So I've been playing in a pub game run by a friend of a friend, it is in a relatively rough/ area but I've been doing well the last 15 weeks its been running. (6 wins, cashed every week)

There is a solid customer base now and we all know each other with a few members of the same family in the game. We split them up and they're ok with that. So this week we were having a deepstack tourney and it was in level 2 when this happens.

UTG raises, cut off re raise, UTG 4 bets.

CO asks " if I just call will you check it down with me? " UTG says yeah as both guys are friends/ possibly family

I say, I object and that they cant do that. UTG snaps and says "this is a friendly game of cards, and none of us are taking it too serious, both players in the pot agree and that's what matters"
I call over the guy running it, and meanwhile they have over turned their hands, and the dealer (self dealt game) starts to deal out the cards.
QQ vs AK, and the Queens hold, so the "director" comes over and the hand is already over. He claims there is nothing that can be done.

So the guy with the AK, is a degen with no teeth and keeps berating me over my objections, and taking it too seriously.
Then i witness another hand, in which, there were two women, and one of them checked behind with the Ace high flush (absolute nuts)

So I'm fuming but chip leader, I don't wanna kick up too much of a fuss, because I'm winning a lot here.

So I'm Small blind, and toothless degen is big blind and i Have Aces, I raise, and he complains, saying its a friendly game etc etc. I jokingly say, if u just call we can check it down, it tilts him and he shoves all in with 47o and I Stack him . I eventually win.


I am going to play in this game next week, but is there anything i can do really to combat the soft play,(checking it down, checking the nuts to friends) or should i just keep quiet and taking the money?


tl;dr notes

Friend of a friend runs tourney in pub,
AK vs QQ, two friends agree to turn hands over and check it down,
I complain, get yelled at by other players who are all from same families.

owned.

Who cares if they check it down? Most of the time that's optimal strategy and although it technically is against the rules in a friendly game as long as it's allowed for everyone really who cares?

Why would you think checking down is optimal strategy. I should invbite you to my game.


It is a problem, but since the director thinks it isn't a problem or that he is powerless to do anything your best option is to stop playing that game.

I dont get the point of this , if they agreed why u complain against that , if its a friendly game play it friendly

It's a home game. If the guy running it wants to allow players to be able to agree to check it down, then that's a rule variant for that home game.

I mean, a home game does not (and often does not) follow casino rules. A home game could make a straight beat a flush and it'd be perfectly acceptable since the guy running it chose to make that the rules.

It's clear the guy running it doesn't care. So, the question becomes, is the game fun enough/easy enough that it's worth playing despite the fact that players are allowed to check it down like that? If the answer is yes, then there's nothing you can do aside from trying to explain to the guy running it why he shouldn't allow check-it-down agreements.

I've seen players agree to check it down countless times in numerous casinos. Really, I don't see the problem with it if it's a heads-up pot and both players agree once everyone else has folded. Lighten up, especially in a pub game.

I get in trouble with this myself. Due to my casino training (and control-freak nittiness), I have a knee-jerk reaction to anything outside of policy. I hear the "it's just a friendly game" response to things like folding out of turn, talking about the hand, saying "I bet the pot" in NL, saying "I put you all-in" in a multi-way pot, etc. In fact, all of this happened yesterday with the same person.

Relax, dude. It's a pub game, and you're clearly wiping the floor with them. You used this particular violation to your advantage. Don't rock the boat.

This thread is a bit of why we left our bar league and formed our Wednesday night league...

...did I mention our Wednesday night league starts it's season tonight?

This behavior is (a) standard in bar leagues, and (b) fairly standard at a variety of home games and even low-entry casino tournaments.

You either get used to it -- that the atmosphere around the game is more important than the game itself, or you start playing elsewhere.

Sure, you can inject a bit of your own "personality" into the game. You can lead by example. You can refuse to engage in that sort of behavior -- and if you're fortunate, you'll start to win hearts and minds - and the game will become a better place.

Don't expact too much change from the tournament director. He's getting paid to keep people in seats at the bar, drinking, and having a good time -- and he cares likely more about that than satisfying a few rules nits, no matter how well-intentioned they are.

Tournament: Hell NO.

Cash Game: Go right ahead. In fact, I'll sometimes try to pull a Sammy Farha and get a 4-way check it down or chop if I got caught with my hand in the cookie jar.

You missed the "most of the time" part. Just because bluffing in empty side pots is pointless (if he folds you get tiny equity gain in the other pot if he calls you just lost that money with what is likely the worst hand) vbetting thin is also much less useful because your range is all value hands and you won't get hero called often. So most pots where there is an all-in and an empty side pot even without an agreement the pot will be checked down.

Oh wait I'm an idiot for some reason I thought there was an all-in yeah ignore what I said before but still if they want to do it I don't think it's a huge deal. Better that they declare out loud what they're doing than there be under the table agreements and collusion.

Although agreements to check down have issues even in a cashgame . . . .


If yopu think its not a major problem in a tournament then you really don't understand what is happening...

I agree fully, psand, but it sounds like these people aren't even good enough to understand what it is they're doing. If the TD won't step up, there's nothing you can do. Pub games are their own little worlds, and there's really no changing that. If he can make headway with the TD, then great, but otherwise it's only hurting him to stress too hard about it. These people play scared and resent aggression. Continue to exploit.

bro, this aint no serious game and you shouldnt be complaining about these types of things to recreational plyrs, just have fun and rape them for their moneyz in the future

Thanks for the input guys, willitell, pfapfap. etc

Yeah i will take it a little lighter, don't complain too much and keep them happy playing, and me happy winning