Banned Players (1 Viewer)

[MrBoosh]

Samsies. My friend's brother got sick in the guest bathroom. I was told that his friend was taking care of him. The next morning I found the dried mess all over the floor. My fault for assuming the friend would take care of him the way I would, including the clean up. He just excorted him to the car when they left. I can handle the mess if I'm alerted. Done this many times. Including scrubbing the carpets in my guest bedroom at 2 am. But if they don't say anything, begone!!!!

I feel exactly the same way.

 

[Poker Zombie]

I recently banned a player. It was her first time and she suffers from social anxiety and therefore needs to be intoxicated to meet new people. I guess she overcompensated the alcohol for the players that came and drank 3/4 of a 750ml of tequila in about 20 minutes. She was inappropriately drunk, embarrassed herself, embarrassed me and was insulting my friends. She had no poker etiquette even after I explained all that to her. She ended up passing out on my $3,000 table I just got which was actually the best part of the night and luckily she didn’t drool or puke.

She made the mistake of later asking me if all my friends “loved her”.

To be fair, If I woke up the next morning bent over a table with a padded rail, I'd want to know if anybody "loved me".

...or maybe I'd rather not know. I'll avoid black-out drunk just to be safe.

 

[Nine_high]

I also have a rule that if you RSVP yes and don’t show without any notification 2 times, I remove you from my list. They aren’t banned, but I’m not reaching out to them either.

This is also my policy. Have a few of these.

Luckily I haven't had to outright ban anyone. I have moved people down a tier on the invite list due to behavior, but nothing bad enough I'd rather not play than have them to make a game.

I would have banned one player due to a long list of etiquette and behavior issues. Always banging chips on the table (because he can't shuffle), always moving seats, always finger fucking the pot (an entire pot disappeared into his stack one time), always folding out of turn despite being told why not to (he just didn't agree), etc. But it wasn't exactly my game so I couldn't. Everyone agreed he wasn't cheating, he was just that incompetent. I guess the others were willing to put up with his antics for the dead money

 

[Poker Zombie]

1 person as a result of a divorce. Couldn’t have them both playing. See above.

We've had 2 playing couples divorce in the past 14 years. Our divorce rule is: You are adults. If you are our friends, we will not pick sides. We will invite both of you to each game (provided we have the invite information). If you cannot deal with it, select alternating games. If you are mature adults but hate one another, take their money - just be civil.

It was a little weird the first time one of the divorced couples were seated side-by-side (random seating) but they got over it - and remained civil. They did select alternating games as the court case got heated, but today they are fine together - or at least competent adults.

 

[toothpic]

Do you guys have any rules (hard or soft rules) regarding people who tend to cancel at the last minute? Say you send out a group text asking who is able to play this Friday to get a proper head count and confirm you have enough to play. The day of the game, someone text and says oh I don't think I can make it because I don't feel well, my kid doesn't feel well, I'm tired, etc. How long do you put up with that before they get removed or taken off the priority list?

I try not to get too upset about it, but when one person does it way more often than anyone else it does bother me after a while. Last time I just said that last minute changes makes it pretty difficult to make sure we have enough for a decent game, hoping that was enough to give them the hint.

 

[Sneakygreek]

Do you guys have any rules (hard or soft rules) regarding people who tend to cancel at the last minute? Say you send out a group text asking who is able to play this Friday to get a proper head count and confirm you have enough to play. The day of the game, someone text and says oh I don't think I can make it because I don't feel well, my kid doesn't feel well, I'm tired, etc. How long do you put up with that before they get removed or taken off the priority list?

I try not to get too upset about it, but when one person does it way more often than anyone else it does bother me after a while. Last time I just said that last minute changes makes it pretty difficult to make sure we have enough for a decent game, hoping that was enough to give them the hint.

I have a few in my group that do this consistently. It’s very obnoxious but these people are still your friends and when they come it is fun. It’s a personal choice whether to continue inviting them.

 

[toothpic]

I have a few in my group that do this consistently. It’s very obnoxious but these people are still your friends and when they come it is fun. It’s a personal choice whether to continue inviting them.

Agreed. It just sucks when you have enough for a game and then 1 or 2 of them do that and then now you're very short handed and might have to cancel all together.

Edit: Since I primarily host, my wife has a couple of simple rules.

