When I play my home cash games we have sort of an honor rule that unless you have to leave you're not allowed to cash out when you're up.

Personally I prefer tournaments in general but I'm not bad at cash games and when I'm up by 40 percent of my original stack I would like to take the biggest haul.

I understand what it's like to be a short stack but most of the time the big stacks stay up and smaller stacks just buy in again and again just to lose their buy ins again and again.

Personally I think we should be able to cash out whenever we like, but I was wondering what the poker community might think.

Should you be able to cash out when you're up?

No it is frowned upon and it would be considered rude to do so. And in your example, the big stacks usually keep winning so you should not worry about it

While you have the right to do so and you should be allowed to do it.

I agree it is frowned upon. If I did it I generally would not just stick around the table and watch. That I think would be considered rude. We've never had it happen, but I imagine there would be some people grumbling. It could be made up for if you offered to at least deal for us. We have some people who may even play backgammon on the side. Just don't sit and watch.

cashing out some of your chips without leaving the table is called "ratholing", and it's against the rules in virtually every poker room.

The players who have lost think it's unfair of you to take that money off the table. It should stay "in play", and available to be won back, as long as the game continues. It's the exact flip side of the reason you want to put it in your pocket.

It's also terrible for the game. It means it's that much harder for anyone to finish up for the night. You're sucking the life out of the game.

The idea that in a cash game, the big stacks keep winning and short stacks are at a disadvantage is mostly a myth -- a bad transfer of tournament poker logic. Played correctly, shortstacks actually have an advantage over larger stacks. Played incorrectly, it's true that bad play will result in chip loss.


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maybe you're not asking about ratholing, but just choosing to quit playing early when you're up. If that's what you mean, it's still pretty bad etiquette for all the same reasons.

Home poker is not a casino. It's not like there is a waiting list to fill the seat, so taking a bunch of chips off the table AND leaving an empty seat is hurting the players that want to play some poker. When you come to a home game, you generally are committing to a block of time, regardless of outcome. If you go bust, obviously it's not rude to leave early. Even in that case, I think less of a guy who shows up without the ability to reload as much as the other players.

Home games are often "fragile", meaning they break up easily. It is terrible for a game to have a couple of players who plan to leave ASAP when they make a modest profit. You start seven handed, have two guys take down one good pot & leave, and at the start of the second hour a couple of more leave because they don't like playing short handed. Game over this session. If this happens often, the host may find it ever harder to keep a standing group of players.

As host, I don't have a rule about early cash outs. But a player doing this as a strategy gets uninvited or invited last. If I run a game with limited seating I would almost never invite someone who might last less than an hour or might even leave after the first few hands. I wouldn't have the same perspective about a losing player who hits a big lucky run and cashes out so they can book their first win of the year - that is different from a strategic decision to play a hit and run style.

I think the host made a rule to protect the game, likely after someone caused a problem. Hopefully, it dones't apply very late in the session but if this is a three hour evening game, I could see it apply all night.

DrStrange

PS +40% can often be winning just one modest pot. I could imagine that host made the rule with exactly this in mind.

Yes, generally considered rude at home games to cash out and leave if for nothing more than that there is now one less player in the game. The same reason I find players who leave after losing only one buy in to be very annoying (and I have a very good friend who does this). Home games can be very different from one another, but most are played for fun by the majority of players in them. It's a social gathering; a small one. When someone leaves a social gathering like this, the gathering suffers.

Plus people don't want to think they are playing against people who are there to make money. When you cash out and leave after getting up a bit, this is exactly what it looks like; that you didn't come for the fun and camaraderie but just to take people's money and hop out the door with it without giving them a fair chance to win it back.

At the games I play, there is usually a 30 minute rule where you have to announce 30 minutes ahead of time before you can cash out, but even then doing so only an hour into the game or so would be considered pretty rude.

I agree with Dr. Strange...if they're isn't a waiting list for people to jump on the table, hit and runs are definitely frowned upon. There's also the similar scenario...one person wants to leave...quickly followed by half the table then the game breaks.

If you do feel the need to leave during a session, at least give them a time set, such as, I'm going to get up at 3am or something other reasonable amount of time.

One thing we do is set a minimum time you have to play, then after that, if you are up for the night you have to make a 30 minute 'call', to let every one know you are leaving in 30 mins.

Most of the time our games only last a few hours, and are more for fun, so its never really a problem.

Our game has a predetermined start time and end time. All players are asked when they arrive, what time are you leaving/are you staying to the end? If one needs to leave before the designated end of the game, they disclose it up front at that time. Now, they are free to leave at the stated hour whether they are up or down. Otherwise, they are expected to remain until the end (whether up or down). This way the game never breaks early and everyone feels they had a fair opportunity to win even if they lost a lot early in the evening.

Unless the game has a predetermined length, then it becomes more of a gray area. Our standard rule is you have to give 30 minutes notice before leaving unless there is a justifiable reason for why you have to leave before doing so.

So if your game has a pre-set length (we'll start at 7 and cash out at 11), then it's rude to jump out when you're up. If the game is a 'play until we don't feel like playing anymore' situation, then an agreed upon time call ("I'm leaving in 30 or an hour or whatever is accepted) is fine.

If you have to go because you have to go -- then you go. [That is, if you were going to leave at 10pm regardless of how much you were or weren't up, then leave at 10pm regardless of how much you are or aren't up.]

If you want to go because you're up a bunch of money -- then it's courteous to stay and play for all the reasons listed above.

+1

We used to implement a "one-hour rule". You couldn't cash out until your hour was up, barring extreme emergency. It worked well, but fell by the wayside after a few years.

Now, players can leave anytime they want. We just bust balls of anyone leaving early, especially after a big pot, so it doesn't happen much.

We did have one guy, a restaurant owner, who twice won a monster pot, then suddenly get a call from work about an "emergency". Now, anytime he wins a pot, everyone starts shouting "Ahh, about time for work to call! Hope it's not a fire!" He hasn't hit-and-run since. The power of ball-busting

1. Hit-n-running a home game is horrible etiquette and is a great way to get uninvited (at least at my home game). Special consideration would only be given to a lifetime loser who is desperately trying to book a win (which, ironically, is actually GOOD for the game in long run, since it gives him confidence that he can actually win and thus keeps him coming back and losing)

2. If someone only brings ONE buyin to a game, they are implicitly saying two things
A. "I intend to try to win a large amount from you, my friends, but im only willing to risk a small amount."
B. "I'm probably going to leave the game once I'm up three or four times my original buyin"
I find this behavior to be a definite precursor to a hit-n-run and closely related to trying to short stack a home game. Poor form and disruptive to a home game, especially one with only one table and no waiting list. This guy needs to be playing tournaments or find himself a smaller game where he can have 3-5 100bb bullets.

3. I would only tolerate this behavior if there was a healthy waiting list/feeder game. Even then, its in poor taste.

I now realize I could've phrased that better. I really only tend to cash out when I'm tired of playing, or don't think I'll win anymore because of it. I've only ever cashed out with other players still playing once, and I got tired of all of their constant shouting and retarded raises, even with winning money. I was really curious about other policies for this, I hope I didn't come across as a jerk.