Same boat buddy. Sick of the “oh but when you’re older it’ll be great”
How to avoid cheating in home games? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter DerberAlter
- Start date
That guy is officially never invited to my home games!
I 'm now 50 and look 10 years younger. It doesn't help much
Of course, it depends on your target age group.
I 've always liked 40-smth ladies, being older and mature and without edges, and more experienced. It's utterly shocking to find out that a day comes when they 're younger
Bewildered as to why he kept getting invited back until he stared at the wall for 5 minutes. You all are way more giving than I am. I am very much in the “this is my home” and “life is too short for a$$hats” category. I don’t care how much they might be contributing to the pots.
DerberAlter
Flush
cheating was the topic. was
Apologies for thread derailment.
Something that may not have been mentioned above is creating a culture at your home game of a strict following of rules. I think a cheater would be somewhat deterred if the host set that expectation from the start.
A way to do this without being a rule nazi would be to nail “infractions” as soon as they happen. Pot being splashed, deal with it immediately rather than wait and see if the player does it again. Things like that.
Also, lowering stakes. I don’t think anyone wants to cheat for $20. On the other hand, if the game is $5/10, cheating may be enticing to a fellow with nefarious intentions.
Yeah, not my scene at all.
slisk250
Straight Flush
It won't stuck in ten years whipper snapper!
slisk250
Straight Flush
Go to southeast Asia and you will be a chic magnet...filled with 40 year Olds begging for your attention. HahahaI 'm now 50 and look 10 years younger. It doesn't help much
Of course, it depends on your target age group.
I 've always liked 40-smth ladies, being older and mature and without edges, and more experienced. It's utterly shocking to find out that a day comes when they 're younger
Poker Zombie
Royal Flush
It also helps to explain the "why's" of a rule. Every rule has a purpose.
Before a cheat risks anything at a $5/$10 game, they are going to hone their art at a lower stakes game. Saying "I don’t think anyone wants to cheat for $20" is exactly the same as saying "I don’t care if anyone wants to cheat for $20".
If you care about losing $20 to a cheater, then there is a cheater cares about winning $20.
aaronroch
3 of a Kind
^ Agree.
Once had a guy in the middle of a friend’s tournament who actually suggested everyone to stop cutting the cards “because it is a waste of time”.
“what, are you an amateur mechanic?” (I don’t think he knew what that meant) “Eric if we don’t cut the cards, I’m leaving”. Fortunately the host agreed with me and shut the guy down.
aaronroch
3 of a Kind
Have any of you ever caught someone cheating at a “small friendly home game”?
I’ve witnessed people colluding, group playing, or whatever you wanna call it. I think thats more common than people realize. Getting in a pot with your friends and checking it down after forcing someone out. That’s the only thing that I’ve witnessed.
We had a husband and wife team that I firmly believe frequently colluded. But collusion is so hard to prove. Easier just to not invite them back.
ceramicmike
Flush
How to avoid cheating at a home game? Easy, display your gun collection behind the table
Yes.
Care to elaborate?
Poker Zombie
Royal Flush
I've caught collusion, lean back to peek at neighbor's hand, and have been told that a player was looking at discarded hands.
I did not personally catch it, but it was mentioned to me, so I stressed the importance of maintaining secrecy when dealing in the next newsletter.
Many of these things may be innocent (curiosity, alcohol involved incidents, or simply not being aware they were colluding), but stopping it early prevents the temptation down the road.
I did not personally catch it, but it was mentioned to me, so I stressed the importance of maintaining secrecy when dealing in the next newsletter.
Many of these things may be innocent (curiosity, alcohol involved incidents, or simply not being aware they were colluding), but stopping it early prevents the temptation down the road.
First game I hosted one guy pulled out a bunch of chips from his pocket. Most of us were pretty sure he wasn’t rat-holing but not sure so we let it slide. Totally my fault as I left the extra chips on a side table with no protection - the last time I made that mistake. Keep your extra chips safe!
And he’s not been invited back since.
And he’s not been invited back since.
Here is another thread on the subject of cheating. https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/cheatas-gonna-cheat.40221/page-2
Dr. Strange has a good list of ways to cheat. Zombie has some good ideas on collusion, though I don't really know how he does his spreadsheet to find it.
Dr. Strange has a good list of ways to cheat. Zombie has some good ideas on collusion, though I don't really know how he does his spreadsheet to find it.
Kid_Eastwood
Full House
I think collusion is the most obvious type of cheating in home games.
