Delighting in Misery
Lately I've been playing a lot more B&M, and I'll occasionally sit at a $1/2 NL table if they don't have anything higher. It's fun for me, and the money isn't a concern. Last night this kid sat down at my table and bought in short for $40. He then proceeded (after he sat down), to pop his collar. It took every ounce of willpower I had to not laugh. Then he waited until his first hand was dealt, and he put his sunglasses on. These were fake ray bans that cost no more than $10. To each his own on the eyewear and the cost wasn't the issue...just that they looked cheap and from the 80's.
About two hands later, he called an all in on a board with 3 spades because he had his sunglasses on and misread his hand as two spades instead of a spade/club. He flipped them over and said "flush!" and "repopped" his collar. He was dismayed when he learned the news. I laughed directly at him and for some reason just couldn't stop for over a minute. I couldn't even look away. I'm normally not an overly jovial person, and I'm working on that...but I typically take delight in this. For some reason I felt bad afterward, because it was obvious the guy caught a few episodes of WPT and was playing with most, or all of his bankroll. He seemed to be completely unaware of why I was laughing and took offense to it.
The real question here is why do I delight in other peoples' misery? I find it incredibly necessary to tell people that they look like morons. On the surface, this sounds like a self-confidence issue, but I'm reasonably self-assured. It often borders between wanting to laugh at them and wanting to inform them quietly that they look ridiculous.
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