This happened the other day. 10-20 NL

Board shows Broadway, no flush possibilities. One player shows set of Jacks, other player mucks. $600 pot goes to player that shows live cards.

Winning player counts out half the pot and quietly gives it to losing player. They were sitting next to each other. Both are regs that have played with each other for years.

Losing player is very good, but it was also 3am and probably out of it.

What do you guys think?

very nice of him, not much to say

I'd be okay with it if I could be confident the "winning" player would have chopped with a first-time player as well as the reg he did chop with.

Also, $600 is only 30bb in this game so it probably didn't seem like a big deal to the 10/20 regs.

Nice gesture, but definitely would not be allowed in our room as it is against the rules for one player to give chips to another. And that's what the guy is really doing. It's no different from a rules perspective than if one player simply decided to give another player chips off his stack for no reason at all. If the house rule is that the last live hand won the pot, the players can't agree to change that. Maybe some rooms allow more flexibility than that, but I could see how that could become a problem. What happens when the same thing happens with a player that you don't like, and he doesn't get half the pot? Or what if a player gives another player a "rebate" for taking a bad beat on the river? Coming from a room that is strict on that type of stuff, it seems like it could be a problem allowing players to decide how to divvy up the pot.

Personally, I think you should let it go (only in the case where the board is the nuts), but if anynit does have an issue with it then the floor should be called. The floor should not allow it and ask the loser to give it back.

Oh, I totally understand all the rule implications. Honestly, I don't think that anyone outside of me saw the chip push, since I was sitting right in front of them. The game just got juicy and everyone was focusing on the new wild player that came into the game.

It's fine. I've done it in smaller pots. Not sure if I would be so noble in a $1200 pot though

One of those ‘no harm, no foul’ situations where hopefully nobody complains. If somebody does object, the chips obviously have to go back.

Obviously against the rules. But IMO no harm no foul, especially if I expect both regs to keep the chips in play. Also as noted, as long as a unknown or even disliked player would likely relieve same courtesy.

This would never fall under what's in the best interest of the game? The nuts were on the board and they both had live hands at showdown.


I can understand if gaming is super tight. If you made the player give back the 300, would you consider including a "What you do with your money off the table isn't up to me"?

Is the question would you do this or would you complain if it was done?

If someone else does this who cares.

Nice gesture, I might do this, but I certainly would not object to this.
Heck, in some rooms you do not even have to table your hand to play the board.

If someone had an issue with it then I would ask the Floor to rule on the hand, not on the transfer of chips .. if that option was still available. Floor rules a chop pot and issues a warning to Player for not showing down his unnecessary hole cards. If the Nit fusses, give him a buffet to get him away from the game he's bogging down.

The Dealer/Floor allowing the transfer of chips could be a Gaming issue whereas ruling on the hand itself may not be 'as much' of a rule issue. GL

I don't think it should matter how much the pot was. Where would you draw the line? $750? $1000? More? It's a violation of table stakes to do what they did. If they want to exchange cash on the side fine but I think this opens the door to potential other issues in the room, one in which people say, "but he let them do that, why won't you let me do this?"

It shouldn't matter
Nobody should care
No harm was done
All complaining will do is ruin a fun vibe

the players pools are so small at this limit, you gotta let stuff like this slide without batting an eye. Its so inconsequential that yea, i wouldnt even blink.

In this situation, rules are rules. We can't draw the line because it was a small pot or whatever. You simply can't give chips from your stack to another player and there's no reason not to let it slide from the other players' perspective, but when a nit wants to enforce the rules we really have no choice. I would always say "you can give him cash from your pocket if you'd like to make it right, but you cannot give him chips from your stack". Then I walk away saying "goddam nits" under my breath.

you're right- if some nit complains the floor has no choice.

Suit, I'm curious. In your room, are dealers not expected to enforce the rule about players not passing chips to each other unless a player complains? Where I work we are, without calling for a floor. And if a supervisor saw a dealer let a player get away with it, the dealer would get spoken to/written up ( if it was a recurring thing). Or do you leave it up to the dealer to decide?

With us it's treated the same way as players buying in for over the table max or less than the min. Often players don't care, but we still have to enforce it.

So if player B is in the bathroom while his drink arrives and player A tips the waitress from his own stack, player B is not allowed to reimburse him from his stack?

What happens if two players do red/black for $1? Do you force them to take out bills from their pocket?

Are players allowed to break larger chips for other players? That also involves the passing of chips between players.

Allowing dealers to use some common sense and judgement isn’t a bad thing.

You're taking the term "passing chips" to a nonsense degree in your examples. We are discussing a player who was given an entire pot giving half of it to another player. Making change has nothing to do with that. Repaying someone for a tip that would have come off of the players stack anyway has nothing to do with that. Our room takes a hard line on red/black and other prop bets, as they are considered an illegal form of gambling that is not authorized by the gaming commission.

The discussion is about players being able to give players chips that reduces their stack and increases the other players stack. My question to Suit was just whether dealers are responsible for enforcing that rule absent a player complaint. In our room they are expected to; in others maybe not. Your examples have nothing to do with the discussion and are just nitpicking the words used to describe what we are talking about.

The dealers are expected to enforce the rule, yes. My post that you quoted was in response to a player asking if they should let it go or not. As a player, I would just let it go. As a dealer, I expect you to not allow it.

No way would I say anything as a dealer or player. In a perfect world, if anyone has a problem with it we take him out back and shoot him between the eyes. In a game where a bunch of scumbags are constantly trying to win on a technicality, someone who didn't try to and doesn't accept it when he does is something to be admired. I can accept a floor or dealer who really wants/needs to go by the book disallowing it, but a bystander who makes a stink about it is lower than dirt.

This situation has nothing to do with anyone wanting to win on a technicality.

Someone losing by accidentally mucking a lock winner is a technicality (to me, anyway), and I never said the other person wanted to win that way, but that's how he did.