Low Stakes Limit Game - Guy Hollywooding every hand
 

Was just at my fav. B&M yesterday for a 2/5 limit game (yes that was 2/5) and the guy 2 positions to my left would pause and stare at his cards for 45-60 seconds pre-flop EVERY HAND!!!

It just got annoying and people (to his left) actually started acting out of turn and folding their hands (as they were going to regardless of his action).

It got even worse because he stayed in 90% of the hands (usually raising) and would proceed to do the same bit on every street, hollywoodin' it up like he had a really hard decision to make.

The dealer didn't seem to care, the players obviously did.Comments like "Willya hurry up!" and "Dealer, how long do we have to wait for an action?" were heard (though not said by me, I suffered in relative silence [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] )

What should we have done?

Re: Low Stakes Limit Game - Guy Hollywooding every hand
 

Say 'Thank you, TV poker!', spit on the floor, and call the floor over to tell him he can have only 3 seconds from then on. Or change tables. Personally, I like to laugh at and ridicule people like that but I'm a bastard sometimes.

Re: Low Stakes Limit Game - Guy Hollywooding every hand
 

Wow. I'm usally an impatient jackass when this happens at my B&M. "It's YOUR ACTION", "Fast game is a good game", etc. I can't stand those WPT types, especially when they're in their 40s wearing dark sunglasses trying to imitate the guys on tv they want to be like when they grow up.

Re: Low Stakes Limit Game - Guy Hollywooding every hand
 

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especially when they're in their 40s wearing dark sunglasses trying to imitate the guys on tv they want to be like when they grow up.


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The sad thing about it is he's 100 % right

Re: Low Stakes Limit Game - Guy Hollywooding every hand
 

I was in the exact same situation, and I called the floor. The floor asked him to keep up with the game. He didn't. What can the floor do in this spot? Do they have discretion to just boot the guy?
Personally, I don't care how bad the guy is. If it means I only get to play 10 hands per hour, he's killed my winrate.

Re: Low Stakes Limit Game - Guy Hollywooding every hand
 

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I was in the exact same situation, and I called the floor. The floor asked him to keep up with the game. He didn't. What can the floor do in this spot? Do they have discretion to just boot the guy?
Personally, I don't care how bad the guy is. If it means I only get to play 10 hands per hour, he's killed my winrate.

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That's why I laugh at and ridicule them. I'm trying to drive them off the table and they deserve it anyway.

Re: Low Stakes Limit Game - Guy Hollywooding every hand
 

Try ridiculing the guy (without getting kicked out yourself). Don't know why the dealer doesn't push the action - his earn rate is getting killed. Your earn rate is getting killed too. Every casino has a time limit. You can call "time" every single time. But this won't help - could even make it worse since now he thinks it's "in the rules" for him to take up to 2 minutes or whatever.

Move tables if possible. But if I were that guy, if 2 or 3 people told me "it's your turn" every single time it was my turn, I'd get awfully sick of that.

Re: Low Stakes Limit Game - Guy Hollywooding every hand
 

Sounds almost like the guy was on a power trip - making all of you wait for him to make himself feel more important (to himself).

Re: Low Stakes Limit Game - Guy Hollywooding every hand
 

1)Mock and ridicule him relentlessly until he realizes how much he is pissing people off

2)Ask dealer or call floor to see if anything can be done

3)If 1 and 2 don't work within 10 minutes get a table change

Re: Low Stakes Limit Game - Guy Hollywooding every hand
 

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What should we have done?

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I would have asked if it was his first time to play live poker.

Maybe he's been watching in on TV for a few years, and has developed an idea about how the "pros" do it. If so, you could point out that TV was just TV, and it was really OK to play a little faster.

Re: Low Stakes Limit Game - Guy Hollywooding every hand
 

take all his money and send him to the atm or hopefully he leaves.

Re: Low Stakes Limit Game - Guy Hollywooding every hand
 

In Vegas in a cash game, I don't recall ever saying anything to anybody about such stuff. There's always another table to play somewhere close by.

In tourneys, it's sometimes a problem. When it's not a huge issue, it generally just gets tolerated. When it IS a real problem with one player ALWAYS taking unreasonable lengths of time, anybody can try to correct it.

In a Mirage tourney eons ago the approach one person took at our table was to just call time on the guy pre-flop after he'd taken 20 seconds for the 10th time in a row. Each hand he'd call for a clock, first after 15 seconds, then 10 seconds, then finally the instant it was the slowpoke's action we heard "CLOCK!" Table got a laugh out of that one and FINALLY the player got the message and did start acting pre-flop within a few seconds.

I've seen dealers use polite and/or humorous comments to speed up a player. And I've seen dealers just break down and spell it out... this is NOT the WSOP, there are NO TV cameras, you did not pay $10,000 to enter the event, and you only have two cards to think about---ACT, DAMMIT!

Whatever works.

Re: Low Stakes Limit Game - Guy Hollywooding every hand
 

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take all his money and send him to the atm or hopefully he leaves.

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Unfort. the cards were on his side while I was there (I on the other hand busted out on set K's over set 8's over set 4's)

Re others: I actually thought about singing "Hooray for Hollywood" everytime he touched the cards, but figured that would be considered rude.

I'm also pretty sure it wasn't his first time, but that he was far from a regular player. Perhaps I should have said something quietly to him.

Re: Low Stakes Limit Game - Guy Hollywooding every hand
 

If you know his name start referring to him as "slow bob" (or whatever his name is). If you act after him don't look at your cards until he has acted, some of these guys do this habitually to see the action after them. Repeatedly say "I'm waiting for slow bob" "come on slow bob" "It's on you slow bob" [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

If it really is bothering (tilting) you change tables if possible, or quit.