Other types of potential ways of cheating:
- manipulating the deck (in a self deal game) ;
- cash-out chips introduced by players (e.g a player knows you use $25 Aztar and he tries to cash out his own $25 Aztar).
To mitigate the risks, you shall keep control on who you're inviting and use (semi-)custom chips.
Other types of potential ways of cheating:
- manipulating the deck (in a self deal game) ;
- cash-out chips introduced by players (e.g a player knows you use $25 Aztar and he tries to cash out his own $25 Aztar).
To mitigate the risks, you shall keep control on who you're inviting and use (semi-)custom chips.
Kid, I think collusion is one of the most difficult things to catch and one of the hardest to beat. Maybe you know something about finding it and catching it I don't. Why do you think it's the most obvious?
Your last point is definitely on point!
Your last point is definitely on point!
David Dobbs
Two Pair
Make the house rules known before dealing any cards and also how disputes will be handled. Also, anyone you dont know you let know what happens to cheaters in your house. Eezy peezy
Kid_Eastwood
Full House
The only thing you can do is to keep control on your invite list. For instance, don’t let people invite other people you don’t know in your game or ban people you are convinced they are colluding. There is not much you can do except this...
In tournament, make sure that all seats and tables are always drawn randomly.
There is an article about that on Pokernews : https://www.pokernews.com/strategy/...st-cheating-in-home-games-collusion-24197.htm
By most obvious I meant that it’s the type of cheating I was thinking about and probably that you’ll encounter in your home games - maybe without noticing it - more often (compared to deck manipulation, cash out your own chips, ...).
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Poker Zombie
Royal Flush
Looking back at my last big game, I had 18 players.
16 of them, I met for the first time playing poker. The other two were my wife and myself.
Friends inviting friends is a crucial component to keeping a game alive, especially in my rural community. You cannot avoid inviting someone just because you don't know them. Killing the game to protect the integrity of the game is like killing the patient to stop the disease. It's effective, but wrong.
Collusion will happen. Often it won't even be "colluding", it may be a guy slaying softer vs his girlfriend that he is just teaching how to play poker. She may be the benefactor, but is she doing anything wrong? It could be a spouse laying down a monster, because they have a better read on their partner than the best poker player in the world could ever get. That's not wrong, it's just good poker play.
Soft play will be more common than "whipsawing" or telegraphing cards when it comes to collusion. It is best to just stay vigilant, and bring up the topic when it is suspected. You don't have to accuse anybody. If a soft-player is willfully doing something wrong they will know you are talking about them, and will stop. If not, then you uninvite that player.
But you cannot stop inviting people, just because you don't know them. While those 16 people were unknown to me at the time, I now consider them all friends.
Kid_Eastwood
Full House
You're right. I also met new friends at the Poker table.
I fact I met them at another game and when I'm confortable with them, then I invite them at my own game.
Of course, you won't make your game grow fast like this. From my end, my game is mostly a friendly STT followed sometimes by a cash session which does not need to expand.
So indeed I understand your point of view.
I fact I met them at another game and when I'm confortable with them, then I invite them at my own game.
Of course, you won't make your game grow fast like this. From my end, my game is mostly a friendly STT followed sometimes by a cash session which does not need to expand.
So indeed I understand your point of view.
This reduces the chances of deck manipulation. But it does not eliminate it.
For example, if the shuffler places certain cards at the top or bottom of the deck, or even just observes the location of a few cards in the deck as s/he completes their shuffle, by carefully watching the cut they can pretty well know whether those cards will be in play in the hand, or if they can be subtracted.
This is obviously not as big an advantage as stacking a deck perfectly to determine a precise outcome. But it can be big advantage for a sharp player over the course of a long game. (We found this out the hard way in our game.)
Say, if you know the ace of spades is unlikely to be in anyone’s hand, because it was on top of the deck and got cut toward the bottom half, that changes everything if you make a pair of kings, or there’s a spade draw on the board.
A guy I removed from our game was doing essentially that. He rarely had the chance to truly stack a deck, but he would watch his shuffle as much as possible and then based on the cut have useful information to gain an edge. Being a very canny player, having even that small edge once per orbit was very profitable for him, until caught.
Such a cheat could also watch closely as other people shuffle/cut to gain the same edge, as plenty of home game players do a poor job of shuffling securely. But that would be harder to prove.
Poker Zombie
Royal Flush
The dealer should never see the faces of the cards. Proper shuffling makes that level of deck manipulation much more difficult (though I would not say impossible). Make sure the dealer never picks up the deck with the cards facing him - they should always point away.
I would love for everyone in every self-dealt home game to shuffle like a pro. The reality falls far short of that.
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