” He grumbled and spat out, “I have no opinion.”
That was obviously bullshit. He was clearly on tilt from losing all his chips and wanted to lash out at me. But my tip amount, while not outrageously generous, had been perfectly appropriate for that instance.
I could have called him on his “no opinion” response, but knew steam was building up inside his head. I didn’t want him to boil over, which might mean he’d leave the table before donating more money (preferably to me), so I dropped it.
Three hands later, he badly overplayed a pair, losing his new buy-in to the player next to me, who had a straight. Mumbling to himself, Mr. No Opinion stood so quickly and forcefully he knocked over his chair, then (without pulling it back up) left in a huff and did not return.
Once he was away from the table, the guy who had beaten him in that hand leaned over to me and whispered, “Thanks.”