Responding to "Rad Brad"

We asked how you would respond to someone acting wildly across the poker table -- as Brad Garrett did a few times in his first Heads-up Poker Championship match.

The easiest answer is the most simple one: Shut up and beat him. And there's a bit of Biblical wisdom behind that approach.

"Do not speak to a fool," says Proverbs 23:9, "for he will scorn the wisdom of your words."

But later in Proverbs, there seems to be contradictory advice. "Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself," warns 26:4. But verse 5 then says, "answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes."

We think that means there are times when responding works, and times when it doesn't. Engaging in slapstick maneuvers which match Brad Garrett probably would throw you off, play right into his hand -- and only make him consider it a personal compliment.

But if someone is a fool without realizing it, the right answer could persuade him to change his ways. Galatians 6:1 describes it as "restoring gently" someone who is caught in a sin.

Most of the people we meet at poker tables actually have a quiet demeanor about them. They're focused -- if not on the game, on something else. That's what made Brad Garrett's antics seem so unusual. To borrow from Rudyard Kipling: If you can keep your head when your opponents are losing theirs, you'll at least look like the man.

For more: Quieting the Loudmouth