Re: Low Stakes Limit Game - Guy Hollywooding every hand
 

Why not take him aside quietly, ask him why he is taking so long, and explain low limit protocol. I would nicely tell him you want him to do well, but hes ruining the game for others.

Only after that talk, and obv. If he doesn't stop, should you call floor, call clock, or ridicule. Or just switch tables.

Re: Low Stakes Limit Game - Guy Hollywooding every hand
 

That usually lasts about 5 minutes with me in the box.

"Sir, it's your action."
"Sir, I need an action."

*friendly tap on the table*

"2 to call, 4 to raise, free to fold."
"Sir, if it was on you what would you do?"

A few straight-up prompts and they usually catch on as to what's expected of them (for the record, it's usually new players who just aren't familiar with live game standards that do this -- it's rarely malicious or intentional, at least in my experience).

If it continues after that, I (or my floor) will usually give them a friendly tap on the shoulder and explain to them (quietly and non-confrontationally): "Sir, this isn't a million dollar tournament, and we do have a rule here against unnecessarily delaying the game. Live limit hold'em is a fast-paced game, and people come here for the action. You're gonna have to pick it up."

If the player still causes problems after that, then floor should ask them to leave for unnecessarily delaying the game.

I have ejected a few players for slowing the game, and I think it's a necessary backstop. However, most of the time I believe that a good dealer who runs their game well should be able get these players to pick it up without turning it into a major confrontation.

q/q

Re: Low Stakes Limit Game - Guy Hollywooding every hand
 

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"Sir, if it was on you what would you do?"

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Ha, that one is good.

I ran into this once at the Paris at 1/2 NL. It was late night and shorthanded, so there were no other tables to go to. This guy was to my right, and never spent less than 45 seconds preflop, squinting at his cards, and surveying the table, even while UTG. While he wasn't agonizing whether to put $2 at risk or not, he was giving formal poker lessons to anyone in earshot. I was somewhat of a newbie myself, so I didn't want to say anything, and was amazed at how everyone ele just sat patiently. He wasn't even much of a fish because he folded almost every hand.

Re: Low Stakes Limit Game - Guy Hollywooding every hand
 

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It just got annoying and people (to his left) actually started acting out of turn and folding their hands (as they were going to regardless of his action).

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There's a guy where I play regularly who does this on purpose. I try to sit to his left and wait. Once I was UTG+1 and then found myself on the button (same hand).

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It got even worse because he stayed in 90% of the hands (usually raising) and would proceed to do the same bit on every street, hollywoodin' it up like he had a really hard decision to make.

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This guy is flat out horrible at poker. Even though you are playing fewer hands, this is a goldmine. Isolate him with good hands and take his money.

There was a guy I played with once who did this. He was dead tired (hadn't slept in 48 hrs), drunk (or at least drinking), Russian (spoke little english), and had to be told how much each bet was (it was limit). Nobody said a word to the dealer, the Floor, or the Russian (except for the occasional "Boris, its $20"). This guy dropped over $2,000 in less than 5 hours. Which is $45/hr per person average in addition to any other profit there might have been (in a 10/20 LHE game this was over 2 BB's/hr just from this guy alone)

What we did do, was start a contest from down to down challenging each dealer to see how many hands he/she could deal in 30 minutes. Amazingly, one dealer hit 24 hands. The low was about 11 hands or so. Just about every dealer participated eagerly and would help in prompting the player to make a quick decision.

Re: Low Stakes Limit Game - Guy Hollywooding every hand
 

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I was in the exact same situation, and I called the floor. The floor asked him to keep up with the game. He didn't. What can the floor do in this spot? Do they have discretion to just boot the guy?
Personally, I don't care how bad the guy is. If it means I only get to play 10 hands per hour, he's killed my winrate.

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Yes. The floor can boot him or ask him to leave for the day or pretty much do what ever they want. The casino is a private business. Now the question is WILL the floor do any of that?

Re: Low Stakes Limit Game - Guy Hollywooding every hand
 

Did he, at any point, ask God to let him win a hand?

Re: Low Stakes Limit Game - Guy Hollywooding every hand
 

I don't spend a TON of time deciding, but I do generally take a couple of seconds while I consider my options. Sometimes a player will try and act out of turn. Oh well. Thing is I try and keep my routine the same so I go thru the same thought process each action so nobody can get a read on me. If I only think real hard for 10 or 15 seconds when I have a real good hand...

Re: Low Stakes Limit Game - Guy Hollywooding every hand
 

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Thing is I try and keep my routine the same so I go thru the same thought process each action so nobody can get a read on me. If I only think real hard for 10 or 15 seconds when I have a real good hand...

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This is fine if you only do it when considering a call or raise. But if once you know you are going to fold there is no reason to hollywood, it buys you nothing.

Re: Low Stakes Limit Game - Guy Hollywooding every hand
 

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I don't spend a TON of time deciding, but I do generally take a couple of seconds while I consider my options. Sometimes a player will try and act out of turn. Oh well. Thing is I try and keep my routine the same so I go thru the same thought process each action so nobody can get a read on me. If I only think real hard for 10 or 15 seconds when I have a real good hand...

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What limits do you play?

Re: Low Stakes Limit Game - Guy Hollywooding every hand
 

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I was in the exact same situation, and I called the floor. The floor asked him to keep up with the game. He didn't. What can the floor do in this spot? Do they have discretion to just boot the guy?
Personally, I don't care how bad the guy is. If it means I only get to play 10 hands per hour, he's killed my winrate.

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Yes. The floor can boot him or ask him to leave for the day or pretty much do what ever they want. The casino is a private business. Now the question is WILL the floor do any of that?

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Yep, I've been a witness to it.