The problem at the Irish Open was that many of the local players play in games all-year round run by the head organiser JP McCann. If one of these particular players is out of line during the Irish Open, the floor staff have a dilemma. Penalise them or throw them out and risk a backlash from the head organiser of the festival when that player goes and moans to him directly about how the floor staff treated them.

I was saw verbal abuse at the tables multiple times at the Irish Open this year, all from (mostly drunk) local players. I think there's a sense amongst them that they can get away with it. In most cases I saw 2-3 hand penalties being given out for things that would be an auto DQ in a lot of places.

At the end of the day though, The Irish Open is well staffed (in terms of floor numbers) and a safe place to play for everyone. The dealers themselves need to be braver in the cases I withnessed and take more control of the tables.

It's not a perceived threat when someone puts their hands on you multiple times wtf.

If you think that's acceptable behaviour, then it's you who shouldn't be allowed at poker tables.

I almost certainly would not be telling a story to a dealer in a tournament, especially during a hand. In a cash game that is possible, but I would likely stop talking as the intensity increases or the hand continues multi way to the turn and river.

I would tell them directly that I am uncomfortable being touched.

I would not expect anyone to be removed from a tournament for doing this one time.

I would expect dealers and the floor to make it clear that this behavior is unacceptable.

Something tells me that if these "slaps" were serious enough to be considered an assault, they could view the video and press charges or 86 him or whatever was deemed appropriate. I'd also imagine that if these "slaps" were that bad and things seemed unsafe as the woman was implying, other players would have involved themselves immediately to call somebody over or step in in some way.

To me it seems they were probably actually "taps" because she was talking to the dealer and he was annoyed, and the floor and other players weren't even interested until the verbal cursing and back and forth started. The verbal stuff was probably the most serious part although the touching of another player is what is being harped on, because without seeing it the physical stuff would appear on paper to be most serious. I'd imagine the female player was more annoyed at his "rudeness" and 'nastiness" which made her even more annoyed at the idea of him touching her in any way. Where the same type of smacking of the leg after maybe she said something funny wouldn't bother her at all. Bigger problem was probably his disrespect and bullying of her after the "slaps"

Reminds me of the HCL stream months ago with the guy who was cheating by looking at his neighbors hole cards. Then on the one hand he was trying to warn his friend not to bet because the opponent had the nuts (which he only knew by cheating). Cheaters friend was like WTF are you kicking me? Obviously not exactly the same but the "physicality" in both was more or a quiet way of trying to get a point across without speaking rather then "an attempt to harm"

I could be wrong, but with cameras involved it's hard to imagine the main floor man would allow the man to keep playing if it were indeed a "slap" compared to a "tap." Then for him to double down on his decision after the fact with time to review everything even further knowing she could just call the police to review the video for an assault would seem odd and put himself at risk for no reason.

1) there are no cameras in their rooms

2) seek help

I basically agree with Mason's take here. Nobody was there the see the "[slap] my thigh HARD"

Perhaps the victim was chatting away with the dealer and the other player just wanted to stop the distraction. Maybe speaking out loud would have drawn more attention or been some kind of tell so they tried something a little more discreet. Whatever, we have no unbiased telling of the situation. From there it spiraled out of control and the aggressor was angry tilted, whatever. The second slap is inexcusable, but again nobody really know what happened or has heard any other side.

Imagine chatting away with the dealer without a care in the world when someone is trying to make a river decision and then playing the victim when some old degenerate asks her to be quiet..

Great summation. Usually the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Seems like the slap was not much of a problem for anybody, including her until after the verbal altercation, and that's consistent even from her description of the sequence of events. Don't get me wrong , I'm not victim shaming, she did nothing to wrong talking to the dealer or anything. Without being there the only things she may have done to contribute to altercation was possibly being "dismissive " of the mans greivence making the situation worse, and then maybe exaggerating the danger from the "slaps" after the fact. Which is normal of most altercations/arguments, people overemphasize their side to convince others.
The man was obviously most at fault, maybe he is a nasty person, or maybe he was just in a bad mood and got set off, I obviously have no idea. Don't think he attacked anyone but he was obviously the most agitated and instigated this situation. The dealer probably at the 2nd most, wasn't doing his job right, money is on the line, etc. Again, doesn't make him a bad person, or even a bad dealer. Just didn't do a good job in this instance, seems he was chatting away and probably missed the fact the guy didn't act due to his lack of focus. 95% of the time it probably causes no issue, this time it did.


Anyone who thinks anyone touching another human is an "assault" will obviously not agree with me.

