Playing 1/3 I have about a $500 stack off a max BI on $400. New player sits and he's a total fish. Calling everything to the river but starts off running hot. Takes about $100 from me after hitting a 3 outer then gets into a big pot with another player where he wins about $300 after hitting running flush cards. I noticed in that pot he got 2 black chips from the other player. He then gets up and goes to the bar. But his chip stack doesn't look right. All the black and green chips he had are gone. His stack looks to be around $500. I mentioned something doesn't look right and the the player next to him says he put a bunch of chips in his pocket. Then that player who saw it racks up and leaves. The dealer says she didn't see anything and doesn't seem like she wants to say anything to him. I insist that something needs to be said when he returns. When he gets back the dealer asks him if he pocketed chips and he admits he did. Claiming he took off $250. Dealer tells him he must keep the money on the table and hes not happy about it. Says that he will just leave and go to another table. Eventually he puts the chips back on the table and continues to play. Over the next few hours he's broke. Was I petty in insisting since what he left on the table still had us all covered? Other players at the table didn't really seem like they wanted to say anything about it. I wasn't rude in any way. Just telling him rules are rules.

That was a lot of money in proportion to his stack, if the dealer didn't wanna say anything I would of said it to him myself so it was fine. If he's gonna get mad because he violated the rules and got caught then he's not really someone I'd wanna be playing with anyway, but that's just me.

Yes. If I were at the table I would be annoyed at you, despite you being completely in the right and the guy who went South being in the wrong.

If the guy was a "total fish" then it's in your interest to make him as welcome and comfortable as possible; why risk pissing him off (which you did)?

He still had the table covered so play won't be hugely affected. I accept that the table dynamic and future play might be affected, but most likely is that he gets stacked and then chips up with the chips he put in his pocket.

Did you think about why that might be? All the other players will be annoyed at anyone who tells the fish to put the money back on the table. Dealer works for tips and does not want the entire table (apart from you) pissed off at her.

Suppose you double up vs another player then on the next hand you get it in with the guy who went south and won, so you would of won another 85 bb's if he didn't go south...you'd probably be annoyed then

I would be less annoyed and have less money than if another player caused the total fish to leave, which is the point being made.

Or you double up vs another player and then on the next hand you get it in with the guy who went south and lost, so you would have lost another 85 bb's if he didn't go south.. you'd probably be extremely happy then.

I think saying something about it is the right approach. People should know/learn the rules. Question is if you should try to make him put the money back on the table. Personally, I wouldn't do that. But I guess as soon as he admits to how much he took off and the dealer gets involved, the money has to come back anyway.

Once the player says he's going to leave and go to another table the dealer should clearly explain the house rules to him. After what time period he's allowed to rejoin that same table without having to bring the full stack and what happens if he goes to a smaller or bigger game or another table of the same stakes. Every time we have a thread about those house rules here, we find out that they are vastly different place to place.

OP did the right thing. I would have done the same.

I understand that, but I disagree with letting someone cheat just because they're a "fish".

A player broke the rules.
Yes, the dealer should say something when alerted.
No, you weren't being petty.
The player did have the option of leaving or adding the chips back on.
They chose to add on and lost it all.

Everyone has their own line about how much is too much and it may vary depending on the situation.

I must admit that I did not speak up when I saw a guy sneak big chips (purple and orange) into his stack at an Aria PLO game. He was terrible, and I was taking them from him. I guess I'm a bit of a hypocrite, which I hate, but he was making the game better and not taking money away from others -- he was giving it to us -- so I feel better about it.

Always report a player going south
Never report a player going north (unless they’re pro)

I've seen players go north as well, but when you go south you're taking money off the table that's already in play which was just won from someone else's stack so that make it a lot more severe but thank you for being honest.

NTA. Everything was completely reasonable and handled correctly.

Would you let a total fish go north? (I think two people can reasonably disagree on whether it is okay to give a fish leeway, I'm just wondering if you are consistent with your standard.)

I dunno, sometimes I think I might do the same due to chips walking away in some rooms.

But I'd also put them back in when I got back to the table.

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There's a big difference. Yes, both of them are violating a house rule/gaming commission law (if they go above table max) but one of them also involves steeling money out of a live game which is already in play.

Everyone here understands the difference. I'm just trying to square that with what you said about letting a fish cheat (assuming you would let him go north — you didn't answer the question.)

I already stated it, but I would and I did -- and the table profited.

The player can always get up and leave and return later with a smaller stack.

How do you react to the following two scenarios?

1. Everyone else at the table sits at max $500, the table limit. spot has $2000. Reg goes North to $3000, stacks the spot and leaves immediately. Probably not OK?

2. Everyone else at the table sits at max $500, buy-ins are uncapped, spot has $2000. He adds another $1100 and two hands later says "ups, I meant to only add $1000" and takes $100 off the table. Are we OK with that? If not, do we change our mind if he's starting to rack up and leave because of it?

After an hour or so depending on house rules, which is fine.

Why does it matter how anyone reacts? 1. If you let the reg go north w/o saying anything, then you are OK with it. 2. Not sure I understand a game with a max and an uncapped buy-in? Depends on house rule -- that has nothing to do with the players. I couldn't care less.

always try and help enforce the rules of the game. one has no idea how many people were upset at the guy going south, so at the expense of annoying one you're making the rest happier.

You're comparing this to going south for $250 out of a $750 stack?

So it's ok if I go rob a bank for 5K today because I was gonna go there tomorrow to take it out anyway?

Everyone except for the spot has a max(imum) of $500 in front of them even though the game is uncapped.

Nobody is robbing anyone. The proper analogy would be if you call the bank to tell them you want to withdraw 5k today and they tell you you have to wait for a day. After that you go in today anyway and get the money because the clerk doesn't know about the wait period.

The player isn't removing somebody else's money from the table. If he bought in for $500, chips up to $750 and goes South for $250 for all we know he took that money out of his starting stack. There's no FIFO/LIFO system here.

That said, it's obviously not OK to go South. It's against the rules and should be stopped. It's just not really different from going North. Both violate the rules of the game.

We can't say fish are allowed to go North but not South because we'd like to take their money while we're opposed to crushers going North in order to match the stack of a spot. And a lot of people might actually be happy if the crusher sitting on their left had only 10BB instead of 1000BB in front of them, especially if they had 1000BB, too.

LOL that he's not robbing anyone. In the OP of course he is. That money belonged to other players and they have the right to try to win it back.

Wrong. We can always let (and encourage) fish to go north. If I ever sit at same table as you and catch you calling out a whale from going north then we gonna beef