Retard in the Ten Seat. Literally.

[sam h]

CA 12-24 and I'm killing the table when the floorman seats this funny looking guy in the ten seat, telling him slowly - the way people talk to children - that bets are four chips on the flop and eight on the turn. I thought it was some inside joke until the new player opened his mouth. He was very clearly retarded/mentally disabled/whatever PC term is in vogue right now. He said he'd never played above 3-6 before and I believed it since he couldn't even read his own hand and didn't seem to even understand when the action was on him, when one could raise, that one had to put in chips to see the flop, etc.

Some of the other players were kind of smiling quietly, a few were bitching at him for slowing down the game, and a few others were egging him on to buy more chips, especially this old guy in the nine seat who was a dead ringer for Peter Fonda's bodyguard in The Limey.

I almost got up and left. But an orbit later he busted out.

Is it silly for me to have qualms about taking a retarded guy's money when I don't have any at all about taking money off gambloooors?

[Acesover8s]

You bring up an interesting point. Myself I would probably think about it until I made myself uncomfortable and have to leave the table.

It is impossible to know this person's situation to know what the right thing to do is.

There is an EXTREMELY interesting thread on RPG right now written by a man who has Asperger's syndrome which is a form of autism.

[Dynasty]

I don't think I'd leave simply because this guy joined the table. However, I don't need money so much that I'd do anything to exploit the situation.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

An interesting philosophical question about what constitutes free will. People with Down's Syndrome have been able to hold down jobs, live independently and even raise children. I also believe that they are capable of understanding the rules of games.

That being said, some individuals with cerebral palsey appear to others to be completely mentally incompetent while in reality, they are as mentally sharp as any of us. It's just their interface with the world that's screwed up. I suspect that this may be what you witnessed. He may well have been a person with CP that has played on line before and was just making typical newbie mistakes. I find it hard to believe that someone with the mental capacity of a 5 year old would even have the wherewithal to try to sit at a poker table.

[Inthacup]

I find it hard to believe that someone with the mental capacity of a 5 year old would even have the wherewithal to try to sit at a poker table.

It didn't stop Vince Van Patten

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

I knew I'd posted an awesome straight line the minute the post went up. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Mike Gallo]

Fred G Sanford (two plus two lurker) and I played at the Trop in AC a few months back and a guys sits down with Tourettes syndrome. This guy is ticking and shaking like a madman. I couldnt look at Fred with out cracking up.

This player went to the pink game and ran over it.

I saw this player not that long ago running over a $15-$30 game at the Taj.

Don't let appearances deceive you.

I find it hard to believe that someone with the mental capacity of a 5 year old would even have the wherewithal to try to sit at a poker table.
It has never stopped me from playing [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Michael

[sam h]

He goes three bets with an old guy on a flop of QJ9. The turn is an 8 and he check calls. The river is a blank and he check calls. The old guy turns up QT and slides the cards towards the board, declaring a straight. The ten seat turns up KJ and also declares a straight. The dealer explains to him that he needed a ten for a straight. The ten seat points towards the ten from the other guy's hand, which is now about nine inches from the board, and says that he has a ten.

Another time he asked, in a clearly serious manner, whether he was allowed to look at his cards again during a hand.

I don't know enough about Down's Syndrome or Cerebral Palsey to say whether he was afflicted with either condition, but these certainly weren't newbie mistakes. I agree that it's an interesting question of free will and mental competence.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

With CP you'd see reduced motor skills and garbled apeech. Down's gives the person the "retarded" facial feature.

It might make me uncomfortable with the cardroom for allowing him to play (but how do they say no?), and while I tend to agree with Dynasty in that I wouldn't go out of my way to take advantage of him, how much different would that be than making profit-maximizing plays against clueless but ostensible mentally-competent players. I certainly don't think I'd leave the table because the cardroom seated him there.

[Rushmore]

Dynasty suggests "not exploiting the situation." I posit that this is oxymoronic (as exploiting situations is exactly what poker is all about).

If I were at the table and felt uncomfortable with this situation, I would either ask for a button and lobby until it was over, get a table change, or just go eat lunch.

Therefore, I would choose one of these options, because life is WAY too short to take money from retarded people.

Some of us still cling to what remains of our--heh heh--Judeo-Christian ethic. Call us crazy.