I'm in favour of dealer favouritism towards players who are polite, friendly and don't angleshoot.

Shorthanded $2-4 LHE, we're 4-handed. That Human Rain Delay guy is in the game, but I go on vacation tomorrow, and I'm all out of ****s to give. I have abandoned all hope for this down.

Preflop. UTG folds. Rain Delay folds.

SB tanks for close to a minute, in anguish over his dilemma. Finally, he announces his decision:

"Chop?"

How did you not burst out laughing? I would have.

I did.

So, tough to tell from the story...was he really thinking about the situation, or just mocking the slow guy? If mocking, that is awesome.

Sadly, no. He was inexperienced, and probably thinks Mr Slow's behavior is typical.

Curious on your opinions here.

Does your place have a rule against dealing to immediate family/spouse in poker specifically? What is the rule?

Do you agree/disagree with such a rule? Why?

We have a rule agains dealing to fsmily. I'm not sure how far out they extend it to but I think such a rule is a good rule.

Edit to add:

I went to look up the rule in the rulebook and could not find it. It may exist in the poker room in some other document besides the rulebook. However i did find a rule against dealing to family in the Employee handbook. It does not specifically address poker .... It refers to table games and uses language which does not specifically address poker. t does not define family.

So easy in a big room to re-rout dealers around a given table, so why not?

Small room like yours, much tougher question.

I have joked in the past, while waiting for the bbj I dealt to get paid out, when a huge pot on a scary board broke out, "Glad you guys didn't hit it again, they would have dragged me out of here in handcuffs! Doesn't matter that I'm innocent, I could never convince them of that."

No one--NO ONE!--will be happy for e dealer who deals it to his spouse/relative. Even the most open-minded person would have to consider its authenticity. No casino needs that question raised.

At least in a small room, they'll quickly see that the house didn't have a lot of options.

My room allows it much to my surprise.

When I dealt in Atlantic City you could not deal to family.

I've dealt to my dad many times...we don't keep it a secret at all and a lot of players joke about it if i put a bad beat on him. I've also never heard any resentment or favoritism comments either when I push him a nice pot. He tips me just like any of the other dealers and he's definitely a George.

If the room is using a shuffle machine, which a vast majority do, it should be a none issue in poker.

Not really there are lots of enforcement of rules issues which could be implicated.

Please. Starting to sound like a "what if" ex wife. If we should any "rules favoritism" we'd be called out in a heartbeat for it. Even the bad dealers are smarter than that.

Edit: if anything, most of us will be even stricter with the rules with family to insure no favoritism!

I get called out for favoritism all the time even though it's not true. The point is it doesn't have to be true but if someone gets their panties all in a wad it would certainly look better if the dealer wasn't related to a player.

I never get called out for favoritism. I'm a hard ass to everyone!

I've dealt to my mother, brother, sister in law, many times over the years. Mom has since passed away, but I would sometimes make it a joke with an evil comment if she lost a hand. Everyone got a laugh, and I always got a toke. Once the toke came I'd of course so "ok go ahead, bust her".

My brother is of questionable character, moreso with the free drinks. I made sure at all times the floor knew he was my brother, and should get no benefit, and even fewer chances.

Agree with sandman.

lol @ thinking most dealers would be more strict to relatives.

My room does not have a rule against it and I don't think that's a big deal.

Before I was a dealer I saw one demonstration of how things could go wrong. There was a regular player in a small (1-3 tables going most days) room who was one of the most vile people I have met. He went on a homophobic rant against the dealer and told him he would pick a fight with him on the street, lose, get the cops to arrest him and then have his prisoners (he was a prison guard) rape him. The dealer said nothing and was obviously not enjoying the interaction. All of this because he wasn't getting good cards. He had many other things to say about other players and random women who walked by. Two players left out of disgust, telling the floor why and the floor did nothing.

Another dealer finally pushes in and he changes completely, being really nice to her and tipping her basically half his (large at the time) stack in the first few hands. I then found out he was engaged to her and this was his method for going South. It's Vegas so dealers are taxed at a compliance rate, not the actual amount.

I wound up leaving, regretting not doing it sooner and I have not been back. Would he have been allowed to act like this if his fiance didn't work there?

It's the bad apples like this who cause rules to be made. Don't get me started on things I've seen happen when dealers play in their own room...

^ I don't think an outlier like this should be a reason to assume the worst about people dealing to friends / relatives. This guy should obviously be banned from the room though. And if anyone else in the room knew about the relationship, I'm surprised they would tip the fiancee at all; I probably wouldn't.

It's just not hard to avoid it so why not avoid even the appearance of impropriety

I'm not saying it's a good reason - just that guys like that are what lead to poker room managers becoming fed up and making rules against it.

Seems easier to just have a rule against allowing abuse by the players, and then sticking to it. I am shocked that the player - dealer relationship here led to the player being tolerated. It should have been more likely to lead to the dealer being fired.

Obviously, by this premise, dealers shouldn't be allowed to deal to anyone the befriend at the poker room either. amiright?

Actually no. Because that is far harder to avoid (or even define).