No I'm not talking about the welfare fish that grind micro stakes. I'm taking about the backroom VIP Platinum card holders that play for hundreds/thousands of dollars a hand. Over the years I've learned to make friends with poker players. They are a good source of information on other players, strategies and also having a friend doesn't hurt.

Well there is this one particular guy who is degen to the max when it comes to pit games (blackjack, roulette, baccarat). He comes from a wealthy family and has already borrowed as much as possible. He was telling me about his recent swings. I don't remember the details besides all the straggering numbers: 10 thousand, 35 thousand, 12 thousand, 18 thousands, hit this, hit that, got unlucky there and there, dealer made a 21, etc.

One week ago, this kid was sitting on $45,000. And all he could think of was BET MORE. More money on roulette, more money on blackjack. And I'm thinking, 45 thousand dollars, ****ing do something with it! Travel the world, take flying lessons, go get some pussy, enroll in an MBA... I mean ffs he's young, it's not like he's a crippled old man whoes only source of fun is casino games.

He asks me if I'm hungry and we go to an expensive restaurant, which he paid for with his comps. We exchange poker stories, work and family stories. And then he drops the bomb: "Put me back in the game?". I'm like what do you mean? He goes "you know I'm good for it. I'll paid you back I promise". I told him I was just a small fry and every hundred dollars meant a lot to me and that I was in no position to loan him anything, he's asking the wrong guy, etc. Doesn't take a genius to figure out how uncomfortable I was. I have a very strict policy when it comes to lending money to poker players and gamblers.

The policy goes as follows:

NEVER.

I made that very very clear to him verbatum. No means no. I don't do that. Period. Not that I need to justify but what is a few hundred dollar gonna do? He loses it and comes back for more? He wins, pays me back, loses the rest and comes back? Not getting paid back is the least of my worries. But he wouldn't stop begging. "I'll owe you a big favor", "just a little bit", "I'll give you cut of my winnings". The whole 9 yards.

We'd change subject and talk about life ambitions, girls, and other fun stuff. And there he goes again.. "You sure you can't help me out a little bit? I would do it for you if I win big".

So how does BBV handle this? I'm sure some of you had friends like that.

I left it at telling him that don't one day hit the big win you've been chasing and wake up to realize you're 40 now and just threw away over a decade of your prime life. I felt like **** giving advice because I've been there before. I'd beg friends and family to bail me out so I can get back in action and when they'd give me genuine life advice it would just go in one ear and out of the other. I didn't care about life advice at that time. All I cared about was getting back in action. This is a guy that got kicked out of two major banks for writing bad checks to himself without worrying about consequences, as long as he gets action.

I'd give one of your friends $10 for a full bi at your stakes.

JUST SAY NO!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mblUcKxZ-hE

Another joke about "my stakes". Some people like to actually play for fun without money really being a factor. $1 is $1 still but you're not playing for phone bills, car payments, loan payments or a month's salary over the turn of a card.

Also, I went into the VIP room and you'd have guys in their 20's tossing $5,000 chips like they were pennies and then spreading the proceeds over the roulette table. "Sixteen red". Boom. The dealer swipes the felt for what is a whole year's worth of earning for many, before any taxes or living expenses. These guys would talk to the pit manager like their pet dogs and the managers would just take it. I was at awe.

I change my post it's actually a sort of half-decent thread. well not really but its about 1000 x times better then most of ur threads.

Also I've never had a friend ask me for more then $3.50

Give them credit ratings, loan to the worthy, charge modest interest, put the interest aside in cash, count the profit at the end of the year if there is any, reassess. Instead of being a pain in the arse it becomes a business opportunity that may or may not work.

Any time I slid a rack to a friend, I might say remember me if you win. It came to mean $50. That's fifty bucks in the real world.

Just loan him amount you DGAF about. Then, if he never pays you back, he will never ask again. If he pays you back, you can loan small amount again. Dooh

Don't be a douche. Buy your buddy back into the 10 cent ante donkfest

^

If he owes me money he doesn't feel like paying back he might get me booted out of the casino.

I once loaned $200 to a female friend I knew would never stiff me. I loaned a few buy-ins at the 2/5 to really close friends when we travelled together. And they did for me. We'd never ever stiffed each other. We know hundreds of mutual people (friends & family).

This degen right here doesn't qualify. I don't know any more than the next poker fish, one who is so fortunate to be born with the world at his feet and **** it all up gambling at pit games *smh*

Well then just tell him "you are a degen, i won't loan you any money", whats so hard about that?

If he can do this then he can get you booted for not loaning him money that he wants.

Just lend Fred Flintstone some money and grind it back at 10NL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N57SxyxUhTQ

Nice to see what's important to you.

Great, another MTT thread with a pile of made up BS. Suppose he just needs someone to talk to

tldr w/e, didn't read thread, here's my response to the title in regards to lending money to play at the poker table.

I regularly lend money to friends of mine so that they can continue playing poker. I have many friends who are absolutely garbage at the game, and often too old and arrogant to ever accept that, so they take all of their disposable income to the games, blow the lot of it to me or someone else and then look to me, hoping I'll shout them another BI, giving me the works "I'll pay you back with interest", "I'll give you the money + a cut of the profits back", "I'll pay you back within x amount of time etc. etc."

I have absolutely no problem lending money to friends of mine to play (against myself or otherwise), the only problem comes when they start to dodge and avoid you to skip paying their debts. It does gets old when some select people tell you every week that xyz came up, bills, can't get to an ATM, don't have online banking, the list goes on. SO those are people you will chase for weeks, months to get back to square. That's not to detract from friends of yours who are always good for it. I still have friends that always pay me back when they say and always keep their promises so I'd be more than happy to lend them any day of the week.

tl;dr use best judgement, lend to those that prove themselves trustworthy, don't lend to or repeat lend to untrustworthy people.

actual tl;dr don't lend at all, it's surely -ev over a large sample

SolarAU: Well good advice. Except you didn't read the most important parts..

TL;DR version:

Said borrower is:

-a pit games fish
-plays for stakes 10x bigger than my biggest swings in one year
-already maxed out what he can get from all of his wealthy family
-got kicked out of two major banks for credit card fraud and writing bad checks to himself
-is lucky not to be in jail
-had $45,000 with zero obligations and the world at his feet less than 200 hours ago. Decided to gamble it all away.

Yea I do/did lend money to people who are actually friends and ended up losing to me or other sharks. They even paid their share of the holiday despite losing and me winning.

You should definitely lend him money. There is no down side to me as I see it. Yabba Dabba Doo.

All the best.

Confirmed 20c shark itt

just say no, the reason he is so addicted to this thing his life has become is becuase he always gets away with it

He comped your meal you cheap bastard. Least you could do is lend him a couple grand.

kind of like how bbv handles you.

Shame, ridicule and with a general overall disdain

OP edit

I think the best solution for you is to stop trying to have "friends."