diff --git a/src/kike.c b/src/kike.c
index bc64180..73b6df1 100644
--- a/src/kike.c
+++ b/src/kike.c
@@ -446,6 +446,7 @@ server_context_free (struct server_context *self)
 
 static void client_cancel_timers (struct client *);
 static void client_set_kill_timer (struct client *);
+static void client_update_poller (struct client *, const struct pollfd *);
 
 static void
 client_unregister (struct client *c, const char *reason)
@@ -497,10 +498,12 @@ static void
 irc_send_str (struct client *c, const struct str *s)
 {
 	// TODO: kill the connection above some "SendQ" threshold (careful!)
-
 	str_append_data (&c->write_buffer, s->str,
 		s->len > IRC_MAX_MESSAGE_LENGTH ? IRC_MAX_MESSAGE_LENGTH : s->len);
 	str_append (&c->write_buffer, "\r\n");
+	// XXX: we might want to move this elsewhere, so that it doesn't get called
+	//   as often; it's going to cause a lot of syscalls with epoll.
+	client_update_poller (c, NULL);
 }
 
 static void irc_send (struct client *c,
@@ -1243,15 +1246,29 @@ on_irc_client_ready (const struct pollfd *pfd, void *user_data)
 		client_set_ping_timer (c);
 	}
 
-	int new_events = 0;
 	if (c->ssl)
 	{
 		// Reads may want to write, writes may want to read, poll() may
 		// return unexpected things in `revents'... let's try both
 		if (!irc_try_read_ssl (c) || !irc_try_write_ssl (c))
 			return;
+	}
+	else if (!irc_try_read (c) || !irc_try_write (c))
+		return;
 
-		new_events |= POLLIN;
+	client_update_poller (c, pfd);
+
+	// The purpose of the `closing_link' state is to transfer the `ERROR'
+	if (c->closing_link && !c->write_buffer.len)
+		client_kill (c, NULL);
+}
+
+static void
+client_update_poller (struct client *c, const struct pollfd *pfd)
+{
+	int new_events = POLLIN;
+	if (c->ssl)
+	{
 		if (c->write_buffer.len || c->ssl_rx_want_tx)
 			new_events |= POLLOUT;
 
@@ -1259,24 +1276,13 @@ on_irc_client_ready (const struct pollfd *pfd, void *user_data)
 		if (c->ssl_rx_want_tx)  new_events &= ~POLLIN;
 		if (c->ssl_tx_want_rx)  new_events &= ~POLLOUT;
 	}
-	else
-	{
-		if (!irc_try_read (c) || !irc_try_write (c))
-			return;
-
-		new_events |= POLLIN;
-		if (c->write_buffer.len)
-			new_events |= POLLOUT;
-	}
+	else if (c->write_buffer.len)
+		new_events |= POLLOUT;
 
 	hard_assert (new_events != 0);
-	if (pfd->events != new_events)
+	if (!pfd || pfd->events != new_events)
 		poller_set (&c->ctx->poller, c->socket_fd, new_events,
 			(poller_dispatcher_func) on_irc_client_ready, c);
-
-	// The purpose of the `closing_link' state is to transfer the `ERROR'
-	if (c->closing_link && !c->write_buffer.len)
-		client_kill (c, NULL);
 }
 
 static void
@@ -1329,8 +1335,7 @@ on_irc_client_available (const struct pollfd *pfd, void *user_data)
 		ctx->n_clients++;
 
 		set_blocking (fd, false);
-		poller_set (&ctx->poller, fd, POLLIN,
-			(poller_dispatcher_func) on_irc_client_ready, c);
+		client_update_poller (c, NULL);
 		client_set_kill_timer (c);
 	}
 }