Impudent “Collusion” in Commerce Casino
Commerce Casino is one of the biggest and most popular casinos in the USA, which is situated in Los Angeles where there are several more big facilities with poker rooms. Poker in the city lives by its own laws, some of which seem to the players some sort of anarchy.
In the article “Las Vegas vs. Los Angeles, or The Last Stand of “Gambling Poker” we compared Las Vegas and Los Angeles, and told about specialties of the latter city from poker standpoint.
One of the major advantages was the “gambling spirit” of the local field. People feel themselves looser at the table; don’t like regulars, math geniuses and players like that.
There are too many problems with this. Especially for those who follow the rules of the poker rooms, not local ethics
In particular, one of the 2+2 forums users started a rather controversial thread. In the article he describes one accident which, according to him, is unacceptable and should be sanctioned by the floor managers.
Collusion or not?
It’s August 1st, Commerce Casino, the game at 5/5 continues all night, the author raises $50 from late position, player on the button re-raises him to $225, another player calls from the blinds. The author folds.
Button offers to "check it down". The author started to protest as it is against the rules. The dealer took his side and players agreed not to do that but on the flop the first players showed his hand – a set of Aces. And the second player (it was a woman) showed a set of jacks – as well, on the flop.
No bets were made.
The author called the floor manager but nobody showed up. Soon a floor manager came to the table and confirmed it was against the rules and that he will speak with “the guilty”. After that he gave a verbal warning and left.
Hands like that happen everywhere. Not just in Los Angeles. Such sort of the collusion is prohibited by the rules So why many dealers and floors allow it?
Other players’ opinions
“If there is no all-ins, there cannot be any agreements between the players. Many poke rooms wish to create atmosphere of home games what makes a horrible impact on some irregular players’ experience.
Sam Farha, for instance often offers to chop the pot in cash games when it comes to heads0up. There can be no exceptions but the game continued for the whole night, there were two regulars in the hand so nothing surprising here,” claims one of the players.
Farha indeed loves such tricks (some other regulars do as well). Here is the famous hand where he and Jamie Gold made a show:
Another opinion:
“I can’t remember a single poker club where the offer to check to the river wouldn’t be prohibited by the rules. This happens sometimes, some dealers and floor managers are stricter than the others. At the full ring tables where everyone knows each other nobody cares.”
The author seriously accuses players in the collusion but that’s unlikely. Many people think so. For example:
“Had they been in collusion, would they make this agreement during the hand?”
“Is it unethical? Yes, a little bit. Is it against the rules? Probably. Do they play as a team? I doubt it”.
We are speaking of a problem as a whole in this article. If something is prohibited, why there are so many exceptions?
Fundamental rules of poker
Many people think like that. This is poker. If someone is willing to check all the way, that’s fine. There is nothing bad in it. Don’t interfere in other’s people hands, let them play the way they want.
On the other hand, one of the fundamental rules of poker says: “Each player has to make the most profitable decisions for himself”. For himself! Not for Jack or John.
In this case of “collusion” (which is not a collusion by definition), decisions are made considering what other player needs.
If two players check all the streets in tournaments when the third player is all-in, that’s another cup of tea. Both act in their own interests, as the main goal in tournaments is to survive, not get the most of chips.
There is no such situations for cash games.
Many think of the propositions to check to the river as of some feature of regulars. In reality this is unethical to other players and absolutely surely prohibited in the rules of the most poker rooms.
BTW this is also prohibited:
All poker clubs of Los Angeles
All poker tournaments of Los Angeles
More interesting and useful articles from the world of poker you can read in our blog. Also search for poker clubs in the country or city, get to know about upcoming poker tournaments or cash games at PokerDiscover.com portal.
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