fair play-taking chips off the table (long story)

[dumpstapig]

This situation came up yesterday afternoon at Foxwoods:

New 1/2NL table opens in the Stud area (9-way action). Everyone sits down, starts fresh with $100. We're playing for about an hour and only 2 people have left the table, both down 1 or 2 buy-ins. A few others have re-bought, so there's probably 1400-1500 that should be on the table.

An old-ish guy in the 5 seat, is acting as table captain, raising pre-flop probably 30-40% of the hands, basically any face card or ace. He came to the table with a black $100 chip, and has since re-bought at least once using another black chip. At the time of this hand, he has a black chip, and probably 4 red $5 chips in front of him, having just re-bought after falling below $40.

My friend is sitting in the 7 seat and calls this guy's PF raise with AK. Flop is AQT. Table Captain (TC) bets $20 using the black chip. As dealer is changing it, my friend raises to $60. TC goes all in, putting in the rest of his change from the black chip. My friend calls. TC turns over AJ for broadway and takes down the pot. Here is where it gets interesting.

Three hands later, TC hasn't play a hand, and i look over and he has 3 stacks of red chips with $50 in each, then another $15 in reds in a small stack. So he has about $165 in his stack, where he should have ~250 after doubling up through my friend.

I walk behind the dealer and whisper that i think he is taking chips off the table. At which point she looks at him, points at him, and says, no i dont think so. Then this guy, clearly realizing what is going on, asks me what i said to her, so i ask him directly if he is taking chips off the table. He then gets really upset and says "You [censored] [censored]! I'm a 2-5 player! What an arrogant [censored] you are. I've been coming here for 12 years! You are unbelievable. Don't try to get involved in my business. You [censored]." Never once does he deny taking the money off, but it is clear from his stack that he did. He is pretty animated at this point, and i am pretty calm, never raising my voice.

I then audibly explain to the dealer the situation exactly, and she (being an idiot) says that she changed that black chip much earlier, not during that hand. I then tell her that she had changed a black chip earlier in the session, but also during the hand. She denies this. The guy just starts glaring at me, and cracking jokes because he doesnt want people to realize what he's doing.

The floor comes over about 10 mins later, right after the dealer leaves. She explains to me what the dealer said to her, that the black chip wasnt in play during the hand, and i explain to her that the dealer is an idiot (not in those exact words) and tell her that i'm 100% certain this guy took money off the table and that he had >$100 in play before this hand and he clearly has only $160 after it. She apologizes, then says she'll "keep an eye on this". She then proceeds to stand there for about 3 hands, watching this guy, (like that helped!) then leaves. The TC plays for about another hour, continually cracking jokes after every hand he wins about how we all better watch him or he'll take more money off the table, then leaves, with about $450 (he re-bought twice).

What do you all do in this situation? Is it worth even speaking up? Everyone at the table knew I was right, but no one else really cared. But he took about 7% of the total chips in play off the table, and that was only when i noticed it! This clearly isn't fair, but is it worth saying something? I'm pretty strict about playing by the rules, and this was a clear infraction of the rules, but am i supposed to sit there and pretend it's not happening?

Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Suggestions?

[Photoc]

Thoughts and suggestions:

A. Foxwoods management are morons
B. Stop playing there, play online.

[ThinkQuick]

You definitely definitely speak up.
Why not go over the recent hands with the table/dealer to demonstrate that he must have over 160? why not tell the floor that you are dissapointed and would like him to review the cameras?

DO something. Even if you're not 100% sure. The first time I played NL, a guy across the table from me got up for about 25 minutes, and when he came back my friend and I noticed that his stack had gone from about $500 to $200-$300. So I asked him - "excuse me sir but didn't you have more chips?". He pointed to another player's stack, and that player sheepishly grinned from behind a castle of chips I hadn't even noticed. I apologized.

[dumpstapig]

I went through it hand by hand, and bet by bet for that particular hand, but the floor said that the dealer is in charge of the game, and she must believe the dealer. Even though the dealer was clueless and had no idea what was going on. She couldn't even admit that she had changed the black $100 chip DURING the hand, not before it.

[AKQJ10]

[ QUOTE ]
Thoughts and suggestions:

A. Foxwoods management are morons

[/ QUOTE ]

I disagree with this. Foxwoods has a ton of problems, but most of them have to do with communication in a large organization that's grown too fast. The times I've had to bring an issue to management's attention (such as when I tried to sign up for 4 or 5 games that awful day after Thanksgiving but the brush only signed me up for one), they've resolved it competently.

That doesn't mean that they're not overcrowded or suffering from poor communication -- just that I haven't found management to be "morons". YMMV of course.


[ QUOTE ]
B. Stop playing there, play online.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, that's why they get by with being mediocre -- as long as there's no B&M competition there's no incentive for them to be anything more than mediocre.

I've definitely opted for more online play lately, mostly because Foxwoods is such a madhouse.