What would happen if someone lost a big pot and decided not to pay off the villain? By that, I mean took their big chips and just walked out of the casino. Had a disagreement about this in a live game and apparently the conclusion was that the person would just get barred, but could leave with the money??

I don't have any personal experience with the situation presented, but I've read enough here to know that like most other rules in poker, it will vary based on the casino.

Some places will let the person leave but ban them unless/until he/she pays the bet. The reason being is it's not the casino's money the person is taking.

Other places will threaten arrest (or actually arrest).

Others will let the person leave but cooperate with you and the police if you want to press charges.

I've never seen it happen IRL, but I've read plenty of times on 2+2 that it is as you describe it OP. The person can just walk out without paying up and they would be barred.

This exact situation has happened to me in a cardroom in Florida.


Playing 2/5 at my local cardroom.I was playing in a pot with this older Asian woman. Pot had to be about 900 by the time it got to river. She checked and asked me to check back since the pot was already big enough. I told her I couldn't and went all in( I had her covered) She had about 800ish left behind.

She goes into the tank and starts talking about me being "greedy" etc etc she eventually called and I showed her the nut flush. All of a sudden she goes crazy and said I was trapping her and was playing "sneaky??" I was trying to be nice and tell her its just part of the game but she wasn't having any of it. She than got up racked her chips and told me to go **** myself and that she wasn't paying me. Obviously the floor was called.

The floor man said there is nothing that they can do to stop her. HOWEVER she would not be able to return to the cardroom until she has payed off the river bet . She eventually threw the rack of chips at me and was escorted out by security.

I've heard this rule as well, but it seems strange to me. The moment you say "call" the chips you called with no longer belong to you, they belong to the pot and if you try to take those chips off the table you are stealing something that does not belong to you. To me, it would be exactly the same situation as if someone came up to my stack and grabbed a bunch of my chips and started to walk away with them. It's simple theft and I can't imagine that any poker room would let the second person leave the room with my chips, so why should they let the first person leave with my chips?

The explanation I got from the floor was "it's the player responbility to pay not the casino/cardroom" I asked them also if she went to cash out the chips would they allow it. And the floor said "yes" there's nothing they could do besides banning her until she payed. Pretty ****ed up if you ask me.

Happened to me in Vegas once. He was allowed to leave but not cash out his chips and was told he would be banned from the casino. I heard later from the floor that he checked with security later and they didn't go through the banning process, just followed him out.

Well my personal experience involved security detaining the player and calling gaming. I have discussed this many times on this forum and I'm not going to go back through the details ... short version I was the dealer. Player went all in and got called. He refused to pay and racked up his chips to leave. I called floor, floor called security. Secuirty detained him until gaming came. Gaming agent investgated, took statements, watched the tape, and then gave the player a choice --- He could pay the bet and cash out the balance, or he could not pay the bet, and have all his chips seized as part of the the criminal case against him.

Which makes me wonder, what would happen if someone had the audacity to grab chips from your stack and walk out? Seems like the same thing, they're blatantly stealing from you either way. I had always assumed this type of thing is exactly what casino security is there to prevent, and the chip thief would not be allowed to leave with those chips (and would be banned obviously). Now, not so sure.

I'm not saying it's right, but the reason a casino would take this approach is (1) the money isn't being stolen from the casino and (2) it's less work/effort/cost for them to let it go than to try to protect your interests as a customer.

That's how it should be handled everywhere.

I think part of the problem is that somewhere along the way people started saying things like "the casino can;t take the chips from him." And while this is true to a point, the casino shouldn't be forcibly taking chips from anybody, it doesn;t mean there aren't legitimate ways for a casino to to basically force the player to hand over the chips/money. (and this is why they would handle the outright theft by a passerby differently .... nobody thinks that they can;t do anything about that).

So if you have a floor person who has never seen it done the right way (or security personnel who don;t know what to do) they very well may just shrug and say "nothing we can do." They think its true.

When my incident occurred, it was on teh graveyard shift. The mess was still being sorted out by gaming when the day shift manager came in. When I explained to her what had happened (and before gaming had finished) she told me we were wasting our time .... gaming wouldn't do anything and there was nothing that could be done to make this guy pay. She believed that. She had been told that during her time in poker and just accepeted it. If this incident happens a few hours later than it did, she is the shift manager on duty and she doesn't even bother to call security because she knows there is nothing that can be done.