1. Don't invite anyone you wouldn't want around your home or family.
2. The house has to be absolutely spotless when people come over. This is the one that gets me more irritated. Having younger kids our house can get a bit chaotic looking so it requires a couple days of solid cleaning to prepare for a game and last minute cancels really bother me due to the effort involved. I'm ok with the house looking like 5 people actually live there but she prefers it to look suitable for a home sale picture lol

 

[Nine_high]

Do you guys have any rules (hard or soft rules) regarding people who tend to cancel at the last minute? Say you send out a group text asking who is able to play this Friday to get a proper head count and confirm you have enough to play. The day of the game, someone text and says oh I don't think I can make it because I don't feel well, my kid doesn't feel well, I'm tired, etc. How long do you put up with that before they get removed or taken off the priority list?

I try not to get too upset about it, but when one person does it way more often than anyone else it does bother me after a while. Last time I just said that last minute changes makes it pretty difficult to make sure we have enough for a decent game, hoping that was enough to give them the hint.

I don't have a hard and fast rule about this. I do notice who does this more often than others though and factor that into my rsvp.

Most of us have little kids and some drive as much as 2 hours. shit always happens. This is life. It's basically guaranteed to happen at least one per game. I overbook when my rsvp has a lot of these offenders.

I also just got a second table so it isn't really a worry anymore anyway, I just try to avoid 10-11 if I can

 

[Poker Zombie]

Do you guys have any rules (hard or soft rules) regarding people who tend to cancel at the last minute? Say you send out a group text asking who is able to play this Friday to get a proper head count and confirm you have enough to play. The day of the game, someone text and says oh I don't think I can make it because I don't feel well, my kid doesn't feel well, I'm tired, etc. How long do you put up with that before they get removed or taken off the priority list?

I try not to get too upset about it, but when one person does it way more often than anyone else it does bother me after a while. Last time I just said that last minute changes makes it pretty difficult to make sure we have enough for a decent game, hoping that was enough to give them the hint.

No hard rules regarding last minute cancels, but there are habitual abusers that frequently cancel with an excuse. We log excuses and last minute cancels.

At one time it was getting difficult to host, not knowing how much food to buy, how many tables to set up, and which chip set and blind structure could be used. The game was at 3 tables and pushing a 4th, so we moved the worst to a B-List that we would contact if we didn't have 16 players a week before the event (we usually send out invites with 2 weeks notice).

We have never contacted anyone from the B-List since it's formation in 2015 - and we are pushing 4 tables again.

 

[moose]

Do you guys have any rules (hard or soft rules) regarding people who tend to cancel at the last minute? Say you send out a group text asking who is able to play this Friday to get a proper head count and confirm you have enough to play. The day of the game, someone text and says oh I don't think I can make it because I don't feel well, my kid doesn't feel well, I'm tired, etc. How long do you put up with that before they get removed or taken off the priority list?

I try not to get too upset about it, but when one person does it way more often than anyone else it does bother me after a while. Last time I just said that last minute changes makes it pretty difficult to make sure we have enough for a decent game, hoping that was enough to give them the hint.

I had a game that I was struggling to fill. The night before I was about to cancel when someone signed up at the last minute. I contacted everyone to let them know the game was on.

The next morning I woke up sick as a dog. My wife told me to cancel the game. I told her I couldn't do that to my players at the last minute. I stayed in bed all day to try and recover. I woke up to discover the same player that signed up the night before decided to flake at 4pm for a 7 pm game. The reason was "he didn't want to drive out in case someone didn't show and the game broke". Basically he was insulting the rest of my players as unreliable when that finger was pointed squarely at him. Fuck that guy. Banned.

 

[merkong]

Palmed a $5 chip in a cash game. No second chances in that department at The Godfather Club.

Nearly a whackable offense.

 

[Poker Zombie]

We also have a rule - if the game is on, the game is on.

• 6' of snow? OK, 3"... but in Nashville that is the same as 6'. We played. Anyone that made it was offered a space to sleep and breakfast in the morning.
• We had a flight that got delayed. We almost didn't make OUR OWN GAME. Anticipating the flight delay we hid a key in the yard and told the first arriving how to find it. We also set up the tables, cards and stacks prior to leaving so all was set - and I could control the clock remotely.
• COVID required some rescheduling, but all games were rescheduled with more than 2 weeks notice.

No game gets cancelled.

 

[Mesnik44]

Do you guys have any rules (hard or soft rules) regarding people who tend to cancel at the last minute? Say you send out a group text asking who is able to play this Friday to get a proper head count and confirm you have enough to play. The day of the game, someone text and says oh I don't think I can make it because I don't feel well, my kid doesn't feel well, I'm tired, etc. How long do you put up with that before they get removed or taken off the priority list?

I try not to get too upset about it, but when one person does it way more often than anyone else it does bother me after a while. Last time I just said that last minute changes makes it pretty difficult to make sure we have enough for a decent game, hoping that was enough to give them the hint.

