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Cheater Or just home table advantage? (2 Viewers)

UncleMilty

UncleMilty

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Hey friends- I play 1 to 2 times per week with this person. Usually 1 game at my house, and one game at his. Low stakes ($40 buy ins) tournament hold em games only. He’s a good player at my house and wins about 20% of the tournaments while about 10-12 (including his wife) of us win the other games randomly. His house he wins 95% of the tournaments while about 8 of us (including his wife) fight for that 1 win every couple of months. His game draws better players by a long shot than mine. Is there something I should be looking at, or should I just be content playing poker for 4 hours and it only cost me $40 :ROFL: :ROFLMAO: Not uncommon at all for him to take P1 and wife takes P2 and all the money. She finishes in money at my house maybe 1 in 8 tournaments and is also a good player. Nobody playing with us would consider him a cheater, but i did find a black mark on a card with black print recently that I was able to wipe off. An ace of clubs. Been looking and haven’t found anything since. And of course I feel guilty that I would even give this thought some credibility.
Looking for advice on some things I can discretely look for to either confirm, or get it out of my head. Game time today is 1pm PSDT.
 
UncleMilty said:
His house he wins 95% of the tournaments
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Thats absurd.
If you’re talking about a sample size of 5 tournaments, maybe he’s been running hot. If you’re talking about a sample of 50 tournaments, he’s a cheater. But why would players (better players by your assessment) keep showing up? Do you think you’re the only person who’s noticed he always wins at hit house?
 
upNdown said:
Thats absurd.
If you’re talking about a sample size of 5 tournaments, maybe he’s been running hot. If you’re talking about a sample of 50 tournaments, he’s a cheater. But why would players (better players by your assessment) keep showing up? Do you think you’re the only person who’s noticed he always wins at hit house?
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I think this year we are at about 25 tournaments at his house. And yes i think I’m the only person holding this thought.
 
Who provides the cards? How often are they changed? Maybe “gift” him some brand new high end cards for next game at his house, ones that would be easy to spot marks on, say you have heard great things about them and are dying to try them out to force him to use them and then see how he does
 
Tonysquander said:
Who provides the cards? How often are they changed? Maybe “gift” him some brand new high end cards for next game at his house, ones that would be easy to spot marks on, say you have heard great things about them and are dying to try them out to force him to use them and then see how he does
Click to expand...
Was thinking of doing that today. Funny thing is that he is actually using cards I provided him. The 2018 WSOP cards I was hustling a few months ago.
 
UncleMilty said:
His game draws better players by a long shot than mine.
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Believe it or not, it could just be this. “Better” players are more predictable for ranges and draws, “worse” players are just a luckfest because it’s not serious for them, “it’s just a $40 tournament” - they play Nofold’em poker.
 
UncleMilty said:
Hey friends- I play 1 to 2 times per week with this person. Usually 1 game at my house, and one game at his. Low stakes ($40 buy ins) tournament hold em games only. He’s a good player at my house and wins about 20% of the tournaments while about 10-12 (including his wife) of us win the other games randomly. His house he wins 95% of the tournaments while about 8 of us (including his wife) fight for that 1 win every couple of months. His game draws better players by a long shot than mine. Is there something I should be looking at, or should I just be content playing poker for 4 hours and it only cost me $40 :ROFL: :ROFLMAO: Not uncommon at all for him to take P1 and wife takes P2 and all the money. She finishes in money at my house maybe 1 in 8 tournaments and is also a good player. Nobody playing with us would consider him a cheater, but i did find a black mark on a card with black print recently that I was able to wipe off. An ace of clubs. Been looking and haven’t found anything since. And of course I feel guilty that I would even give this thought some credibility.
Looking for advice on some things I can discretely look for to either confirm, or get it out of my head. Game time today is 1pm PSDT.
Click to expand...
From a game I used to play at. If it feels off, it probably is.
Saoliver said:
Also, played in a home game for a while where I felt something was off. I stopped going. Most of the people were friends since high school, but I barely knew them. Turns out that one couple was setting the deck for each other when dealing, and giving signals. These people had known each other for 20 years, and had been ripping off the game for a couple years for big money! They finally got caught and there was a huge all out brawl at the game.
Click to expand...
 
UncleMilty said:
MTT or STT ?
The dealer shuffles his/her own deck. No designated dealer. It rotates with the button.
Click to expand...
Multi Table vs Single Table Tournaments.

Can't tell him how to run his game but at your game you should start running 2 decks (one being shuffled behind the dealer) while the other is in play. This way it will be much harder for him (or them) to Stack the deck if he is in fact doing that. (It would be kind of obvious though because he would be frequently winning big hands on his button. Or hers.)

As @Saoliver mentioned it could be signaling. If the cards don't seem to be marked I would watch for this like a hawk.

I know it only sounds like $40 but it's not. It's a couple of hundred because he's winning not losing. And some people don't do it for the $ but because they have an illness so who knows.
 
i'd start with the chip bank. if you know how many chips are in play, then I would help him clean up the table at the end of the night and count all the chips on the table at the end. for a $40 buy-in game I couldn't imagine much thought/effort going into some sort of scam. And if he does have some control over the cards, then that could be easily replicated in any game. but he wouldn't be able to add chips in another set/house that he doesn't own.
 
Hard to not feel like something fishy is going on with that kinda win rate :/

Keep an eye out for who wins when she deals or he deals. Keep notes in your phone. Also, keep an eye/ear out for any signaling. Any words or phrases they say often? Or maybe anything they say right before one raises or something? Do they hold their hole cards the exact same every single time? Or do they sometimes hold them differently or position their fingers or chips differently? Do they look at their phones often at the table?

I know I sound paranoid or like I’m fishing for something that’s not there, but if they WERE cheating, these could be good places to start.
 
This is definitely fishy. His win rate at your game is probably what he should be doing, or close to it at his game, maybe a little better if the players are a little different and he knows them better. Tournaments are tough to win over and over. We had a very good player win 4 or 5 in a row and it was all anyone talks about for a few months. If you can, set your phone on the edge of table to record when he is dealing. Start keeping track of hands he wins, is he dealing? His wife dealing? Gather more info and take detailed notes to see if your gut feeling is founded. Maybe you think he has won every game at his place, but it is actually like 50%, or he cashes almost every time.
 

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