The hand isn't totally important but it went down like this.

8 or 9 handed, £1/£1 NL.

Villain UTG+1: £200
Hero UTG+2: £184

UTG straddle £2
Villain raise to £6
Hero raise to £14
everyone else folds
Villain raise to £36
Hero calls.

Flop: J94r
check, check

Turn: 5
Villain bets £50
Hero raise to £148 all in

Villain tanks for 5 minutes...

So while he's tanking, he's contemplating a fold. Says he thinks I slowplayed preflop. Asks if I show if he folds. Puts the call next to the line and basically talking about how he's beat.

Problem 1: Then he shows his cards to a dealer he is friendly with behind him. She says "meh".

Problem 2: The table dealer is sort of conversing with him by now... actually saying things like "10 8 suited is good".. for the turned flush draw + OESD.

He folds QQ face up, and I muck AK face up. Thankfully, otherwise I'd have even more reason to complain.

To be fair, everyone is quite friendly, I've played with the villain and 2 dealers a bunch of times. So I'm not sure if things just got "over friendly" because it was an exciting hand, without realising I have a £150 bluff on the line, and they should all STFU.

So obviously I'm wondering if his hand can ever be called dead, for showing someone else. He's getting reads from people but to be honest I don't think he was actually "cheating". After the hand the table dealer said he put me on AK, so saying things to make the other guy call is even more questionable.

Have you been in a spot like this, or seen someone have their hand made dead for this sort of behaviour?

ps. I'm not needing feedback about how badly I played it. I have now banned myself from doing any bluff this silly in the future

yeah ask them not to comment whilst a hand in progress; it is way out of line. Not loving your play here on a 1/1 game. Usually they shrug call.

When she started talking, you should have asked her, "When did they start allowing two players to a hand? Maybe we should call the floor?" If that doesn't shut her up, actually call for the floor.

Except that looks like you want villain to fold. I would have just stayed quiet as you did, but in my head I woulda been like "STFU!!!!!".
Def would have said something to both dealers and villain after the fact...very out of line.

Be nice about it and ask the dealer not to comment on the hand next time. They are there to deal and make sure the game runs properly. Some can't even do that properly. If he/she does it again, let the floor know.

I agree, it would be tough to say something, since you were praying for a fold (unless you put the bad guy on A Q, lol). Same reason why calling the clock would probably emit a mad-guy call; unless you think he was hip enough to think of it as a reverse tell (doubtful, in a 1-1 game, those folks don't seem to be the sharpest knives in the drawer half the time).

Personally, I would have racked up and left.. and definitely mentioned it to the floor on my way out. What's next, the dealer looking into the deck to pre-rabbit, and see if the guy can divine from the dealer's face what the riv is?

I'd ask them politely to not do it again after the hand was over and just continue playing. Inside I'd be steaming though. Not cool.

wow that is so uncalled for, not to mention it sounds like he took forever? I agree you can't say much while the hand is going on but after you can say something like: it's hard enough to beat you in a hand by yourself, please don't bring a partner into it and a big

Everything has been said. Ask the dealer politely not to help other players with making decisions. If it happens again, quietly get up and bring it to the floors' attention.

Problem 1 doesn't actually seem like a problem to me.

I understand meh to be in indication that the dealer doesn't care. This response lets the player know ... yes I know you are showing me your cards ..... but I don't care.

It seems to me to be an appropriate response.


Of course problem 2 is a real issue that needs to be addressed.

Problem 2 is the real issue.

I would not be polite. I would immediately call for the floor and ask for a new dealer. Even though you wont get one it needs to be made clear to this dealer how wrong this is. If villain had called I would demand the dealer cover my loses.

This is actually incident report material for me. It could have gone so wrong for you, with a casino employee acting as co-conspirator to a blatant "one player to a hand" violation while on the clock. It doesn't get much worse than that.

Wow , where was this ?

You missed out on value a king was going to hit the river for sure.

I would be pissed !! After the hand was over I would make sure the dealer understood what he did was way out of line ! I would not show my bluff and maintain I wanted a call I want him to know his behavior had conciquenses. I probably wouldn't call the floor if the dealer apologized and showed he realized what he did was inappropriate. If he doesn't see the error in what he did I'm taking it further until he does

This is why, as a dealer, I don't even like making eye contact with players who are tanking. I don't want to give anybody any reason to suspect I may have influenced action. Even worse, I don't want the player himself to think that an eyebrow twitch is meant to be a signal to him.

Speaking up in the few seconds between Problems 1 and 2 was the right move here if you felt in jeopardy.

Wow, that would upset me as well. I wouldn't say anything during the hand since it may tip off the player as to my bluff.

But if I was called and lost, I would have taken it up with dealer and management to cover my losses. That certainly was a violation.

We had a situation here where two players got it in preflop, one with Aces, the other with AK. They both decide to show after its all in, even though that's not required in cash games. An ace hits the flop and the AK player throws his hands toward the muck and gives up on the hand. The dealer does not muck the cards, and instead deals out the remaining cards, making a 4 card flush on board and the AK gets the flush and is given the pot.

While you can argue what the dealer should have done either way, the player was smart enough to complain to management and got a comp for the pot size to the steakhouse. It wasn't cash, but at least it was something!