I have a tiered invite system.
Tier 1 - Friends and Family that are committed (or should be to an institution) to playing once a month, and do not bail at the last minute.
Tier 2 - Friends that can make the occasional game, or are the chronic bailers. I have zero patience for those that bail at the last minute with lame excuses.

I always put family first. If your kid has even the sniffles, fine, family emergency. If you wife is not feeling well, family first. If your fur-baby is ill or passed away, again, family emergency.

If you work late that day, fine, work comes second after family.

If you bail because the UFC is on, a baseball game is on, you're too hung over, you're at the bar with other friends, then too bad. Tier 2 list you go.

I will however cancel a game if the snow is too awful for travelling. Around these parts there are a lot of hills, and a lot of people who have no clue how to drive (I was going to pause there but...), how to drive in snow. I can see @Gear and @Wifey trying to get to my place in deep snow...they just keep on sliding down that mountain....no thanks. I like those 2 and would prefer to have them at my game, than the alternative.

 

[ChipFinderSK]

I also have a rule that if you RSVP yes and don’t show without any notification 2 times, I remove you from my list. They aren’t banned, but I’m not reaching out to them either.

This is why I never RSVP. Can’t flake if you never “officially” announce you’re coming

Counterpoint: this same thought process might’ve gotten me booted off @Highli99 ’s evite list.

 

[chippitydoodah]

Angry raging baddest loser ever but tolerated began bringing new wife along....she would sit out certain hands she didn't like (dealers choice) and started chip dumping to angry raging baddest loser husband. Both dropped, blocked & never to be heard from again. Both probably didn't like The Boss either

 

[Machine]

Do you guys have any rules (hard or soft rules) regarding people who tend to cancel at the last minute? Say you send out a group text asking who is able to play this Friday to get a proper head count and confirm you have enough to play. The day of the game, someone text and says oh I don't think I can make it because I don't feel well, my kid doesn't feel well, I'm tired, etc. How long do you put up with that before they get removed or taken off the priority list?

I try not to get too upset about it, but when one person does it way more often than anyone else it does bother me after a while. Last time I just said that last minute changes makes it pretty difficult to make sure we have enough for a decent game, hoping that was enough to give them the hint.

I had a chronic canceler, once he found out he was off the invite list, he was upset; I explained the situation and he said he would get it fixed. It's the only metric I really track in a SS.

Once or twice I'll live with it, but 3+ you're out.

I get some 'Maybes' I calculate them at a +.5, the Yes'es get a seat, the 'Maybes' wait.

 

[Talrem]

Adding my two cents here…
I banned a guy for three reasons:
1. He decided to dictate the rules for MY home game, stating “You must call your hand. If you miscall your hand, too bad! It stays as you call it!”
2. Broke his own rule by “calling” four 8s (wild card game) when he flipped over the fourth eight and gave me a look of “That’s my hand. Beat that!”, and when I flipped over four kings he hurriedly flipped his remaining cards over, looked frantically at them all and then exclaimed “No! I have a straight flush!” After everyone pointed out that he broke his own rule, he continued to deny it. I let him have the $100+ pot.
3. His over 300-pound fat ass left such a noxious body odor in my house and on my chairs - He had the worst hygiene I’ve ever seen.

Never called him back.
Shortly after banning him, he also got banned from our bar’s sport league for multiple counts of cheating.

Never spoke to him after that.
He was a pig both physically and mentally. Nobody wants that type of person around.

 

[merkong]

I have a tiered invite system.
Tier 1 - Friends and Family that are committed (or should be to an institution) to playing once a month, and do not bail at the last minute.
Tier 2 - Friends that can make the occasional game, or are the chronic bailers. I have zero patience for those that bail at the last minute with lame excuses.

I always put family first. If your kid has even the sniffles, fine, family emergency. If you wife is not feeling well, family first. If your fur-baby is ill or passed away, again, family emergency.

If you work late that day, fine, work comes second after family.

If you bail because the UFC is on, a baseball game is on, you're too hung over, you're at the bar with other friends, then too bad. Tier 2 list you go.

I will however cancel a game if the snow is too awful for travelling. Around these parts there are a lot of hills, and a lot of people who have no clue how to drive (I was going to pause there but...), how to drive in snow. I can see @Gear and @Wifey trying to get to my place in deep snow...they just keep on sliding down that mountain....no thanks. I like those 2 and would prefer to have them at my game, than the alternative.

Very similar to what I do.

 

[Statesvegas]

Had one player join us for a single game, and he didn't get fall down/sloppy drunk but he did where is started getting belligerent and aggressive towards one of my regulars (who did nothing to deserve such attention). I had known this gentleman to be somewhat of a hot head in his younger years, but not as an adult. I was able to quash the situation, and the game shut down shortly after the incident. He has not been invited back, and he has never inquired which suggests to me that he understands why.

