Home poker cheating - how common is it?

[Sir Folds A Lot]

I have seen my father in law cheat at the grand ma game very now and then. He barely puts his blind out there, and then after he has folded and everyone is concerned with the flop or whatever, he reels it back in. His pushing of pots has come under suspician as well. I've seenanother player at a different game, uses the chips of someone who has folded, but has a blind out there as part of his bet when it is close to him. He stacked his chips on there chips, and pushed it in as if it were his previous call.

All of those cheats could be fixed by haveing a dedicated dealer of course. It is something I am trying to arrange for my games, but no one wants to deal a whole game for nothing, and no one wants to tip, or discount anyone who would want to be dealer. My games are alll two table tourneys.

[Javanewt]

At least they are tourneys and not cash. If I saw someone doing that, even in a tourney, relative or not, I'd definitely speak up.

I've heard of a local game with three guys who collude and have signals, etc. Not sure if the cards are marked. I just don't play in it. I think it's 1/2NL.

I think the differences in this thread are home games meaning family and friends and home games meaning at someone's house and not in a casino.

[Commuter]

I used to go to this regular home game when I was in highschool. It actually would end up playing pretty big, 25 50c nl wiht between 500 and 1k on the table. One time I was there, but I had to leave shortly, and the guy who ran it told me later that it was the sickest night hes ever seen. He said the swings were ridiculous, and some new kids had close to 300 in front of them. Anyways, he also told me he suspected one of the kids of cheating, but couldnt prove it.

Later that month I was invited to a different home game, but wiht mostly the same kids, except for the guy who ran the previous game. The kid that my friend suspected of cheating was there. Anyways, I watched him for a bit, and then I noticed that his buddy that sat to his right would put an ace on the top of the deck, and then start dealing w/ out asking for a cut. It was so obvious it was stupid. Now, my buddy who ran the other game had told some of these kids about his suspicions also, but they still let him play in this game. So I kinda had a dilemma. In the end, I figured it wasnt my house, and I didnt really know these kids all that well, so I just cashed out and took off. Probably a dick move not saying anything, but if the kids running this game had been forewarned, and they still werent bothering to look for something that obvious, I dunno, I just didnt want the trouble or whatever wouldve come about, so I took off. I'm kinda ashamed of it now. But I was young and not very confident.

[samthepro15555]

i think that it is gay if people cheat in a home game i mean it is just to have fun and maybe you win some money and u play good and get a little luck

[Rob121]

how did you catch him doing this?
why is he raking pots for other people?

[bacats32]

[ QUOTE ]
I haven't played with him, but apparenlty there is a guy who verbalizes a bet then tries to throw in few chips and palms chips. Not sure if he'll be invited back. Seems as if they like him but have to watch him very closely. I hope I never play with him so I don't have to deal with it. Pretty pathetic, IMHO.

[/ QUOTE ]

having a rule to not splash the pot will help this. I keep all my players bets in front of them until action is done, then sweep the bets into the middle of the pot. This also helps when raises occur and people know exactly where they are at.

[bacats32]

[ QUOTE ]
^I don't see how only the dealer can be the one to touch the pot.

Lets say your playing at a standard 10 man ovalish table. It's a home game, so rotating deal. Dealer is at the end of the table, winner of the pot is at the other end, how does dealer push the pot to him?

[/ QUOTE ]

good question I have this 10 man table. Other then the dealer me (the host) is the only one allowed, as I help for the ones who are on the ends of the table. I make my card the A when choosing seats. There is no issue at my other 2 tables as they are the 8 man octagons, the dealer takes control.

[Albert Moulton]

I've never seen it. But apparently it happens enough for some thieves to make a living out of cheating home games and then write a book about it.

How to Cheat Your Friends at Poker: The Wisdom of Dickie Richard

I was surfing the web for poker books and found this. I was a little shocked after reading the sample pages. Pretty creepy stuff.

[Small Fry]

[ QUOTE ]
^I don't see how only the dealer can be the one to touch the pot.

Lets say your playing at a standard 10 man ovalish table. It's a home game, so rotating deal. Dealer is at the end of the table, winner of the pot is at the other end, how does dealer push the pot to him?

[/ QUOTE ]

Well in this case, if it was me at the end of the table and I won. I would stand up, reach out and scoop my own pot. Having players deal from the ends sucks and this is why I always have a dedicated dealer or two, in the middle.

If I was to have all players deal here is what I would do. I would have the guys in the middle deal while the guys on the outsides shuffle (two decks in use) for a set amount of time. When time is up we rotate to put the guys at the ends in the middle. They now deal until next rotation. It might be a bit of a pain rotating (but I doubt it) but thats what I would do.

I've seen some very sloppy guys dealing. Never pulling in chips, allowing guys to just toss out chips mixing with other chips, folded cards just left haphazardly around the table, no order to their deal (they'll put turn on one side of flop and river card on the other). And then once the hand is over you have cards and chips spread out all over the table. Totally redicuoulus. Just asking for problems as everyone is trying to move chips and cards. IMO, the host should explain very simple standard dealing practices and then tell everyone to follow them. Pull in chips and preferably stack them, pull in folds, and unless you win the hand, are the dealer or are asked to assist don't touch the pot. Pretty simple.

Another common courtesy I use is to always open my hand and show my palm should I touch another players chips or the pot.

[h0trod]

We had a guy peeking at upcoming cards when he was the dealer, and sometimes setting up the deck when he would collect the cards after his deal. Everyone liked the guy and my guess is it was more of a compulsion / thrill thing than a money thing but regardless he had to go. We were especially careful to be 100% sure what was going on before we threw him out. That he's the father and stepfather of two of our regulars made it even more of an awkward situation.