Just got an email from a buddy who hosts a game and was asking about what to do with players who he worried about that might be prone to over drinking and then driving home. I let him know what I thought and how I've handled it in the past.

Figured getting some more thoughts, opinions, and how others handle it on this matter never hurts since it is a pretty serious topic. I know some might say just ban alcohol in general, but that seems contrary to the home poker laid back fun atmosphere that us hosts try and create so I'm looking for other alternatives. I'll put up my thoughts after some others have commented.

I apoligize if there is already a thread buried on this, but the search function on my phone blows.

I play with this guy who tends to drink too much. Fortunately for all of us he hosts. He told me one night that his current girlfriend completely changed his behavior about drinking and driving simply by buying him one of those $60 breathalyzers. He used to think he was ok to drive, but seeing the readout made it impossible to lie to himself about.

So maybe gather keys when people arrive and tell them they have to blow <.04 to get them back or something. Takes some of the judgment call out of it.

I'm so lucky. My wife has an amazing ability to talk drunks (and we only get 'em very rarely) out of heading out. We've got a few spare beds in the place, so there are cozy places to sober up after a night of cards. I'd never be able to convince drunks to just sleep it off for a few hours like she does.

I'm lucky. Our group is pretty responsible. Only one of our players has ever had a DUI. My wife searched everyone's criminal history in our game.

Guys routinely bring and consume beers. Most of the guys are married, have kids, and have careers. They have way too much to lose. Personally, if anyone drinks too much in my game, it is me.

If someone were to ever drink too much, I'm not sure I'd notice. If another player pulled me aside and said, "Aidan had too much to drink and shouldn't drive home." I would probably offer a couch. I would use the guest bedroom as a last resort, since my kids' rooms are adjacent. Also, my wife would probably ban that player when she found out they were irresponsible.

We had this problem. The maniac in the group likes to drink and he had too much to drink a few times. This usually happened when someone else brougt the alcohol and he would help himself to more then his fair share.

Problem was that when you tried to talk him down from drinking he would get all upset and vocal, borderline violent. And when he finally busted he would refuse to hear anything about not driving home and stormed out all upset and angry.

Finally the host had enough and basically banned alcohol just because of this guy. Even though I don't drink I thought it was excessive that everyone gets punished because of one a-hole and that he should just ban him instead. But I wasn't the host so....

Eventually the guy realized he can't drink that much, alcohol is now back (when available in case someone brings any) and he accepts limits on his consumption.

This is all from my observations. I wasn't the host so I didn't get to call the shots but if it was me I would have banned him the first time he stormed out the door drunk unwilling to hear about calling a cab.

I have zero tolerance for drunk driving. Fortunately, our game is not a big drinking game, many of the players live within walking distance, and our employer offers 24/7 shuttle services within the city if necessary. Usually there is someone with a car happy to drop off people on their way home as well.

I would pay for someone's taxi rather than let them drive if I was in doubt as to their sobriety. Worst case scenario they crash on the couch.

I think just being strong enough to say something to someone you suspect of being over the limit - its easy to keep quiet. Having the discussion is often enough to dissuade most people from drink driving. What to do with the intractable remainder? A quick ban with a reason will hopefully start them thinking about their behavior in general.

Because I provide beer to my players, someone driving home when they shouldn't is a concern for me.

I try to watch how much players are drinking, and to date it hasn't been a problem. The heaviest drinker is a guy who will sometimes bring a six-pack and drink the whole thing over a 5-6 hour session. Most other players will have anywhere from zero to 3-4 drinks over that same period of time.

If I were ever concerned about a player's sobriety, I have two couches in the poker room that are available for crashers. I'm always available to drive someone home since I rarely have more than a drink or two during a game. I've never mentioned this to my players because the level of drinking has always been low, but I think I'll do so at my next game.

Alot of you reference when a person has too much, and you try to limit consumption.

How are you setting this "too much" ceiling? is it different for each individual player?

It varies from person to person, but most people can have up to one drink per hour before they start to become impaired. Generally my players stay in this window so I don't worry about letting anyone drive home.

I think any experienced drinker knows what to look for. Keep them off the road at all costs if they exhibit the big LDO signs: slurring, clumsiness, sleepiness, emotional swings, etc.

The tougher call is when someone is buzzed - just had a few, feeling good, loosening up, not quite as alert as normal. This is where you really have to make a judgment call, unless you want to break out a breathalyzer.

Interesting thread. Thanks for bringing this up because we are starting to have an issue with one of my regular players. He started drinking a lot of whiskey lately and he does not seem able to self-regulate as well as he should.

How do I go about imposing limits on him and not the rest of the group? Several of the players in my game have made comments in the last couple of months and he responses are generally of the "I don't give a crap" variety. When the game is at my house he tends to sleep it off in the guest bedroom upstairs but he also plays in other games I attend and he will often drive away from those games.

Whenever I host my game, I make it clear that everyone is welcome to crash the night if need be. Last game, I had about 4 out of 9 reg's stay over on couches/floors/etc. which I thought was great. We all were pretty sloshed come the end of the night, and those who did drive took it upon themselves early on to curtail their own drinking so that others could live it up a little.

The sad thing is that the majority of my buddies already have a DUI, and usually, the threat of getting another one won't deter them from partaking in the aforementioned libations at my game. I try to play Dad to them, but sometimes there's no budging in their thought process.

Designated drivers is another way to deal with this. Does anyone do that?

My crowd tends to be fairly tame....we actually serve tea/coffee as the night progresses to encourage everyone to slow it down...That said, if anyone was every completely wasted, I'd likely drive them home myself as I generally don't drink when I play...

That was one of my suggestions since one of the players lives fairly close to the one the host is concerned about.

I also mentionee that he has the right to take the keys from someone if needed and they can get their car tomorrow, which I've done before. Usually I have a couple of beers when I play, more when I'm hosting so driving another player home personally is like 50/50 on if I'm ok to drive. The staying on the couch is not an option for me as my wife would have my head.

So where am I supposed to sleep in July?