Live at many of the casinos in LA and vegas, I see obvious regs doing this.

Its got to the stage, where, I have started saying see-ya .. as they scoop the pot.

Its not always a BI .. normally $150-$220 will be more than enuf, and they obviously do some laps, and re-buy for their optimal stakes at another table.

Am not sure its wrong .. and maybe some fish dont even recognise it -- its clearly a way to protect their bank-roll/grind it up.

I cant think of a way to combat it .. all u can do, is make a mental note of all that do it .. and the hands they win with .. 90% time, with quality/Nuts.

Who cares what they do? Why do you need to combat it? Someone else will sit in that seat in a few mins anyway.

I suppose so.

I used to think, their was some poker ettiquette, about giving the table a chance to win, etc, but, clearly wrong.

It does look bad, thou, when the reg, goes for laps, as the person who has been stacked re-buys, and knows he hasnt got any shot of getting his money back.

I agree that its bad etiquette to stack someone and leave immediately. The other day I stacked a guy and 5 mins later had to leave due to a family issue. I apologized to the guy I beat before leaving. We are both regs so I know that he knows I was sincere.

However, you cant look at it like you have no shot to get your money back if the guy leaves. You have the same shot at getting your money back if he's there or not. You just have to get it back from someone else.

I'm sorry, I don't understand...

whose money is it?

In poker, possession is 10/10 of the law

The etiquette you speak of applies only to home games IMO. And I don't think of it as giving someone a chance to win *chuckle* "his" money back. It's more a gesture of respect to the host. Suddenly taking lots of money off of the table is bad for the game. and if you want the game to go regularly, or if you want to be invited back, don't do things that are bad for the game.

Easy way around this. Announce your departure an hour ahead of time. Then whatever happens right before you leave is coincidence. Can't guarantee people still won't be grumpy though.

But in a casino, new money is coming in all the time. And the people you play with are mostly strangers anyway, so F 'em

Several Strip rooms enforce buy-in = last cash-out with < an hour (or half?) in between.

That said, winning regs benefit from covering weaker players, so re-buying at table limit would be neg EV. Sitting out, or picking up and getting back on the waiting list is not profitable.

If you're talking about losing regs they'll be giving back their winnings sooner or later. A conservative strategy which allows them to stretch their roll longer, might add pos EV to the game. You can table change/bum hunt if you believe that helps you.

Sounds like they're just rat holing the money. Which is normal for a broke reg. Sucks that they hit and run but there's usually someone else to take their spot. If a reg gets up I'm more than happy to have an unknown sit in his place.

PS - in what casino does the 'anti rat hole' rule expire after 20 minutes? Every where I've played, if you return within 1 hour, you must re-buy for the same amount you left with, or more up to the maximum.

Find out what the rule is and if you see something shady, say something. If the rule is an hour (which it probably is) and a guy leaves with $500, and you see him 38 minutes later trying to buy in to a table for $200, say something to someone. Tell them you want that guy, and his $500 back on your table, now.

Floormen can not keep track of this, they are counting on you

This isn't really a strategy question. If you want to discuss the etiquette of hitting and running, Live Casino Poker is the forum for that.