Cash Game Do you ever cut anyone off? (1 Viewer)

[CraigT78]

As the title suggests - do you ever cut anyone off in a cash game as a host?

For the back story - I had a player come last night that plays every 6 months or so. His nickname is 'Money' as he plays poker like blackjack - chips are going into the pot with little more than just a prayer. He vary rarely wins for the night and has the habit of dropping several large buy-ins. Last night he was in for 7 before a fraud warning was actually triggered on his card and he asked me for a $300 marker (he's always good for it).

So back to the question - at what point to you tell a player that enough is enough? Or do you not, realizing he's a grown ass man?

 

[WedgeRock]

He's a grown ass man. Absent knowledge that he is playing with the rent money, let him play. What would be too much for you could be pocket change to him, as his history seems to show.

 

[PlaidDragon]

He's a grown ass man... plus, people facing cut off from anything (alcohol, buy ins, whatever) might take the resentful stance and make an issue out of it.

I'd allow him, or anyone, to continue to buy in so long as their demeanor was civil.

 

[DrStrange]

I cut people off when I know them to be over their head.

For example, I had a player who was a waiter with a wife and new kid. His limit was $100 and he only could come once a month. One night he showed up with a back seat filled with laundry and bought in with the money set aside to do the laundry, though we didn't know the story until after he lost. Ended up taking a collection to help him out - it would have been a bad thing to send him home with no money and the unwashed cloths.

We have also had this sort of discussion with one of the lawyers in the game. He had dropped something like $30,000 in six months and we came to worry in might be enough to make life difficult. He explained that he worked Saturdays taking DWI/DUI cases from college students after a bad night at poker. He could pick up a couple of grand a day that way. Him, we didn't cut off.

It all boils down to the long term health of the game. We know the rule of thumb - shear a sheep many time but only slaughter the pig once. -=- DrStrange

 

[DerberAlter]

if he is your friend, you should consider to talk with him about the topic.

 

[k9dr]

As the title suggests - do you ever cut anyone off in a cash game as a host?

For the back story - I had a player come last night that plays every 6 months or so. His nickname is 'Money' as he plays poker like blackjack - chips are going into the pot with little more than just a prayer. He vary rarely wins for the night and has the habit of dropping several large buy-ins. Last night he was in for 7 before a fraud warning was actually triggered on his card and he asked me for a $300 marker (he's always good for it).

So back to the question - at what point to you tell a player that enough is enough? Or do you not, realizing he's a grown ass man?

I thought you were talking about beer

 

[jumburger]

I've only hosted tournaments for that reason. You know what you are getting into, the costs are fixed, and winner takes all is appealing. But it's always been circles of friends, coworkers and it felt less likely to cause drama.

 

[detroitdad]

We play .25/.50 100 max buy in. This incident took place a few years ago when we were still mostly playing a HOPES rotation and the max rebuy was 100 (vs half the deep stack). A friend, John, lost 500 buy ins one month. I think he did it within 4 hours. The next month he came out and lost another 5 buy ins. Again he lost it before 11. He asked if he could borrow a hundred, for his 6th buy in. I agree, he is a grown ass man, but he is also a friend. I suggested that maybe it wasn't his night and that he should call it quits. He agreed and left. If he had said no, I'll take a 100. I would have loaned it to him.

I guess the short answer is no I haven't cut anyone off.

 

[Rhodeman77]

As long as they have cash I don’t cut people off, unless they are so drunk they can’t function (which has never happened).

When they ask to borrow from me I have cut people off. A few people have a very high credit limit with me. Others I will let borrow as much as they brought in cash and some I won’t let borrow at all.

 

[Hornet]

When they ask to borrow from me I have cut people off. A few people have a very high credit limit with me. Others I will let borrow as much as they brought in cash and some I won’t let borrow at all.

How do you set different limits for people without it getting extremely awkward? Since I host, I am constantly getting hit up for loans. For those in the game I know well and am friends with, I never tell them no. I won’t do the same for new people, although they almost never ask. But for those who are regulars and my friends, I think it would be beyond awkward for me to set different limits for them.

