[goofball]

[ QUOTE ]
Have you ever played at Hollywood Park in LA? The people are so pathetic. Its like a Charles Dickens book. This seventy year old african american guy was chatting me up while I was enjoying a smoke in the game room. He tells me how he lost 400 playing 2/4 stud that night...
I didn't even know that it was possible to lose 100BB playing at ~20 hands/hr in a single night. He drones on about how he doesn't have any money for the rest of the month and how he has to wait for his next social security check. A few hours later he sees me cashing out, and he tries to get me to buy him some coffee. Its like these people think the casino is their home.

I see this horrible player lose ~200 in four hours or so playing 3/6. After he goes broke, he just stays there in his seat, complaining to the table, and trying to hustle the floorman for comps. After he's disabused of his notion that he is a high-rolling v.i.p. he starts soliciting donations from the table. So, I refuse to give him any money, and he gets angry and barks at me "Yeah, I expected that from you."

I'm playing on absolute poker, and I take ~150 off this guy playing 2/4. At the end of the night, after he's made multiple rebuys, he just sits there w/ no money. I'm staring at his avatar, which is a picture of him and his baby girl, and he asks if he can have some of his money back...

Stuff like this really wants to make me get a real job. It messes with my head to think about how people are ruining their lives and I am taking their money.

Actually, I'm probably going to have to take a few days off now. I've had too many experiences like this lately. The other day at absolute poker, I was murdering this mother who had a picture of her daughter as her avatar. She rebought over and over. By the end of my session, I felt so conflicted about taking her money, that I folded a 4 flush on the turn against her when I was getting > breakeven odds on my draw...

Stuff like this gets under my skin a lot more than getting beat by four 2-3 outers in a row.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, this bugs me occaisonally too. Remember though, that if they don't lose it to you they will very likely lose it to someone.

Really though, if it makes you that uncomfortable playing against an opponent it's best to just get up.