“This is not a bluff,” says Pooptin as he brags about the Nuke Joker in his hand.

Here come da mansplainin’.

Let’s take a look at this from a poker perspective, since everyone keeps throwing this word around. A “bluff” is a bet, usually a large one, when you have bad cards in order to get players with good cards to fold, to quit.

Saying “this is not a bluff” as you push in a big stack of chips, makes it, by definition, a bluff. It’s the purpose which is to get others to fold, to quit. If you have good cards you might push in a big bet but the INTENT is to get others thinking it’s a bluff so you win a bunch of chips if they are foolish enough to call.

Using Nukes is a lose lose situation. It’s a Wild Card, so it makes the game of poker less predictable. But a wild card is more about losing than winning. It’s there to prop up a bad hand and still might give you the win but when you lose relying on a wild card you tend to lose BIG. So this is about losing, not winning and it’s about having losing cards, not a great hand. He isn’t the only one with that wild card and we all know it.

Bear in mind, a bluff is just for ONE HAND and smart players know how to bluff, but they can get caught and lose that hand as well. But one bluff doesn’t win the tournament. This is important in the analysis of his threat. It’s just one HAND in a larger Game or tournament.

A player who is doing it all: bluffing, playing good cards, bad cards, all cards and, most importantly, unwilling to fold, is said to be “on Tilt.” Like a pin ball game, no longer functioning rationally, but emotionally. Suicidally, because WILLINGNESS to fold any hand alone determines if you win a long tournament, which is, in poker terms, what is going on over there.

Pooptin is clearly On Tilt and… he knows it and we know it. On Tilt players can be tricky, but the way to beat a player like that is let them, let them keep doing stupid stuff and just keep raking in the chips and playing good poker. You might lose a hand here of there but eventually, they will push All In with a bad hand because… at that point they want to die, to go nurse their ire in a dark corner or maybe get hammered and watch Lucy reruns.

The point is, if we’re talking poker, he has already lost.