Quote:
Originally Posted by chillrob
A winning player is not the same as a pro, but even if they're not pros, I still don't think they should be allowed to play together.
Giving someone a loan or even paying for their buy in is not the same as being a couple with shared money and expenses.
Obviously a winner buying dinner isn't even similar.
I have never really understood what it meant for two players to share a bankroll. Is it just like an emergency fund they can borrow from, or does all their money go into that and they don't even keep track of individual wins or losses?
If it's the first, that's really just the same as being friends and is not important. If it's the second, I really don't think they should be allowed to play together either, but if no one knows then you couldn't really do anything about it.
Let's simplify this. We are talking about relationships. Relationships can range from two people agreeing to pay for gas and a dinner to two people playing off the same bankroll to two people living together to two people being legally married. There is a huge range here.
Given that the spectrum is large and wide, and the range gradually changes, where do you draw the line?
I see many situations where two players might live together. They have regular (crappy) jobs that just pay the bills and their poker earnings are for the luxuries. They are not a couple, but their finances are clearly intertwined just through happiness. Should they be allowed to play together?
How about two best friends who are wealthy and play together and regularly try very hard (to their detriment) to take each other's money just for bragging rights?
How about two players who regularly play together and have started seriously dating? They are still financially independent, but clearly have interest in each other's affairs.
How about two older family members playing together (adult brothers)? No overt financial ties, but clearly a strong relationship.
Where I am going with all of this is that there is a large grey area that consists of many factors (financial, heart, blood, friendship, etc.). You are trying to use a grey marker to draw a line through this grey area. Furthermore, as you already recognize, this is near impossible for anyone to enforce because they do not know all of the details.
Instead I think it is better to draw a clear line at overt cheating (signaling, trading cards, etc.) as a definite no-no and instead leave it up to other players to try and understand how they play and deal with it.
Note, I say this mostly about cash games where there are not any ICM concerns which will multiply collusion (including softplay) concerns.
I will also note that it has been my experience that whenever two opposing players have a meaningful relationship (friends, lovers, financial, whatever) that it is generally to my advantage more often that not as it affects their play significantly in ways they do not realize.