I don;t think its because anyone is making the conscious decision that its too much work to do this when the money isn't being stolen from the casino. I honestly think that there are just too many people who genuinely believe there is nothing that can be done.

Plus in some jurisdictions if you you don;t have gaming officers who are going to respond ... and instead your getting Joe the Cop who knows nothing about gaming ... you may find that you don't have the assistance and cooperation of law enforcement.

And of course there is always the possibility that gaming may listen to all the facts and conclude that the player doesn't owe the bet. And if that happens a floor person who doesn;t understand the decision take away the wrong lesson .... instead of understanding why in that instance the player doesn;t owe the bet, the floor understands it as "gaming won;t do anything"

What law is he breaking?

I guess everyone should have to sign a contract before being able to play.

Well that of course depend where you are... if you are in Nevada in addition to violating theft statutes there are very specific gambling statutes.

I would say making a wager and then taking the chips rather than allowing the winner to have them runs afoul of NRS 465.070

in later sections a violation of this statute is designated a B felony.

I think its fairly easy to fit this conduct under various theft or fraud statutes though admitedly there may be some evidentiary issues

Yup. Players can also openly text about hands during play at a poker table in the same joints where if you bring out your cell phone to check the time at a 21 table they're ready to 86 you. They sure do earn their rake...

Do these laws apply to home games because I'm thinking about putting a couple of my friends behind bars!

What happens then when I go over and forcibly take the chips out of their hands as they are trying to walk out? I would assume it would be up to the other person if they want to file assault charges against me, but knowing they will also get charged with theft (I assume?), while being detained and waiting for the authorities to come, etc.

Also, what if i go over and knock the rack out of their hands. Aren't they my chips and at that point I could protect them once they are on the floor and out of their hands? If they tried to pick up the chips against my will, wouldn't that be theft at that point and possible assault against them if they try to fight me for the chips?

Just wondering.....

Maybe you should just get new friends

A player not paying up after making a losing call and leaving with chips that shouldn't be theirs is a situation that could tend to invite vigilante justice if the casino can't be relied on to take care of it properly. Particularly if the bet was large. The post about the woman who refused to pay $800, I don't know what I'd do but if they just let her go, following her out to the parking lot certainly crosses my mind. I would think casinos would prefer to avoid creating these situations.

I would throw a huge ****fit and probably never play in that casino again. What are they doing if they're not protecting the players? It's their job to provide a safe, controlled environment for people to gamble in exchange for the rake they take.

For sure I'd never play in that casino again. If they won't enforce the most basic rules of the game, they shouldn't offer it. I think the best and most mature response would be to seek compensation from the casino (ie whine and complain, then if that doesn't get me anywhere talk to a lawyer). But I'd really be tempted to follow her out to the parking lot, even though I know that's probably very unwise.

OJ's in prison bec he decided to take things into his own hands.

Geez, you all talk about Tom Dwan owing twenty billion trillion dollars and he is still alive.

The odds of this happening are nil to none. You wanna risk a physical altercation, or even your life, over a poker pot? I mean really?

Get real...Not saying I wouldn't be pissed, but there are far more important things in life than sucking out a hand on the river and getting paid.

I am not saying that I would actually do these things, just wondering what would happen if someone did, especially just knocking the rack of chips on the ground. Who is legally entitled to those chips at that point since no one has actual possession at that point?

I agree this is why the casino needs to step in these situations and not just let them walk out the door because they are not actually the 'casino's' chips. They should definitely mediate and make good to the player shorted the chips, even if they have to pay for it. Why are they advertising poker games and taking a rake/time from them then? They are hosting the games and should be responsible for the players fairness since they are making money off of the product itself.

I'm pretty sure this is a 99.999% dead-end.


Not if you have a thinking head on your shoulders. Odds are WAAAAAAY higher you end up being the one facing real criminal charges than any probability of getting any portion of your money.


Reasonable response. But you can thoroughly and completely protect yourself with one very simple phrase:

"Dealer, please make the pot right."

Repeat as many times as necessary, and don't turn over your hand until "the pot is right."