Very strange thing happened last night - Page 3

Tommy Angelo · #21 12-09-2003, 05:16 AM

"why would would want a live one like that barred anyway?"

Hi Mason,

I have no opinion on what the casino management should do, just as I don't have an opinion on the style of carpet they choose.

But I do think your comment suggests that unequal treatment by the house is not only good, but that it should be administered unequally based on a player's expected results, and I think that's unfair and wrong.

Tommy

Cleric · #22 12-09-2003, 05:20 AM

Buy a gun.

Mason Malmuth · #23 12-09-2003, 10:18 AM

C'mon Tommy:

If a tourist type player fails to act because he didn't realize it was his turn, the action should be called back to him. When one of the regulars does the same thing it's a shot by him to try to see what the action behind him will be. Even though both of these events will look very similar to the uneducated eye, the floor's decision shold be different in each case.

Best wishes,
Mason

mike l. · #24 12-09-2003, 12:14 PM

andyfox · #25 12-09-2003, 02:18 PM

There's a big difference between playing well and tough, and conning people with your play, and grabbing someone's cards and throwing them in the muck. The poster said had the guy not left he would have hit him.

I don't want either guy to play. Period.

andyfox · #26 12-09-2003, 02:23 PM

I think Tommy's talking about unacceptable behavior, not losing track of the action. Lots of unacceptable behavior is tolerated by casinos because they see these players as cash cows: they pay a lot in collections and tokes and they keep games going because the non-fish like to play with them. It's shortsighted.

There was a good discussion of this in the "Nasty Players" thread on the Psychology Forum.

In the present case you have one guy that's probably going to do worse things because nothing was done about this. And another guy who says he would have hit him had he not gotten up.

andyfox · #27 12-09-2003, 02:26 PM

Well put.

The only reason it's not a gentleman's game is that people who have some pull in the industry don't see anythiing wrong with this kind of thing.

andyfox · #28 12-09-2003, 02:28 PM

This will, of course, eventually happen. After all, it's not a gentleman's game.

squiffy · #29 12-09-2003, 05:00 PM

There's certain things you just don't do. You've got to draw the line somewhere. His conduct was completely inappropriate. And if no discipline is imposed, he may continue to do things like that or worse. He may not have "disrupted" play on this hand. But he may find a way to next time.

I am not sure what an appropriate punishment is. You obviously want a losing player to continue playing. But it seems to me there must be some appropriate punishment that would get him to follow the rules.

Now imagine that he did this on every hand to every opponent. At some point you would have to impose discipline. And I would argue, even one infraction like this is pretty serious.

And as a practical matter, if he keeps doing things like this and the casino does not take action, sooner or later he will start a serious fight or conflict and the casino may end up being liable.

andyfox · #30 12-09-2003, 05:21 PM

The problem is that people who do things like this are likely to indeed do worse in the future, especially if there's no downside to doing it.

An appropriate punishment would be banishment from the casino permanently. There are other fish in the sea and there will be more who will come swimming when the cardrooms do not have reputations as cesspools.