Tourney Handling the drunk guy.... (1 Viewer)

[longflop]

I know I can't be the only one to deal with this. We have a guy who comes each month. Great guy, lots of fun. The problem is that there is a line and he hits it later in the tournament each time. Somewhere between the 2 and 3 hour mark, the vodka bottle is emptier and he goes from fun to annoying, gets real loud. My poker room is in the basement and I'm pretty sure you could hear him on the second level. If its just that, we're all grown ups, I can deal with it.

Last tourney we had a situation. We get to the point where we consolidated from two to one table. We re drew cards for seats and I ended up sitting next to him. I had slightly more than the starting stack (T50) and both him and I had to move to the final table. I stack my chips at the final table in my seat and tend to everyone getting in their place, coloring out chips, etc. when I get back to my seat, his chips are splashed all over the place and my one T25 chip was missing. Turns out that it was in the fringes of his splashed stack. There was no attempt at cheating here, its just annoying to try to figure it out and of course he has no idea how it happened.

Question is, have you guys had to deal with this? I have absolutely no problem with drinking while playing poker, there's a reason I put the whole bar out. I like the guy, he's a good dude and I want him to keep playing, but sometimes its too much. What do you do besides tell the guy to stop going all the way to hammer time?

As always, any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[detroitdad]

I invite guys to play cards with that I enjoy hanging out with. I play poker to have a good time. If your not having fun with him at the game, don't invite him. My guess is that he isn't going to quit drinking for your games

 

[Josh Kifer]

Limit the amount of drinking.... I don't mind social drinking, but at anytime someone has 1 too many, I talk to them the next time and ask them to reel it in. I've had to remove one person for this, but it keeps the rest of the players comfortable.

 

[longflop]

I invite guys to play cards with that I enjoy hanging out with. I play poker to have a good time. If your not having fun with him at the game, don't invite him. My guess is that he isn't going to quit drinking for your games

No, he probably won't. the real pickle is that before the line, he's great, everybody's laughing having fun. He's genuinely a fun guy to be around. After the line, its like, ok guy, enough.

 

[upNdown]

It’s sad when you have grown men who can’t handle their booze and don’t know it.
I read one guy here who was having problems with it, so he banned hard liquor from his game. Can this guy just drink beer instead of vodka?

 

[detroitdad]

I think @ChaosRock is going to ban me from drinking at his place

 

[Seeking Alpha Social Club]

Yes...and it has gotten pretty bad in the past.

Just to put this into context, I host nearly every Friday, and we are as much of a social club as we are a poker club. I suspect @Lil Tuna , who recently started playing with us can attest to that.

We are a very close neighborhood with a number of retired Marines and Sailors; so we can drink And then there's that one guy. Drunk, not paying attention, slow to deal and act. And then he gets pissed off when people tell him that the action is on him. He and I actually got into a fight about 5 years ago and I banned him. I don't advise it, but that pretty much set the tone for zero A-hole tollerance.

Because of the neighborhood closeness, our situation is a bit unique. We go to Vegas together, frequent BBQs in the neighborhood, etc. So I still saw him regularly at other functions.

A couple years later he came groveling back and, we let him back in to the Social Club. He has been pretty good up until a couple weeks ago. He and I had a side bar, with him knowing that next time is a lifetime ban. Seemed to wotk, but we will see.

Good luck!!

 

[krafticus]

I have this problem every time I host. The problem is, I can't kick myself out of my own house.

 

[upNdown]

I have this problem every time I host. The problem is, I can't kick myself out of my own house.

I bet it would be pretty funny if you did. You could make an exit like that scene from The Jerk.

 

[mike32]

One time in our league we had a guy drink bourbon straight from the host's bottle, of course this was when he thought no one was looking.

 

[krafticus]

I bet it would be pretty funny if you did. You could make an exit like that scene from The Jerk.

To be honest, I get pretty lit on some nights, but I can generally handle my alcohol. I generally only drink beer. I can remember only one time when I got belligerent. I had taken a bunch of bad beats and I kept drinking. I believe my watch (A G-Shock) went sailing across the basement into wall. Neither the wall nor the watch was hurt.

I am pretty sure @Chippy McChiperson remembers better than I do though

 

[detroitdad]

One time in our league we had a guy drink bourbon straight from the host's bottle, of course this was when he thought no one was looking.

At least you didn't spit it all over the poker table

 

[Irish]

Dealt with this several years ago, and it was particularly uncomfortable because it was my father-in-law's boss. He was actually a very good player at the start of a tourney, but usually brought a six pack of "tall boys" to the game. You could literally watch him degrade, by beer 4 he'd go into hyper aggro degen mode, donking off his stacks and then start berating players for their play. He really was a nice guy and most gave him a pretty long leash (it was often pretty humorous to watch), but on occasion it got pretty bad, he tried to pick a fight with two of the biggest guys in the group (young state trooper and myself). It got to the point where I could tell he was really annoying rhe regulars and threatening to kill attendance, so I had to talk to him about the drinking. He played a few more games (minus the beers, and actually won a couple of tourneys) but eventually stopped coming and got transferred to another office. Bottom line is that if it's annoying other players, you gotta try to address it, otherwise you risk the appeal of your game.