 

[halfbreed]

The only time our group cut someone off was when the guy was trying to borrow money (he's always good for it) and it was clear that he was too inebriated to continue to play properly (he just shoved soon after re-buying the last couple of times). The decision wasn't really discussed, everyone just decided to not lend him any more money. He actually thanked us for cutting him off at the next game.

 

[Rhodeman77]

How do you set different limits for people without it getting extremely awkward? Since I host, I am constantly getting hit up for loans. For those in the game I know well and am friends with, I never tell them no. I won’t do the same for new people, although they almost never ask. But for those who are regulars and my friends, I think it would be beyond awkward for me to set different limits for them.

It is just like you said, the more I know someone (job, been to their house, years, etc) the more I’m willing to let them borrow. Someone that isn’t a regular or I know owes other people money I just tell them I need PayPal or Venmo or something like that up front. I’ve never been stiffed, but I did have 2 people take a lot longer than they told me they would take to pay me back. They are now both on the NO credit list. And I can always go with the excuse that I don’t have more cash to cover any more markers and rebuys for myself.

 

[Statesvegas]

I’m lucky enough to know all the people that sit at my table well. That being said, if a player was wagering money he could not afford to lose I would not cut him off at that time for a variety of reasons. However, as I consider each of the players friends, as a friend I might cut back on the invites he receives in an effort to reduce the impact of his poor decision making on his family. I have a firm policy as host that I won’t lend players money. What the other players do between themselves is between them and beyond my control.

 

[surfik]

I do cut player off if:
_he cheats
_borrows from the house frequently and has problems to pay off
_he is often drunk abusive or rude
_does not play according to house rules.

Other than that everything goes. This game is a little predatory. I started playing as a donk, so when I got better I start taking advantage of less experienceed players. There is nothing wrong with that.

 

[CraigT78]

Thanks all - I did not cut him off, but it did feel a bit uncomfortable watching 5 of my players drooling with anticipation of getting their chips in the pot with this guy. The guy has the money, and it is his choice if he wants to donk off 10 buy-ins in a sitting. Was just curious if anyone here set limits. Thanks!

 

[CraigT78]

I thought you were talking about beer

I've cut off a player once in this aspect. When he fell out of his chair, he had enough

 

[Frogzilla]

I’ve declined to take markers/loan people money before, especially if the player doesn’t seem to be enjoying his poker night. Never had to refuse cash but there are circumstances where I might but they’d have to be rather extreme.

I’ve also been on the other side (I play a high variance, probably losing strategy) and gotten a concerned “hey are you sure, man?” on a rebuy (I think it was #8 for that night). I did not take offense and host relented, but even if the host had insisted I don’t think I would have been too offput. People mean well.

 

[detroitdad]

I've cut off a player once in this aspect. When he fell out of his chair, he had enough

I'm sure your talking about a "friend", right?

 

[CraigT78]

I'm sure your talking about a "friend", right?

My players have cut me off once or twice before

 

[CraigT78]

I’ve also been on the other side (I play a high variance, probably losing strategy) and gotten a concerned “hey are you sure, man?” on a rebuy (I think it was #8 for that night).

Hey - you've never been 8 buy-in's deep at my place, WTF?

 

[Coyote]

I have only lent to childhood friends, in order to prevent them from leaving the table amidst the game, so they could make the 10-minute trip to the ATM right after.
I have never borrowed any amount of money in my life, for any reason.
I still made the mistake to lend all my savings to the Greek Treasury, only to be told to fuck off (60% "haircut"/robbery, to save the nation)

On the wider issue, I think a maximum cap of BBs per player per night can be useful in protecting weaker/tilted players and also protecting everybody from possible heavily loaded players, whose pockets can allow total disregard for given stakes.
If a person comes to an 1/2BB game (whatever the BB) with 2,000BBs in his pocket, shouldn't the house prevent him from tabling all those BBs and render the game a 5/10BB one because he so likes? The rest of the table have been invited to, and deemed affordable, an 1/2BB game.
I guess dividing the total bank by the number of players can be a fair way of determining the max.

