Originally Posted by mrcnkwcz
Well, I just got banned from my favorite underground game for three months (unfairly, in my opinion), so I might as well tell the story behind it.
Game in question is a 5/5 PLO game in the Buffalo area that runs four nights per week. It's held in a former bar, and that venue is quite appropriate, as the majority of players are drinking to excess any time they take a seat, myself included. Player pool is around 20 regulars, with a few newcomers occasionally sprinkling in. I generally get along with all but one of the regulars (and that one exception will certainly factor into this story), but I admittedly have my low moments where I'm drunk, down a few grand, and unable to 'keep my thoughts to myself'. A few years back, a 4 AM discussion of the existence/nonexistence of god led to me getting another 3 month ban, after an overzealous theist decided to initiate a shoving match with my heathen self. So I guess that was my first strike.
This time around, it's 5 AM, I'm many IPAs in, and I'm down 7k. $25 double board bomb pots have not been kind to me, and one typically bluff-happy (fellow) drunkard reg keeps showing up with the goods against me. So by now I'm just insta-3betting opens and looking to get my remaining 3k in, whenever, however. The one game operator likes to refer to me as the 'winningest player at the game', but I don't think that can possibly be true given my susceptibility to nights like these. I may win 75-80% of my sessions, but the losing 20-25 can get very ugly.
Anyway, the guy I don't particularly like is sitting two to my left, being his typical all-too-talkative self. He and I had had two verbal disagreements over the past six months, one of which led to him grabbing me by the neck before a game operator intervened and restrained him. He played college football (though as a running back), has a habit of curling 25 lb weights between hands. He's about a year removed from a 7-year prison sentence for illegal debt collecting practices, and he told me previously that he would've 'killed me' were it not for the fact that he's still on probation. That comment led me to ask around the local poker community to see if I should he worried about this guy, but several people reassured me that he's not a threat.
Still, I resolved to be more careful around him. The best-laid plans tend to be fully undermined by the synergistic effect produced by the combination of inebriation and losing, however. So when he decided to comment, 'mrcnkwcz is on life tilt', I went off on him. I remember screaming at him, though I'm not entirely sure what I said, as I was drunk. So, he gets up from the table, and I do as well, if only to back away from him. I'm never looking to initiate a physical fight with my words, but other people tend to have their own ideas.
Meanwhile, a guy to my right, a guy who's built like a linebacker and with whom I generally get along, is telling me to shut up. I eventually hit him with a 'go F yourself', and that's when the melee ensued. He stood up and threw a giant fist towards my face, which I mostly dodged, though I ended up on the floor anyway as I crashed into a nearby drink table in my effort to evade. Linebacker dude kicked me a couple times while I was down before the game's security guard held him back. One player immediately bolted from the game without even bothering to cash out his ~4k in chips, but the rest of us had resumed playing within five minutes. My attacker threw me 50 bucks as a peace offering, not that it mattered, as I eventually punted off the remaining 3k to none other than the guy who'd initially set me off. I quietly said 'nice hand', went to the fridge to get a beer, then waited for the players to leave so I could vent my frustration to the game operator (who's become a friend of mine), the security guard, and the dealer (also a friend).
Once the other game operator reviewed security footage of the incident the next day, it was decided that I'd get a 3-month ban while the other two escaped punishment. Not the fairest of verdicts given that I made zero effort to do physical harm to anyone, but there's no point in protesting. I talked to the game operator with whom I'm friends on the phone for an hour two days later; he recommended that I either replace or supplement my alcohol consumption with 'shroom microdosing. I told him I'd see him in three months, beer in hand.
ETA that there was a stripper at this game that night, serving drinks there for the first time. Unlike most local strippers I've seen over the years (which ultimately doesn't amount to too many, as I'm not really a fan of strip clubs, but would occasionally find myself at one for a bachelor party or whatever) she was actually extremely hot. One guy took 1k out of his stack to get a (quite expensive) lap dance from her in full view of the rest of us. He rightly said that I'd paid for that lap dance, lol. The stripper's parting words at 6 AM: 'Bye guys. Please don't kill each other.'