 

[DJ Mack]

Set the poker table antics aside for a minute. If this guy leaves your house bombed and causes a wreck, you will be getting papers from Dewey, Cheatum and Howe. Even if it wasn't your booze and you didn't serve him plan on several thousand bucks and a year plus of stress and aggravation to (hopefully) get yourself dropped from the civil suit. Not to mention all the fun that comes with discovery requests and depositions.

I realize this doesn't answer your question of how to deal with him but it's an additional consideration. Now that you have recognized it as a problem as host you are kind of obligated to address it beyond just hoping for the best.

 

[Trihonda]

I’ve covered my situations in other threads. I don’t ban booze (hard stuff), but I don’t provide it. I’ve had a ew guys who drink hard (one I can recall is actually in the liquor business). He gets stupid when drunk, and loses all his money, but in the process has broken chairs at both his and my house. Basically, when I get people that stupid drunk, I have the convo that essentially says that I value him in my game, people like having him around, but when he gets super lit, he’s not so much fun... AND then I appeal to their wallet, and explain that he also loses all his money when he gets that drunk. I don’t make a habit of, nor do I enjoy taking advantage of my friends. So I suggest he might leave the bottle at home (ya, usually brings his own bottle or two).

 

[upNdown]

Set the poker table antics aside for a minute. If this guy leaves your house bombed and causes a wreck, you will be getting papers from Dewey, Cheatum and Howe. Even if it wasn't your booze and you didn't serve him plan on several thousand bucks and a year plus of stress and aggravation to (hopefully) get yourself dropped from the civil suit. Not to mention all the fun that comes with discovery requests and depositions.

I realize this doesn't answer your question of how to deal with him but it's an additional consideration. Now that you have recognized it as a problem as host you are kind of obligated to address it beyond just hoping for the best.

Laws regarding social host liability vary by state. But of course its always a good idea to keep bombed people from driving.

 

[DJ Mack]

Laws regarding social host liability vary by state. But of course its always a good idea to keep bombed people from driving.

They do, but I'm not aware of any state where the host has zero civil liability. My point is even if the host is found not liable he's going to be out a good chunk of change and time before his name gets dropped from the lawsuit. Having personal liability insurance is helpful however if it comes out that the game was anything less than 100% lawful they may refuse to cover on the grounds that the incident occurred while the insured was engaging in an illicit enterprise.

A good friend was involved in civil litigation over this very issue. The guy had one beer at his place and then went to a bar and got plowed. He got sued on the theory that if he hadn't let the guy have a beer he would have been one less beer drunk after leaving the bar. Total bullshit under Ohio's host liability laws but it took a year and a half to get dropped from the suit during which he took off something like 12 days of work for depositions and hearings where they dug into anything and everything, including whether or not his wife tried to sell anything during the party (she ran a home-based business). Lots of lost sleep too.

@Trihonda has it right. Address it privately, quickly and firmly with whatever appeals it takes to gain compliance but don't tolerate things not improving ASAP.

 

[longflop]

Laws regarding social host liability vary by state. But of course its always a good idea to keep bombed people from driving.

I'm not worried so much about that as he lives on my street and walks too and fro. Everybody is pretty good about blowing it off "that's just drunk guy", but I am going to talk to him before next game.

I'm not gonna pretend to be innocent here either. I love poker and I love beer, both probably a little too much. I usually realize I should dial it back when I have to count the payout shares three times.

 

[longflop]

They do, but I'm not aware of any state where the host has zero civil liability. My point is even if the host is found not liable he's going to be out a good chunk of change and time before his name gets dropped from the lawsuit. Having personal liability insurance is helpful however if it comes out that the game was anything less than 100% lawful they may refuse to cover on the grounds that the incident occurred while the insured was engaging in an illicit enterprise.

A good friend was involved in civil litigation over this very issue. The guy had one beer at his place and then went to a bar and got plowed. He got sued on the theory that if he hadn't let the guy have a beer he would have been one less beer drunk after leaving the bar. Total bullshit under Ohio's host liability laws but it took a year and a half to get dropped from the suit during which he took off something like 12 days of work for depositions and hearings where they dug into anything and everything, including whether or not his wife tried to sell anything during the party (she ran a home-based business). Lots of lost sleep too.

@Trihonda has it right. Address it privately, quickly and firmly with whatever appeals it takes to gain compliance but don't tolerate things not improving ASAP.

and now I'm worried about that.

 

[Trihonda]

I usually realize I should dial it back when I have to count the payout shares three times.

Ya, this...

As a host, you really should consider dialing it back huge! Lol. Truthfully you have a lot of responsibilities to your guests. If the bank comes up short, or there are shenanigans, you’re responsible.


