Typical ruling question... (longish)

Brocktoon · #1 08-03-2007, 02:37 AM

Today I played a live tournament, something I rarely do, and got called for a string-bet. Here's what happened:

We're at the final table and I'm pretty (very) drunk and the chips are confusing the hell out of me since the blinds are big and the BB is something like 16 chips and I'm not used to it at all.

So it gets folded to me in MP and I have 56s and I want to make a play at the blinds. I start cutting out chips directly in front of my stack which is pressed up against the edge of the table. I'm cutting the chips literally within 1 or 2 inches of my chips and it happens to be directly to the SIDE of my hole cards. Its clear to everyone that I'm about to raise but a player to my right (who had already folded) pipes up that I have to just flat call since I'm "string-betting".

This really struck me as bogus but I didn't fight it too much since even though I was ridiculously hammered I liked the "drunk and clueless" image. How can I be string betting when I'm COUNTING chips sideways within 3 inches of the table edge? If there were a bet line on the table I probably wouldn't have been halfway up to it and IMO I made no forward motion. I was cutting them in groups of 4 from right to left.

FWIW, a guy in the blinds had KK and went all in and ended up saving me a LOT of chips and maybe even my stack since if I had raised I would have been getting really attractive pot odds after his all in rather than being able to fold.

Sorry for the long post.

Rottersod · #2 08-03-2007, 02:41 AM

Not a string bet unless there is a rule at that casino about it. Just because some nit try's to call you out doesn't mean you have to take it. The dealer is the only one who can enforce a string bet but many of them will clam up and not try and make waves.

Brocktoon · #3 08-03-2007, 02:50 AM

Rot,

I agree, the thing is the dealer sided with the guy calling me out. IMO I was getting railroaded because I had been clearly struggling to keep up with the action prior to that point and I was essentially the table joke due to my condition.

I was frequently forgetting to post my antes and a couple of times I'd say something like "I raise to 40" and throw 4K chips into the pot. All this stuff was genuine, I wasn't doing it on purpose for image or anything like that but I loved the fact that everyone thought I had no idea how to play and didn't want to ruin that by getting into a long debate about string betting at the time.

I think I got hosed, but its all good.

AngusThermopyle · #4 08-03-2007, 10:05 AM

[ QUOTE ]
and I was essentially the table joke due to my condition.

[/ QUOTE ]

But you are 100% sure that this happened exactly as you remember it?

bav · #5 08-03-2007, 10:13 AM

If it all happened exactly as you spell out, sure you got called for a string bet that didn't happen. But which is more likely--that a player would call out a string bet that wasn't AND that the dealer would side with the player, or that the player who was "pretty (very) drunk," "ridiculously hammered" and "essentially the table joke" made some motion or did something he was unaware of that was taken as a bet. I'll go with Occam on this one.

steamraise · #6 08-03-2007, 10:19 AM

Yeah, you got hosed and it saved you money. Call it running good.

Milo · #7 08-03-2007, 10:24 AM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
and I was essentially the table joke due to my condition.

[/ QUOTE ]

But you are 100% sure that this happened exactly as you remember it?

[/ QUOTE ]

So many stories of the "I can't believe how these guys screwed me over" type, start out with, "Okay, so I was really hammered..."

Brocktoon · #8 08-03-2007, 10:24 AM

Hmm, I suppose its possible I did something I don't remember, but I really don't think so.

I was playing it up with the drunk thing a little at the table so they would think I was looser than I was but I was pretty aware of what was going on at the table and I think the players were trying to take advantage of me whenever they could with little angle shoots.

FWIW I remember every hand I got all in with at the table, and there were many, I was playing TAG, knew the size of pot at all times and had some basic reads on everyone at the table. Its not like I was in black out mode or anything.

Brocktoon · #9 08-03-2007, 10:39 AM

OK, lets forget about the drunk thing for a second. The dealer actually gave me a half-assed explanation, tell me what you think.

As I was cutting my chips I had my hole cards pulled up against my chips and to the right, where I always keep them. So the chips I had moved off of my stack to be cut and counted were positioned laterally to my hole cards, as opposed to behind them.

The dealer said that if I had just moved my actual cards up before I started cutting them then I would have been fine. So apparently the bet line is determined by where my hole cards are resting at that particular time. I've never heard this before, has anyone?

For the recrod, this is not an "OMFG I can't believe these guys screwed me" kind of story at all. Its just something that happened to me that I wanted an opinion on is all. As I said, it ended up saving me chips anyway.

SellingtheDrama · #10 08-03-2007, 10:42 AM

I've heard that one quite a few times before (cards are the betting line).