[PFunk]

So I get invited over to this guy's house from randomly meeting another guy, who lives in a "card room" house basically....Games 5 nights a week, and two tables downstairs, and two upstairs apparently that I didnt see...Anyways, it was a $35 tourney w/rebuy's, and everything was great really...two full nice poker tables, alot of bad players, crappy cheap chips, good dealers, free food n' drinks etc....But one thing I was kinda wondering about, was the guy who lives there was playing in the tourney, and pretty much running the game at the same time...thats fine and all, but I just started thinking about it while reflecting on the night.... Is it unethical, or considered bad form to be playing in games that you are hosting and raking on?...I mean, it didnt really bother me at the time, and hey, its this guy's house, he can play in his own game if he wants to...but he's kind of like running an operation here with this thing, and I question that just a little....when we broke to one table, it was him (the owner), and what seemed to be a good friend who were pretty dominantly stacked, and I busted soon into the final table....Nothing seemed like it was going on or anything, not implying that, but this fact just stuck in my head.

Later I thought...."guy has all these people over at his place, takes a rake of your money, then sucks out on you in the game and takes your money off the table too"

I remember one time playing last year at a similiar type location, and the host never played...One night, he jumped in the game when it got late, and was short handed, and one of the players was criticizing/objecting to him for playing in his own game, saying it wasnt cool, and so and so, and such and such never do that at their games....he asked if anybody objected, no one else really cared, and he even stopped taking a rake at around that point...The "complainee" was still pissed and left after a bit.

i didnt know where else (forum) to put this, but lets be clear about something...this is not a "home game"..this is an illegal (technically) gaming operation, and this guy makes money off people coming over to play poker for 10 hours at a time, 5 days a week.

Anyways, long story short....what do you all think of this type of thing?


P.

[Nugzy]

Ive never played at a game like that so I have no first hand experience. I would think if youre running an underground card room, complete with rake, it would be a conflict of interest to play the game also. But then again, everyone playing there knows that the host is also playing, and they arent forced to play in the game. To me it still seems to be a conflict of interest, but I wouldnt be able to make a decision of whether or not I would continue to play there until I actually played a night to see how things worked. If the host was always winning, I would probably be suspicious and not play there anymore.

[Guma]

Yeah same here. no experience in a place like that. I do however play in my own home games and tourneys where there is a rake from the inital buyin. This rake though goes towards food and drinks for everyone playing, and believe we put on a spread of food and the drinks are always flowing. No one has ever had a problem with this. As a matter of fact most guys are more than willing to pay 50 Riyals ($13) for food and all the drinks that can put down!

If this is like you say more of an underground card room then I would not expect him to play. If he sat, I would defnitely have an eye on him at all times. Probably would not go back there again either.

[PFunk]

To clarify, I never saw anything off, or got the vibe of anything wierd going on....just a bunch of random people together playing cards where someone has made that possible for them to do, but not to get it twisted, there's something about the situation that lets you know its not a "home game"....A home game to me is much different, and of course the "host" is going to play....And even though I didnt play much with the owner, he seemed nice, if not a little stand-offish though, but nothing about the situation put me off making me not want to come back, in fact, it seems like a place where a good player could clean up playing the 1/2 NL games there.... (Maybe I'll try and become a good player next time and go back next week)

But, as Nugzy mentioned...there is definetly a conflict of interest going on when the owner is playing in the games, n some of his friends, some of the dealers etc., and something about it is making me ponder it I guess....I'll have to go back and feel out the situation again, I enjoyed playing there I guess, i was just wondering about a consensus on this type of thing as far as other people are concerned if they play in similiar types of situations at bigger, raked home games.

Just wish we had some damn legitimate card rooms to play at where you dont even have to question this type of thing.....Can't even legally play Texas Hold'em in TEXAS for money at a legal establishment-


P.

[drake]

I have no problem with the host playing in the game.

I hope he plays loose and aggressive and loses the whole rake.......to me!!!!!
It's great to see that money in play. (As long as it is a honest fair game)


What one person views as a problem .........is another person's opportunity!!


JMHO,
Drake

[WolfPack]

If he was taking a rake then yeah I think it was wrong. I play in my home league games, but I don't take a rake and I pay the buy in like everyone else, its just at my house.

[rakdesign]

having a rake of any type in a game in TEXAS is a bad deal..there is not an IF but a WHEN that game is going down..the 'pissed off' guy in your story has to make one phone call and the owner..his house...and everyone present will be arrested...detained ticketed..or confiscated by your local authority....I know of a few of those on my area and I am just tooo leery to be there WHEN they get popped..trust me '5-0' knows they exist they are just steering clear until there is a complaint....

I don't rake my tournies...but I also have 1/2 the prominent atty's, a US Marshall and some Customs agents at my game...so at least I will know if 5-0 is coming....the rake is a bad deal in TEXAS denotes the line between friendly game and illegal card house gambling....

[99%evil]

"And in my club I will splash the pot whenever the **** I please."

I wouldn't be comfortable with a host of a raked game sitting down with his pals against me. I'd fear collusion. He's got limitless pockets basically and could drive any pot up and if his buddy is invlved you could be looking at some bad odds.

I wouldn't return.

[VARoadstter]

I have played in games where the host would sit in when the only table going got short (less than 6). He's a big gambooler, though, so it's easy to make big dough off him if his luck isn't good. Often, it isn't.

I know games like this are illegal but as a player I know a lot of people who suck at cards who go to these games. I beat the rake handilly so it's ok by me. The host does make a staggering amount of money over the course of the night, though.

[Jambine]

Originally Posted by PFunk

...... i didnt know where else (forum) to put this, but lets be clear about something...this is not a "home game"..this is an illegal (technically) gaming operation, and this guy makes money off people coming over to play poker for 10 hours at a time, 5 days a week.

Anyways, long story short....what do you all think of this type of thing?
P.

It is not “technically” illegal. It IS illegal (and dangerous). You would really be better off playing in a casino. Seriously, nothing good will come from this game.

A small bit of advice, based on 30+ years of cash play. Run Away.