Ever assess the reasons that people sit at the poker table? Think of the cultural exchange – the massive differences between age, intellectual and financial levels that move in separate circles in our society – they all come together, elbow to elbow, to try and best each other with wit and skill across the felt top. The reasons each of us play manifest themselves in our comments and actions during the course of play. One could spend a million or so hours at the table and still experience unique situations and comments from the gathering.

Suppose you got up this afternoon, stretched, had a few cups of coffee over the morning paper, ozoned your way through a shower and toothbrush session and sped across town to capture a seat in a “friendly” little game of poker.

You came in fresh and filled with energy – only to have your brains trampled out by a bushel of clubs, a pack of hearts, and a tribe of straights – each time you picked up two aces.

Each time you lose a hand, one of the players looks at the winner and says, “It was your turn.” You’re starting to wonder if the brush forgot to give you a number. Are you going to get a turn?

How do you react if you’re the player who’s getting beat? How do you handle winning? What information are you giving up about yourself?

Do you calmly push in your cards when beaten by a one card out even though your left eye is twitching so hard you may need surgery to have it reattached? Do you throw your cards and grumble about getting beat by the freaks? Do you hold up the game and stare at your cards for a few extra minutes (as if expecting them to change) because you couldn’t possibly be beat if the game was on the square? You play way too good for that to happen!

Most of us figure to look at a zillion or so hands in our lifetime and some of us would like to get right to the next one. There may be a death ritual involved in this. Each of us may be allotted so many poker hands in our lifetime and after we pick up the final one, we might just fall over and all vital signs will cease or shrivel into a screaming vapor that gets sucked up in the air intake vent. What a way to go . . . in front of a captive audience and security camera!

Poker truly is a group awareness program. It doesn’t hurt to pay attention and it may pay to pay attention. A large part of the game is observation. If a player is glaring at the dealer and throwing cards you should be smart enough to figure out that they are going on tilt. That player believes it is everyone else’s fault that they are losing – yes, darling, if that’s you, your presence is requested at all poker tables.

Ever wondered why a kamikaze pilot wears a helmet? Possibly the same reason that a live player takes a bad hand and every raise to the river. Should that same player be made to feel as if they should mail in a check instead of taking a seat in the game? Is it written somewhere in stone, that all players who enjoy putting chips in the pot should have comments made to them about their play? If it weren’t for those lives ones, how would anyone ever win a pot?

If you find a complaint coming to your lips when you take a beat, perhaps you should assess your own reasons for being there. If you plan on being a winning player, take the time and thought to make other players feel at ease. If you’re there strictly for the social factor (you know – the captive audience routine), everyone else may get sick of listening to you but they will love your action.

Along with the odds, pot value, position, blinds, etc., it’s important to take into consideration the all powerful, human element of poker. A computer may give you the odds of a particular hand’s win advantage over a field of players, but that computer can never figure the player who needed two perfect running, inside, straight cards to make a wheel. Think about it! The next time you get beat by a bad hand and even worse . . . by bad play from the player with the hand. Keep the comments to yourself.

If they stay long enough, you always have a chance as long as you have a chip and chair. If you force them to leave by chastising them for trying to win the pot – silly you. See you there.