The last few weeks when playing at my local B & M I have been very irritated by the people at my table.
One week I had a women on each side of me. The girl to my right had never really played before and the women to my left was trying to help her out. Not in a cheating kind of way, but they were both a chatterbox and I had a hard time concentrating. I finally got a table change.
Then this past weekend I had another guy who was always talking, giving his opinion about anything and everything, slowing the game down, etc. He made big fuss one time when the dealer made a mistake that cost him money and we just sat there not playing poker. The management should have done a better job handling the situation, but its nothing new since I don't live in Vegas unfortunately.
Then a few hours later this very drunk guy sat next to me and despite that he would probablly donate all his money to me I left because I was annoyed and tired.
I understand lower limit games are full of stuff like this. Not everyone plays to just play poker and make money. Alot of 1/2 NL these days is just a circus.
But it seems to be getting worse and worse. People taking junk to each other, yelling "ship it", and just generally acting like it is a sporting event or something. You just don't see that stuff at the higher levels, but unfortunally I don't have the bankroll to move up.
I heard in Europe you are actually not allowed to talk at the table at all. I think Americans could never stand for that, but it sure what make the game a whole lot more enjoyable at times. I don't mind talking at the table, but sometimes these are strangers who I really don't want to hear about their ex-wife, or how they won 2k yesterday, or whatever....its just so annoying and kinda puts me on tilt. I also get tired of seeing the same people week after week, which is one reason I always look forward to traveling to Vegas.
It would be one thing if I was catching cards, but when you are running cold it just makes things worse. I have same problem in a home game I play in. One of the guys is always making jokes at my expense, probablly in an attempt to put me on tilt or distract me or whatever.
Since is it "legal" while arguablly unethical, how do you deal with these situations? I might be at a very good game I don't want to leave in terms of EV, but then I cant stand the people at my table. So I'm not sure what to do or how to deal with it.
you have to realize and remind yourself, despite the annoyances that come with live play, that these are the type of players who are awful at poker. simply put, if you want their money you are going to have to deal with it.
it may difficult to do, but in the end it's the money that i take away from the tables is what matters. i actually would want to sit down with those players you are describing. those games are the juiciest.
objectively, to deal with the donkey chatter there really is nothing you can do here (if you can't listen to music). either learn to put up with it or as mentioned above, play online. imo the games are too good at the B&M to let the chatter bother me. when ppl talk about bad beats and other worthless crap, all i hear is cha-ching.
also, my policy has been that if i can't beat my opponents in the annoyance factor, join em. be overly friendly to them, laugh at their inane jokes, intrude upon their conversations. tell them information that they don't care about. make stories up, even. at least this way, you have a shot at steering the conversations. you kind of put yourself in the banality driver's seat.
if you can do all of this while still playing fantastic poker, then you're in great shape.
I never truly appreciated the value of headphones until I wore them for the first time in Vegas around New Year's 07'. Keeps you occupied during the boring stretches when you are mucking hand after hand PF and discourages people from engaging you in banal/useless conversation.
One thing you could have done with the two chatterboxes is asked either of them if they wanted to switch seats with you. This way, you wouldn't be in between them. I don't believe that's against the rules in any poker room worth it's salt.
Say you switch seats with the girl on your right and now the two hens are next to each other. You can posture your chair to be closer to the person on the opposite side of you, thus you're as removed as possible from their chatter.
As far as Mr. Know It All, eh, what are you gonna do? Some people have that personality. Yes it's the dealer's job to make sure the game moves along, but some are better than others. The best you can do if the dealer is doing a poor job of this is to politely ask the dealer if he can ask Mr. Know It All to act first, talk later. In fact, I've even said that to a player or two myself at times. I'm not a dick, just politely say "act first, talk second please".
And in general, as kyzer said, focus more. Talking isn't banned from the poker table and some people treat it as a social event. Unsurprisingly, these players are normally not very good. Never lose sight of your ultimate goal - taking their money. The more they chatterbox during hands, before acting, etc. the more likely a good, solid player is to have their chips when the night is over.
If you can't put up with a few annoyances from bad players who stand a good chance of giving you all their chips, then perhaps you should just play online.
