Entourage at the Table: Am I Totally Out Of Line Here?
Hey everyone,
I'm in a bit of a disagreement with my usual/local room. They allow some players to bring an entourage with them to the table. (Not exclusively regulars or famous players or anything...just when they feel like it.) These players will show their sidekicks their hand and then have a conversation about it before the player acts. Some of these sidekicks take photos or videos. The most recent example involved a guy who was pulling his shirt up and obviously talking into a mic.
Is it incorrect that the rail is meant to serve as a boundary between people who are playing and those who are spectating? My understanding was that, if I don't have a seat, I ought to be at the rail.
Sometimes people come in with five or more lackeys who stand at the table and converse in hushed tones and language I can't place like some kind of poker committee.
If you were in this situation, watching it happen night after night, what would you do?
You're at the highest limit table a room offers and that starts to happen right next to you. (Seat to your right.) Phones out, photos, text messages, mic in the shirt, etc. You say you're not playing under those circumstances and call the floor. The floor sides with the player with a team with him.
...what do you do?
8 Replies
I leave. I then see the people higher up and let them know why I left. If they continue to allow cheating(discussing your hand with others before you act clearly violates one player per hand) I report them to the gaming commission. I know it will lose but hopefully they need to pay more bribe money. Do NOT stay and get cheated.
My guess is that this is not a regulated poker room. There is little you can do about it in that case other than leave. On the off chance this is actually a regulated room, you can talk to the poker room manager as to why you are leaving.
I accuse them of collusion, in that they are violating "one player to a hand".
You’re not unreasonable. If this is a regulated poker room, just ask the casino manager if they have a rule about this. Sometimes the floors are bending the rules to keep good relations or get tips.
Thank you all for your input. I didn't think I was totally losing my mind but it's tough when I'm angry, feeling like I'm right but also unsure how much that's about almost zero gain in several hours at the table, etc. I appreciate you helping me ground my judgement and make sure I'm not just being a jerk.
I did talk to the floor manager for the poker side of this room. She is the one who informed me of this "house rule" to not follow basic rules. She justified it by saying - pretty sure I have this verbatim - that she "learned how to play poker by doing that...by watching [her] husband at the table."
I'm done with cash games there. Only tournaments for now and probably nothing soon. They monitor their tournaments very closely and it is different management running that and they are more professional/consistent/reasonable.
As for talking to the California Gaming Commission...I may not want to stir that pot. There was a fight at this room several months back. A pretty big dude was working a little guy over pretty good. I watched for a moment. Security did nothing but watch. I helped end the altercation very quickly. I was told to leave while they kept the aggressor there until cops arrived. They banned me for a week. I came back after the week-ban with donuts for the staff and I thought we were all cool.
But...I mean, they have video of me putting a guy in a choke hold. I'm told it looks pretty bad. I'm not going to stir the pot. I'm just done playing cash games there forever and probably done w tournaments after August and that will be that. If that's the room they run, I'm out.
My apologies. I didn't mean to turn this into a therapy session. lol.
There are a lot of lessons this beautiful game stands to teach us. Most of them have nothing to do with cards.
Thank you to all of you once again.
Watching is one thing - discussing strategy while the hand is in progress is quite another.
I'm fine with the first thing, as long as it isn't significantly slowing down the game. The second thing should never be tolerated.
Hey everyone,I'm in a bit of a disagreement with my usual/local room. They allow some players to bring an entourage with them to the table. (Not exclusively regulars or famous players or anything...just when they feel like it.) These players will show their sidekicks their hand and then have a conversation about it before the player acts. Some of these sidekicks take photos or
This is totally out of order, discussing hands during them and whispering. Filming is ok if your doing something like Brad Owen's type of vlog. He edit's it later anyway .