That same drunk liquor dude also hosts once in a while... when he does, he gets so plowed his tournament is the worst run game I’ve ever attended.. but the cash game is juicy. The last time I cared about running deep in his tourney, I made the money, and the final table asked him for the payouts.. he proceeds to toss a wad of bills on the table (he had no clue); and says it’s all in there (minus what he took out for food, beverages, and “hosting” costs). With 5 tables of players, at $40 each, there should have been $1500 plus in the prize pool, but what we wound up with was considerably less. Now, in his defense, he was hosting cards, provided beer, top self booze, and pizza, and never made claims that this was a well run tourney, just a gang of guys getting together to drink and play cards.. then again, he also never advertised those costs would be deducted from the prize pool. I wasn’t happy at the time, but whatever. Nice guy when sober, neighbor, and not worth stressing over it.

When he hosts his annual game, I show up, donk off my $40 BI, call it a donation for food, then hit the crazy 1/2 game where drunk people (I don’t know) start throwing cash at me... At least I haven’t broken one of HIS chairs, lol

Here’s this guy’s bar and game room

 

[ChaosRock]

I think @ChaosRock is going to ban me from drinking at his place

No soup for you!!!

 

[Rhodeman77]

I'm not worried so much about that as he lives on my street and walks too and fro. Everybody is pretty good about blowing it off "that's just drunk guy", but I am going to talk to him before next game.

I'm not gonna pretend to be innocent here either. I love poker and I love beer, both probably a little too much. I usually realize I should dial it back when I have to count the payout shares three times.

Only 3 times, damn you are good!! I didn’t drink anything last night but at 4am, being up for 22 hours and playing poker for the last 8 hours, brain function is barely working. 3 times is the minimum to count it and I had each person count it back to be sure. Too many new $20’s that were all stuck together really sucked.

 

[detroitdad]

No soup for you!!!

Fair enough

 

[DJ Mack]

Here’s this guy’s bar and game room

A spread like that and he's using dice chips. For shame...for...shame.

 

[Trihonda]

A spread like that and he's using dice chips. For shame...for...shame.

Oh, the first Time that I played his game, he knew that I was knowledgeable about running tournaments so he pulled me aside into his office, and asked me for input. He wanted to know how to do payouts and such, so I explained that he needed to keep the money secure and calculate how many people had entered. I gave him some other advice on structure as well.

Once the tournament started an hour later I was surprised to find that all of my advice had been thrown in the garbage can. We were using dice chips, despite me bringing better chips, and the structure was so horrible I’m not really sure how to describe it. Needless to say, there were doubling blinds, the removal of denominations at certain points well before they Should have been removed. For instance, he remove the T10 chips, then later had a level that required them. Like 60/120. His Set was comprised of the following denominations, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, etc. painful. Then he had no idea about table balancing. At one point me and another experienced player realized our table in the back room, had five players, and most of the other tables at 8 or 9 players remaining.

And When he threw the wad Of cash on the table, I was shocked and asked if he knew how many people had entered, and he had no clue. Lol.

As for the dice chips, I always offer to bring better chips, but he refuses. A friend in common says he does intentionally, because he doesn’t care about the chips, and knows I am a chip snob... I just have low expectations when attending, so I’m not disappointed or put on tilt. The players are friendly and fun, and that is all I expect, so I’m not disappointed.

There’s always Pac-Man...

 

[Rhodeman77]

A spread like that and he's using dice chips. For shame...for...shame.

I think everyone of us had the same exact thought!

 

[detroitdad]

I think everyone of us had the same exact thought!

I was pretty focused on the bar

 

[Trihonda]

I was pretty focused on the bar

Oddly enough, he has 10x that in his storage room... he’s in the liquor business and there are crates of booze just stacked along the wall behind the bar, lol... I’m not a big booze guy, so it’s not something I focus on... but for sure, the bar/stock is legendary in local circles...

 

[longflop]

As a host, you really should consider dialing it back huge! Lol. Truthfully you have a lot of responsibilities to your guests. If the bank comes up short, or there are shenanigans, you’re responsible.

I'm just goofing, I take hosting very seriously. A couple tourneys ago we had the tourney, paid everybody out their appropriate shares based on entries and rebuys, then a cash game started. Guys bought in, busted, new guys came in, we kept going for a while. At the end of the night the three guys got paid out on the chips they had. I somehow ended up with $40 more than the chips I had in front of me. The guys that were left said keep it, its the drunk guy tax. That ate me up trying to figure out where I missed.

I always try to keep a clear head and keep everybody happy. But man, if that Dogfish 60 minute, or Heavy Seas Loose Cannon somehow end up in my fridge, they don't stay there for long. I stay away from the liquor, that's my version of being responsible.

 

[krafticus]

I'm just goofing, I take hosting very seriously. A couple tourneys ago we had the tourney, paid everybody out their appropriate shares based on entries and rebuys, then a cash game started. Guys bought in, busted, new guys came in, we kept going for a while. At the end of the night the three guys got paid out on the chips they had. I somehow ended up with $40 more than the chips I had in front of me. The guys that were left said keep it, its the drunk guy tax. That ate me up trying to figure out where I missed.

I always try to keep a clear head and keep everybody happy. But man, if that Dogfish 60 minute, or Heavy Seas Loose Cannon somehow end up in my fridge, they don't stay there for long. I stay away from the liquor, that's my version of being responsible.

Heavy Seas.. good stuff. Are you in MD?