I don't play a lot of live poker any more (it's just much more economical for me to play online, for a number of reasons), but I went out yesterday to hang out with some friends and just enjoy an afternoon.
I managed to get CLAWED IN THE FACE.
There was a woman who came in off of the casino floor, obviously drunk, and obviously steaming, and got placed in a seat right next to me. I don't know the full story, but she had probably spent the afternoon dumping off money at the table games. I've seen that kind of thing countless times before.
She picked a really bad time to be at our table. It was just casual, for fairly insignficant stakes, but the game was pretty "regular heavy". Any amateur can get lucky against regulars, but it's not very likely, especially someone like that who's all tipsy and tilted coming in. She was getting absolutely killed, and became increasingly hostile about it. She took particular exception with me, because I was sitting directly to her left, and acting right after her in every hand.
I've dealt with more than my share of angry losing drunks in my lifetime, so I mostly just kind of shrugged her off. She was swearing a lot, and the dealer probably should've been more proactive, but everyone just kind of let it go. Angry drunk money is the same as any other money. After a while, she started getting really hostile, especially at me, so I did something a little childish and flashed a bluff at her after she folded a large hand, just to kind of needle her a bit for all the verbal abuse she was throwing at everyone.
Apparently that was the last straw, and she stood up and took a swipe at me. I wasn't paying full attention, and she caught me right on the face, hard enough to draw blood. She was wearing acrylics, and those things are apparently not a joke! She was too drunk to get another real swipe in, and I just sort of pushed her back just enough to get some distance (I had absolutely no desire to get into a cat fight with crazy drunk acrylics lady), and casino security came in to pull her off of the floor.
I was kind of stunned. People get into spats all the time in card rooms, but it almost never gets physical in any way (even the dumbest people are aware of the cameras and security). I declined to press charges when the staff talked to me later, but I'm almost certain that she'll be banned from the building. What in the actual heck?