Unethical behavior at the table-- how do you handle it?

[Ghazban]

I was playing the 1/2 no-limit at Foxwoods today (and I won't bore you with the string of bad beats that have me in a really pissy mood right now) and I saw some things that I really was uncomfortable with.

First of all, one player would sell $100 in chips (the max buyin) to new players when they sat down, then the $100 bills would 'mysteriously' not be on the 20 minutes later. I came out and asked him what happened to the cash and he said he put it in his pocket. This is blatantly in violation of the entire concept of table stakes, particularly in big-bet poker and I told him so, explaining why it was inappropriate. He said something to the effect of 'so, are you going to turn me in?' and I, being overly nonconfrontational (read: a complete pansy), didn't. I never got involved in a big pot against him but, if I had, I would have been pretty pissed that he'd ratholed so much money. How do you handle this?

The second issue was with a player who kept going to his pocket and bringing money up to the table and sliding it under his chips. At Foxwoods, the rule is that you have to be below $40 to put more money on the table but this guy was doing it every time he got around $60. He was such a terrible player that I didn't really mind him having extra available but, again, he's breaking the rules and the dealer didn't notice/say anything and I don't think any of the other players were paying attention, either. How do you handle this?

[LetsRock]

Ask the dealer what the rules are (even if you know them) and ask him/her to enforce them. Call the floor if you have to.

[bigfishead]

just as mentioned. it is your responsibility also to say something. Especially since when a dealer changes he is not aware of the happenings and can miss things like this.

[Photoc]

Your problem is you played at the revovling door of a poker room known as Foxwoods poker and the dealers there dont give a [censored] for the most part because the casino is screwing them with the tokes.

[Al_Capone_Junior]

Don't be such a friggin' wimp. At the FIRST instance of ratholing by the a-hole, I would perhaps have told him about the table stakes rule. If he asked me if I would turn him in, I would say "yes, either you bring that money back up NOW or I call the floorman." These friggin' jerk-offs KNOW they are breaking the rules so SCREW them if they don't like it.

If it's a moron adding to his stack, fine, let it slide. If it's a good player, CALL THE FRIGGIN' FLOORMAN.

ANY unethical or rule-breaking behaviors should be instantly dealt with by alerting the dealer or calling the floorman. Don't screw around with these morons, particularly not the jerk-off internet wanna-be players who have no idea how to conduct themselves in a real cardroom.

al

[RydenStoompala]

What Al said. Someone wants to play with the concept of table stakes, let them play cards in the back of their Volkswagon egg truck out in the parking lot. Tell the dealer to get in the frickin game.

[Ghazban]

Of course you are all correct and I KNEW that's what I should've done but still didn't. I'm a wimp with stuff like this and I know it. Not a good excuse, but the dealer was totally out of his depth, too. With the tournament going on (500+65, part of the WPF) and the satellites for the big one, they were short dealers and pulled this guy off a Caribbean Stud game to come deal poker. He had no clue how to handle seat changes, buying the button, the dead small blind if a player leaves after his BB but before his SB etc. There were also instances of illegal raise sizes (eg. guy bets 40, next guy raises to 80 straight, original bettor makes it 100) that nobody said anything about. I'm not there to be the table cop, I'm there to play the game, hopefully make some money, and have a good time. If there were a better place to play live in New England, I'd definitely go there but I'm stuck with the 'Woods for now. I have no problem speaking up when there's a rule being broken but, on this particular day, there were so many that I just didn't want to deal with it. I should've either kept pointing things out or gone home but I didn't. Being the rules Nazi really cuts down on the amount of enjoyment I'll get out of playing.

[TripleH68]

You simply must stand up for yourself. Once you do a couple times you may find that you like it.

[MMMMMM]

It's not as big a deal as you fear, to tell the guy he has to leave the money on the table and solicit the dealer's or floor's enforcement of the rule. I have done it multiple times over the years. It's a good rule that the money has to stay in play and on the table.

The other rule is horrible though, IMO. Not being able to add to your stack unless you are below $40 is just plain stupid, and hurts the game. Why is it stupid? Because the max buy-in is set at $100. Therefore you should be able to add to your stack at any time in order to bring it up to $100. Otherwise it is a max buy-in of $100 but only on your first buy. After that it is a max buy-in of $60, and only when you are below $40. Does that make any sense at all? The idea of a max buy-in is to limit how much you can have on the table without having won more to boost your stake. If that amount is determined to be 100 there is no reason it should later drop to a lower figure. What this rule basically does is screw the people who get slightly stuck.

[Ghazban]

Actually, the rule about rebuying is that, once you drop below $40, you can buy in for $100 more. Many players sit with $40, post, then immediately buy $100 more before the next hand (basically giving them $138 to start). It royally screws you when you're sitting with $50-$60 and finally pick up a big hand. If I had the bankroll to regularly sit in the $5/$5 blind game, I'd do so as it has no maximum buyin ($200 minimum).