Playing at casinos is usually a really fun and thrilling experience that helps you to get away from the stresses and strains of everyday life. However if you play at brick and mortar casinos you're sure to encounter an annoying player or two that will seem like he or she is doing their level best to ruin your casino experience.

Thankfully when playing online your interaction with other players is limited unless you choose to venture into the in-game chat rooms or multi-player tournaments with chat functionality.

Here we look at the different types of annoying players that you'll find at land based casinos and thankfully be able to avoid when playing online.

The Machine Stalker

We've all encountered the machine stalker at one time or another when playing slots of video poker - this is the person who lurks behind you watching your game play without saying a word. It's really a creepy feeling!

Most of the time, this sort of players is watching to see whether he or she can gain the advantage of a positive expected value if and when you leave the machine. At other times they are just people fascinated by the game. Regardless of their reasons for lurking about, they definitely can make your game play uncomfortable!

The great thing about playing online slots is that the setup does not allow for anyone to stalk a machine and everyone can enjoy the same machine simultaneously, so there is no need to wait for your favourite machine at all.

The Teacher

You'll find these players everywhere at casinos, but more predominantly at the tables, especially when you are playing blackjack. The Teacher is the player who makes it his/her mission in life to instruct everyone at the table on how to play the game. They can often be heard criticizing blackjack beginners for bad game play and giving advice to everyone else. What's even worse is when their advice is bad and completely incorrect. It is often worth just carrying a blackjack strategy card with you to prove them wrong.

Thankfully at online casinos you play against the dealer only in blackjack and even in multi-player games where chat is allowed you can simply ignore the chat box if you encounter one of these players, making them way easier to tune out when playing online.

The Raucous Group of Friends

Often you'll find a group of friends playing together at the tables, they are usually drinking heavily, making a noise and giving running commentary on everything and everyone at the table and beyond. The only option you generally have is to avoid the table completely or leave it if they join it when you're already playing.

At online casinos, groups of friends gather too and often frequent the game chat rooms if they are located in different parts of the world. Luckily though you are not subject to their noise and you can simply leave the game and find another one if the chat gets annoying.

Superstitious Players

Gambling and superstitions seem to go hand in hand and many players are at least a little superstitious in some way or another. Of course there's nothing wrong with this but you may encounter players who take their superstitious beliefs to the extreme.

Strangely slots players seem to be the most superstitious of all, often believing that only a certain machine will be lucky for them! If you're playing on this machine they quickly become the machine stalker we discussed earlier, although they may take things a step further and harass you, asking when you intend to be finished. Once they get their game they very rarely leave it and are probably the reason that adult diapers do so well in the casino setting.

At least when you play slots online, you won't be subject to anyone's weird superstitious antics and if you have any of your own, can perform them in the comfort of your own home without anyone staring at you!

The Needy Novice

We all started somewhere when it came to casino games so it's definitely not acceptable to berate new players who make a few mistakes in etiquette and game play strategy, after all they are just learning.

There are however players that are very needy, and harass everyone around them for advice whenever they run into a dilemma involving game rules or strategy, especially when playing skill games like blackjack, poker and video poker or more complex games like craps. Sometimes it gets so bad that you just can't take it anymore...the best thing to do is find the teacher type player and pair them with the needy novice...it's really a match made in heaven.

Or you can avoid all the drama by simply playing online.

The Mobile Phone Addict

While most casinos forbid the use of mobile phones at the tables, there is no rule against using a phone at the video poker or slot machines, which means you'll occasionally encounter a mobile phone addict that simply can't refrain from taking selfies and talking loudly for ages while they play. It is very distracting and makes it difficult to enjoy your own experience when you have to hear a conversation about inane topics.

The Bad Loser

This is the player that flies into a fit of rage when things don't go their way and blames everyone and everything except themselves for their bad game play and luck. These are the players that shout at the dealer and other players at the tables and end up storming off after kicking a few things.

This type of vibe can really kill the mood when you're playing and it's best to stick to playing online where nobody can ruin the mood.