Reading the thread title, then opening and reading the story, lets just say the title makes it sound much worse then it was. In todays age, clickbait is everywhere and has become the norm.

Never seen a woman threaten another person with physical violence and ask them to “go outside” to fight. Maybe men should be banned from poker tables.

atrocious, no one should be subjected to physical violence at the poker table. yes, slapping someone's leg in anger is assault. it is a crime and against the law. there should be zero tolerance for this sort of behaviour, immediate ejection from the tournament. to say nothing about screaming f bombs at another person. shame on the floor for condoning such criminality.

I see the "like" button is an option. Is there an "lol" button anywhere. I need it .

So did he tap or slap?

He hit her so hard the chatty dealer thought it was a check and didnt call the floor over (nor did any players).

Tap or slap, which we will never know 100%, that is a weird reaction to the situation. Wouldn't the first move be to SAY SOMETHING instead of touching someone in any way when you don't know if they want you to touch them?

Well...

... in the story he has the nuts... maybe he wanted her to STFU but not make it 'obvious' he was holding a strong hand

not saying he went about it the right way

but also her 'slap' - which wasn't noted by anyone at the time... other than - it being the player checking.... and the dealer later on said it was a tap [and he's meant to be on the woman's side of this argument]... she certainly doesn't come out of this well either.

You shouldn't tap people you don't know on the leg... even if they are belligerent to the action

And you shouldn't embellish what happened

I think they should both be thrown in a pit of snakes and fight to the death... or HU for rollz... either would be fine by me.

Maybe but he didn't just say STFU he slapped her which he has no right to do.

You don't understand. I've spent a lot of time and effort on the idea of what poker rooms need to do to be run better and offer a better product to not only the players but to the poker room itself. Obviously, you don't understand the number of problems that talking dealers, who pay little attention to the game they're dealing as well as the job they're supposed to do, can cause in a poker room.

When reading the summary of this event it seems to me that if the dealer was doing his job well none of this might have happened, and the woman in question should know better than to carry on a conversation with the dealer. However, it's also clear that the offending player over reacted (and probably over reacted by a lot).

In our book The Professional Poker Dealer's Handbook - Expanded Edition we emphasized "no extraneous talking when in the box:

https://www.amazon.com/Professional-...s%2C137&sr=1-6

Mason

My experience is that when you tell a dealer to quit talking and pay attention to the game there will usually be one or two players who will quickly come to the dealer's defense as well as the dealer telling you he's doing a great job.

A few years ago in Laughlin NV I told a dealer to quick talking,quit sitting sideways in his chair, and to pay attention to the game he was dealing, and a player at the table told me that he had over 30 years experience playing poker in public cardrooms and had never heard anything so outrageous.

But if I ran that room the particular dealer would either quickly improved or be fired.

Mason

I've done a lot of writing over the years about problems in poker rooms and what needs to be done to improve them. (Also see my three Poker Essays books.) Sometimes what I write is addressed to poker room management and sometimes to the players.

I also believe that if more effort was made to address many of these problems, it will be less likely for an event like this one to happen, and that's why I responded in the way I did.

Mason

Unfortunately, in poker, there is something known as "sucker privileges." You may be observing some of this. Do you think a regular player wants to see a poor playing opponent who's behaving badly thrown out (even if the defending player deserves to be thrown out)?

Mason

TIL how Mason continues to be allowed to play in every room in Vegas.

And if there are cameras, it doesn't mean that the camera was looking at that particular table at that exact time. Having cameras that can see every table is not the same as having a camera on every table. This answer would need to come from poker room management.

Mason

Wow, some of the takes in this thread are ****ing unbelievable. I have no idea if he slugged her or tapped her, but if you're as in the dark about this as most (probably all) of us are and yet your first instinct is to go on a forum and post **** like "This is why women shouldn't be allowed at poker tables at all" or jump to the assumption that she's making things up and it was just a tap, maybe it's time to go for a walk and really think about life.

Thankfully when I went back through the thread, it wasn't as many people as I thought as the majority of them are just one guy who has a couple of handfuls of posts on the forum but thinks this topic is important enough to come back 5 times and tell us basically the same super-important things about taps and white knights yet another time. All I can say is...don't feed the troll.

Imagine not being able to think in a poker game when someone is talking and snacking a woman on the thigh bc she's talking

How did the smack/tap/caress or whatever even happen on the thigh in the first place?

Wouldn't you tap the table or the persons arm or hand or shoulder before even thinking of the thigh at all lol?