Tell him you strive to play down to the level of your competition.

Just please use it earnestly my brothers. I've never seen it fail to calm a player down if said calmly and without sarcasm.

I love it when people get mad. Usually I ask them why they are playing poker if the money means that much to them, that usually shuts them, up.

I usually take option 3: laugh and agree that I'm bad. It's not about him; it's about the other 7 players at the table. When I'm playing, I try to chat with the table about things other than poker to keep the table from getting serious and that option just seems to fit my image more. It usually shuts the player up and keeps the table fun. Ignoring him just lets him rant and brings the rest of the table down and/or drives people away. In the worst case, (as mentioned above) it lets the rec player know that there's a lot he doesn't know about poker.

To the "I'm sorry" comments, I wouldn't apologize in this spot nor would I apologize to any serious player for any hand. However, I will apologize to a recreational player especially if it was a bad suckout. In experience, the only people that get mad are serious players; people playing for fun appreciate the courtesy. It costs me nothing and it keeps the game friendly. Why wouldn't you say it?

When I'm playing and no one is berating me or at least giving me dirty looks I feel like I'm doing something wrong.

Definitely NOT this. There are fish at the table; we don't want them getting the idea that there's a fundamental difference between being the guy who puts in the last raise and being the guy who has to call it off, do we?

In this situation I always say something like...
"Well Q8 is my fav hand"
"You think I got all these chips by playing good?"
"Ho ho ho bring us two more Patricks please"

I just try to sound like a fish, gambooler or Sammy Farha pretty much.

True. People have a lot of bad habits. Apologizing when you were in the wrong is fine. Reactively apologizing for something beyond your control is weak sauce.

*ding ding ding*

It's more of a don't say sorry, it's sounds ridiculous and promotes the idea that people might/should be sorry for the way the cards fell.

While saying sorry *could* escalate things it's not the reason I'd avoid saying it.

I don't say sorry when I get lucky because I'm not sorry when I get lucky.

Wow...that was a pretty bad suck out and I'd feel bad for the guy but he sounds like a dick so I say that was karma for him being such an a**hole...I would just ignore the guy or say 'if you can't handle getting sucked out on maybe you shouldn't play poker'...

The irony is that if the person who gets berated would instead start the hand by flipping his cards face up, then the guy who ends up losing his hand would want him to play it the same way... that is, until he gets sucked out on.

For everybody who gets irritated at "sorry"...

I've got some bad news for you regarding common casual greetings. Most people do not care how you are. They do not, in fact, want to learn what is up. They're not interested in how it is going.

Turns of phrase used in common social situations should rarely be taken literally.

I would tell him to STFU.

No one is talking about common social situations. What other game or sport do you know of that someone says "sorry" when they win?

But people DO say 'sorry' at poker. That's not going to change. It's more productive, I feel, to try to understand it. Understanding breeds tolerance.

Poker is not like other games or sports. That's an important distinction.

For many many MANY people at low stakes, poker is similar to a table game. We're all here together, just trying to hit a jackpot. Luck is more important than skill. Sorry I took all your money and made you sad. I feel sad when I lose, too. I'm sorry for your loss, even if I happened to be the guy who got lucky this time. Maybe you'll get lucky next time.