Calling String Bets: Rude?

[TrvChBoy]

At the home games I play in, we are very quick to call "string bet" on someone who has made one. Often it will be someone who is not even in the hand. We don't have a dedicated dealer.

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.

[nehianh]

generally when u are stern with someone the first time they string bet they wont do it again, thats just from my experience

[Taso]

at a good casino, string bets never really happen, dealers always catch it and say "you can only bet this much sir."

At a home game, it's fun, people have one hand on their beer, or in the chips, etc, so don't be too much of a hard ass about it, but you should give the player a warning and say next time, it won't stand, etc, whatevvv.

[lsaw2]

As long as you educate those at your game with what would be acceptable in a B&M then there shouldn't be any problems, after all it is a home game and you can only be so strict, especially with no dedicated dealer.

In my games, I always deal and will call someone on what they have done but rather ask how much they intend to bet once they start to string bet, the verbal bet stands then I explain at the end of the hand what they did wrong whilst shuffling.

[pfapfap]

I go with intent, and more the "older" way of NL. If the person obviously intended to raise, I let it stand. If it's an afterthought, too bad so sad no raise. In cash games, anyway. In tournaments, players can be nittier.

Note that in some cardrooms, calling a string bet is done by players, so don't expect the dealer to speak up. But regardless of what you do at home, DO NOT string bet at a cardroom. Announce all action before moving chips.

[M4TT]

It's hard though to "educate" people who dont know much about the etiquette of the game on these types of things. You will often come accross as annoying or nit-picky.

These norms have a meaning and a sense, mainly to ensure clarity at all times.

[jafeather]

It all comes down to how casual your home game is.

If it's more of a social gathering that happens to involve poker, then don't get nit-picky.

If it's more of a game, and the socialness is the by-product (i.e. if the game moving slow because of people chatting is a piss-off instead of the norm, etc.) then encouraging correct play is the right move. You're saying "we like to have fun, but this IS a serious game."

[dizzle98]

Really the purpose of about every rule of poker is to try to prevent someone from gaining an unfair advantage. String betting is not allowed so that people cannot put out an amount then go back and grab more chips after the person behind them makes their intentions clear (as in i bet, you grab chips to make the call, and i then grab more chips and put even more into the pot). If this isn't a problem at your game then really just let it slide.

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.

And frankly, the "host" of the game can basically use whatever set of rules they want. At a casino it's the casino, at a home game it's the host. So it's not really "rude" if you all really want to play by rules that would be consistent with a casino. Sounds more like people who are just uptight anal to me though honestly if everyone is so quick to do it without regard to someone's intentions.

[DavidNB]

[ QUOTE ]
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

[/ QUOTE ]

I would put a stop to that right away. Its very bad form and string betting at its worse. You need to train people to say instead, I raise, or raise X amount.

[dizzle98]

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.