 

[AlbinoDragon]

Only one in nearly 18 years of hosting.

I had a player that was invited from outside poker (mutual acquaintance and pub trivia teammate). The first dozen games were OK, but he caught the Bitcoin bug and was unhealthily obsessed with the price of his coin where he was checking a couple times an hour. Between that, following the news and whatever social media he was trying to keep up with, he was becoming a bit of a holdup to the game. We'd have to wait for him to shuffle and quite routinely have to let him know action was on him.

The straw that broke the camel's back was when he arrived with laptop in tow and was doing coding work between and during hands. We were having to remind him every time action was on him because the work he brought with him to the game was clearly more important.

I iced him by pausing my game for a couple months (after alerting the rest of the crew this was happening) and quietly restarted it without him on the list.

This would have been easier to manage if he weren't in a couple other social bubbles that my player pool are in too.

 

[arch3r]

I wish you all would stop talking about me. I said I was sorry! Jeesh, let it go.


So, does anyone know a nice home game to play in?

 

[FDLmold]

Holy shit you guys need some new friends or better vetting.

Only once did something even close to this - semi-reg brought a friend (unasked/unannounced) who seemed to be drugged out. I just didn't add him to the invite list, and reminded everyone a few weeks later if they know someone they think would be good for the game, they have to talk to me first.

This was also the only time I needed to host 11 handed, and that was separately terrible.

Unasked and unannounced? I wouldn't have let either of those MFers even sit down that day.

 

[FDLmold]

Does banning yourself from playing because you suck and lose too much money count?

 

[Beakertwang]

I wasn't there, but some of my players arranged a game on a weekend when I was out of town. One of my regs invited an acquaintance. When another reg showed up, the new guy immediately freaked out, yelling "You screwed my wife!" and challenging him to a fight. The accused guy was confused at first, but finally put it together. Yes, he had a relationship with the guy's wife, when they were separated.

NEARLY 20 YEARS AGO!

Cooler heads prevailed, the new guy left, and the game went on as usual. Needless to say, that guy wasn't invited back.

 

[MrCatPants]

Unasked and unannounced? I wouldn't have let either of those MFers even sit down that day.

It was early in my game when I was still trying to build it. Now? Agree with you.

 

[Taghkanic]

I wouldn’t call it a ban per se, but players who frequently reserve a seat then cancel at the last minute get dropped from the invite list.

Players credibly suspected of cheating get banned. I’ve done this four times. (In one controversial but unique instance I’ve given someone a second chance.)

Players who cause a “scene” (e.g. crudely insulting others, wanting to fight, usually because they can’t hold their liquor) get at least a pause. This is rare but it happens.

 

[Beakertwang]

Oh, yeah...

This "new guy" wasn't invited back, either.

Brother has all his 100's and 500's hiding behind his 5's. He bets 500 into my Aces up, I ask him how much he has, and he won't answer, so I suggest that the big chips should be out front. He and a new guy complain that it's a dumb rule, then he grabs a stack and puts 800 more in, and throws a fit when I tell him he can't do that. "You hadn't done anything yet, so I can change my bet." It didn't matter, since I was going to shove over him anyway. He calls and busts out. He and a new guy gripe at me about relaxing; those things don't matter anyway. It's supposed to be fun, right?

The aforementioned new guy gripes that he wants to go home at about 10:30. I told him he can leave, and we'll blind him out. He keeps complaining, so I ask him if he really wants to go home. He says yes, so I offer him his buy-in back, just to get him out of there. Then he wants to keep the 500 chips that he was up over his original stack and keep playing. Was mad when I wouldn't let him.

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

2. Broke his own rule by “calling” four 8s (wild card game) when he flipped over the fourth eight and gave me a look of “That’s my hand. Beat that!”, and when I flipped over four kings he hurriedly flipped his remaining cards over, looked frantically at them all and then exclaimed “No! I have a straight flush!” After everyone pointed out that he broke his own rule, he continued to deny it. I let him have the $100+ pot.

You helped create the golem! Now he'd do it again!

 

[chippitydoodah]

Does banning yourself from playing because you suck and lose too much money count?

No way because you probably have the most kick ass chip set in the group!

 

[Taghkanic]

One near-ban, avoided by telling the guy to knock it off:

Player would arrive 40 minutes early, and sit in his car smoking a joint in my driveway. OK, whatever. But about 20 minutes before the game started he’d rush inside, head straight for the bathroom, and take his daily dump. Took a long time too.

If someone has to go #2 during the game, obviously the bathroom is there for it. But if you know you always need to go right before the game and not do your business at home… Gross.