Poker Injuries: Your Story Here

[wegs the wegs]

I was wondering if any of you have sustained injuries while playing the great game of poker. I would love to hear your stories and injuries.

I only ask because this morning I received my first poker injury. Playing in a $500 freeroll on GrandOnlinePoker.com I
went all-in preflop with pocket 9's about halfway though the tournament. I was doing alright in chips, mid-stacked. I was called by the chip leader who had AKo. Well the flop contained a king. Luckily for me the river came a nine. I threw my arms up in celebration, but I guess I leaned a little to far back in the chair and it fell over. I slammed, and I mean SLAMMED, my head into the wall behind me. Diagnosis was a mild concussion. We I toughed it out, sat back down (in a different chair) and competed my way into third place in the tournament, winning 55 bucks, my highest ever cashout for a MTT.

Any other stories out there?

[shadow29]

Late returning from work. I signed up for an MTT at work, got stuck in traffic, ran in the house, kicked off my shoes and of course I tripped over my shoes, spraining my ankle. I'm a clutz.

[Airpoaneman]

I wasn’t playing poker, but I was dreaming about what it must be like to play in Vegas or a big casino. I am known to sleep walk and I fell off the balcony in my house and broke my leg.

[TrickyTree]

One night after suffering what seem to be about my 50th bad beat i lost my temper and put my fist straight through my $1500 laptop which was less than 6 months old.

Soon learned my lesson, never done anything so daft again.

[TylerD]

Did the insurance cover bad beat rage?

[IlliniRyRy]

I've bruised and sprained my hands several times and punched a rather large hole in the wall. I've smashed dozens of glasses and my neighbor came over one time to ask about the incessant screaming of obscenities that she could hear from across the street. Yeah I kinda have a bad temper.

[fyodor]

Back when I first started I was multitabling on an old laptop with a less than adequate screen. Just as I was clicking on one table it autoswitched screens on me folding a huge pot that I intended to call. I threw a couch cushion and smashed a lamp. Turned out I was beat in the hand anyhow so I saved a bet but lost the lamp.

[krazyace5]

Man, you guys need to smoke a joint or something!

[Sponger15SB]

i was really drunk playing at UB one night, i was raising preflop with the most horrible hands (73o and J4 and stuff) and then hitting two pair and such, only to be sucked out by straights and flushes and whatever.

i kept punching the bottom of my bed (i have a hutched bed or whatever) and i couldn't make a fist with my right hand the next day and it was all cut up and stuff.

[Blarg]

Hmm I've given myself a sore hand and put a dent in the wall before punching it after a bad night. I've fallen over in my chair a few times in live casino play because I tend to get bored and do anything for entertainment. The way I've stared a few waitresses up and down I should have been injured more.

I guess my biggest injury was an almost. Maybe an almost that was almost worse than an injury.

I was coming home after an all-nighter one Sunday morning a couple years back when I used to play 15/30 stud. Usually I keep my playing roll in one pocket and my walking-around money in another so I can pull out cash when I need to without drawing too much attention. Well, I had been up all night and forgot.

So I'm hungry and though I'm tired, I'm still a little wired up from playing and want a bite and to read a paper for a while to calm down before I sleep. I walk into a crowded Jack-in-the-Box in my old neighborhood, which has seen its share of gang shootings. (My cop friend at the time told me no way in hell would he want to live there and I should get the hell out.)

I make my order and realize my money is all in the same bundle and I have to pull it out to pay. So I do, discretely as I can, and it's several thousand. I see a guy in the line on my left seem to freeze and then really urgently elbow his friend behind him, and they both are staring lasers at me. Uh-oh. Maybe natural reaction or curiosity but I don't like it much. Nothing I can do though. They whisper something to each other. I get my food and sit down.

They sit across an open aisle from me and watch me intently. I mean real hard focus. I read my paper, wondering if they're going to wait for me to leave. I was starving and got three burgers, and what with the paper reading, it's taking me a while to get through my food. They finish up their small orders quickly and sit around.

It appears that they're waiting for me. Waiting. Waiting and more waiting. The one of them that is facing me keeps staring at me, then looking away. Finally, he's just had enough. He stares at me once more, the kind of burning stare you're supposed to look at. I meet his gaze, and he stares at his watch, significantly, looking annoyed and impatient. As if to broadcast, "Hurry up! We're sick of waiting so let's get this over with! Finish your damn food and let's get out of here and get this done!"

Well, I almost busted up laughing in my chair, but I didn't want to get jumped on the spot. As a matter of fact, I didn't want to get jumped at all, and had no intention of leaving the place before they were long gone. Especially now that he had practically given me a notarized confession he and his pal were intending to rob me when I left.

I was laughing inside but put on my best poker face ever, acting oblivious as could be and reading one section of the newspaper after another. It was the Sunday paper!

The guy had been sighing, but he actually moved into exasperated grunts and even some quiet groaning after a while. His friend seemed to be gesturing that they should go already, but they stayed simmering in their chairs for a long, long time. I had plenty of paper, and obviously they had decided they didn't want to pull anything in a restaurant full of witnesses and two blocks from the Highway Patrol building. Eventually, after a determined spree of angry stares didn't seem to have any effect on my enjoyment of the paper, they got up and left.

I felt pretty lucky. The paper was good. The burgers were okay. I learned, cheap, a mistake to never make again.