 

[Frogzilla]

Hey - you've never been 8 buy-in's deep at my place, WTF?

Challenge accepted

 

[CraigT78]

I have only lent to childhood friends, in order to prevent them from leaving the table amidst the game, so they could make the 10-minute trip to the ATM right after.
I have never borrowed any amount of money in my life, for any reason.
I still made the mistake to lend all my savings to the Greek Treasury, only to be told to fuck off (60% "haircut"/robbery, to save the nation)

On the wider issue, I think a maximum cap of BBs per player per night can be useful in protecting weaker/tilted players and also protecting everybody from possible heavily loaded players, whose pockets can allow total disregard for given stakes.
If a person comes to an 1/2BB game (whatever the BB) with 2,000BBs in his pocket, shouldn't the house prevent him from tabling all those BBs and render the game a 5/10BB one because he so likes? The rest of the table have been invited to, and deemed affordable, an 1/2BB game.
I guess dividing the total bank by the number of players can be a fair way of determining the max.

I have a max buy-in of $100 for the warmup game, and $200 for the post tournament cash game. You are allowed to buy in for roughly half the big stack after the game has been running - we usually eyeball it - slows the game down to ask someone to count their stack at each rebuy.

 

[CraigT78]

Challenge accepted

Call

 

[detroitdad]

I have a max buy-in of $100 for the warmup game, and $200 for the post tournament cash game. You are allowed to buy in for roughly half the big stack after the game has been running - we usually eyeball it - slows the game down to ask someone to count their stack at each rebuy.

If their stacking their chips like adults ( not like Don), then it should only take a few seconds to count lol.

 

[CraigT78]

If their stacking their chips like adults ( not like Don), then it should only take a few seconds to count lol.

I guess I don't have any adults in my game

 

[trigs]

I've never cut someone off but I don't think I've ever had someone lose more than they can handle. Even then, if it happened once or occasionally, I might speak to them off the table one day about it but I probably would never cut them off mid game. We're all adults and should be able to take care of ourselves. I've also accepted electronic money transfers from people who have lost all their cash but I'd only do that for people that I know and trust.

 

[JustinInMN]

I have never had to cut anyone off, and I don't think I would unless they were intoxicated to the point where we would be taking advantage.

Short of that, I want to promote that all money in the game is available to win free of guilt. Players that ask for collections won't be invited back. But until they reach that point, or intoxication as I said above, I don't see a need to cut anyone off that's bringing cash.

All of that said, I do not believe in lending money as a host, so maybe that makes it easier for players to cut themselves off.

If players want to lend to each other and deal with that privately, not problem. But as host that potentially has to make other rulings, I don't want to be public that I will lend to some players and not others.

If a friend wants to come to me for a loan in advance of the game, and he's a fine credit risk, no problem. But I don't put myself in the position of lending to that friend in front of others to whom I would not lend.

 

[nightbird]

We had an issue once with one of our players, he's a very nice guy buy a very bad player poker player. After one especially bad session for him (lost more tha 13 buyins) we decided to talk to him and cut him off. Unfortunately, the guy started going to play in the casino and some underground shady games where the stakes are higher and naturally he lost a lot of money there.
Would you guys welcome him back to the game in this case?

P.S i consider the guy to be a friend of mine. We don't really hang out except for poker games, but still i like him and like i said previously he is a very nice guy. He's not wealthy but he has a decent salary (better paid than some of the other players on the table).

 

[BiGGyT]

I go with the money I am willing to gamble with. If it is gone, I am done or will offer to deal (for drinks, of course). I made it a policy to not lend money, it ruins relationships and makes things uncomfortable. If someone was that far in that I was playing against, then I might be done or stay in longer than I should against them so they might win some back.
This is one more reason I cannot host, not willing to provide banking services.
Thank you to all that do host,
T