Calling String Bets: Rude?

[RR]

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When watching High Stakes Poker recently, I heard Gabe Kaplan state that the players were very reluctant to call "string bet" on another player.

Is it rude? We want to play by standard rules at our home game, but we don't want to encourage behaviour that would be rude at a B&M.


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Generally what happens (in rooms that use the superior rule of players calling string bets). is the players let it go and then after the hand someone will teach the player about string bets so they don't do it any more.

[DavidNB]

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Why would i "put a stop to it" as you say? 1. I'm not the host, everyone else that plays there is ok with it. 2. It causes no problems because play is slow enough and everyone says that they are raising immediately so literally no one has ever been confused by it.

So besides being an uptight nit or a rule nazi, what reason is there really to enforce this rule when not enforcing it causes no problem?

Also, I don't feel the need to "train" anyone.

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Remind them when they say I call and raise that its a string bet(but let the bet still go ahead) and they should instead simply say I raise. You don t have to be the host to say it. After a few times they will get it right.

[OrigamiSensei]

At our games we are fortunate that although we play hard it's also sociable and we don't have any angle-shooters. As a result we work primarily by intent and will let some things slide that might be called in a stricter game. We do enforce string-betting if it's a little too obvious - for instance "I'll see your x and raise you y" does not fly. Likewise a long delay between putting out stacks will tend to get called. However, if someone is using two hands to get their chips out and theres a small delay or other minor things happen we let it go in the interest of keeping it a more relaxed game.

[dizzle98]

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Why would i "put a stop to it" as you say? 1. I'm not the host, everyone else that plays there is ok with it. 2. It causes no problems because play is slow enough and everyone says that they are raising immediately so literally no one has ever been confused by it.

So besides being an uptight nit or a rule nazi, what reason is there really to enforce this rule when not enforcing it causes no problem?

Also, I don't feel the need to "train" anyone.

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Remind them when they say I call and raise that its a string bet(but let the bet still go ahead) and they should instead simply say I raise. You don t have to be the host to say it. After a few times they will get it right.

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My point though is...why bother? The entire point of the rule is to prevent angleshooting...and that's not a problem here. So again...other than just trying to be a "rule nazi" what's the point? If you're playing with people who are there to have fun and essentially throw their money away...why not let them throw it away how they want?

I have no doubt that if i wanted to nag at them consistently they'd eventually stop doing it. They'd also enjoy it less and it would go less from a "let's gamble" atmosphere to a "this is serious poker and he's trying to enforce every rule" atmosphere which is not exactly what I'm going for. Not to mention the fact that if anyone ever seriously tried to enforce a "string bet" the reaction would be "f u, get out if you don't like the way we play".

So basically my point is this: if you've got a group of live players, plenty of disposable income, not that good with no real desire to improve...what possible reason could anyone have to try to enforce rules that serve no purpose? I could demand that they don't show their neighbor their cards while they're still in the hand too, but why bother? They aren't gaining any advantage from it.

I'm not saying it's rude to enforce it, or even wrong to enforce it if you want. But instead of just being seen as the "anal nit" of the group...if the REASON for the rule is not a problem in your particular group...then that's a rule you can let slide.

[dizzle98]

I should also point out that this is not a "home game" with my buddies who are also into poker. This is a "home game" with a regular group of people I am not particularly friends with, but who think poker is "fun" as they used to play all kinds of weird cards games for substantial amounts of cash before the poker boom. These are people who, for example, will bet $300 saying "a hundred on each of my jacks" and mean it EVERY TIME. I'm not about to ruin the "gamble it up" mood. I guess it depends on how you want your game to go, I'd prefer to not run off gamblers with deep pockets because they don't like how "serious" the games are. It's not as if they just don't know some of the rules, they simply choose not to follow them sometimes.

[OrrLives]

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We also have a lot of people at my game who do the "i call and raise....". Which we basically allow to stand because they say it all immediately to the point that no one could ever flip their cards over thinking it's just a call. Unless someone's actions are actually giving them some kind of advantage then you should probably just let it slide.


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I agree that home games don't have to follow casino protocol 100%, but this one particular action drives me up the wall. There are two players in my home game who consistently do the 'I call X and raise Y.' We have told them in the past to say raise first if you intend to raise, but they just don't get it.

[DavidNB]

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My point though is...why bother? The entire point of the rule is to prevent angleshooting...and that's not a problem here. So again...other than just trying to be a "rule nazi" what's the point? If you're playing with people who are there to have fun and essentially throw their money away...why not let them throw it away how they want?



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The point isn't to prevent angleshooting because the term doesn't apply here, its to prevent mixups and confusion. What happens if the next player says I call at the sametime as the first says I call and...
It isn't being a rule nazi as that term also doesn't apply here. I'm not saying to disallow the bet, just give the guy a reminder to annouce his raise properly like I raise $20. It still keeps the game friendly and help prevents confusion or mixups. If someone is going to get upset over a polite reminder then you don't want them in the game to begin with.

[pfapfap]

I think in dizzle's case, it's not worth bringing up, as it's the custom for the game of this closed group of people.

To answer the titular (hehe) question directly, yes it is rude to be a nit about a string bet if you know it wasn't intended as an angle and when no action has followed. To do so is to shoot your own angle.

We don't have a problem with it, because I've been good about establishing protocol. But if an entire group of people has some other way they do things and nobody is confused or has a problem with it... well, if it ain't broke...

[PokerintheI]

In a casino or underground game I call it just about every time I see it, in the hand or not. I do this primarily because it doesn't seem right to me to call people out on it sometimes, but not others. I don't want other players thinking I'm only going to point it out when it is to my advantage.

However, in my home games, where the rules are a bit more lax anyway, if some new player does this, but it was obviously his intention to raise (i.e. chips in two hands but the right comes forward faster than the left) I will usually let it go with a warning the first time.