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Controversial Chip & Poker Opinions (7 Viewers)

It’s all chip, chip, chip… Here’s a deviation…

I recently threaded about a regular who was super drunk and cupped a chip from a heads up pot and got busted. Read my thread for details.

He was placed on the “wait list indefinitely” and he’s been there for several weeks.

After careful deliberation I’m setting up a face to face with this individual and am planning on reinstating.

How’s that for controversial?

I’ve been hosting for more than 20 years and this is the first incident of this nature. I took swift and well thought out immediate action and have been contemplating the ultimate long-term outcome.

I haven’t reached out to the individual yet but plan on doing so this week. He has thought long and hard about his actions, including his alcohol consumption, and I feel this isn’t a bad course of action.

I’m not stuck for players. I fill up every week. I wouldn’t have any player with a “situation” at my game just to put players at the table. Several of the other players have known “Spillsie” since grade school and they have no objection. He has an admitted propensity towards excessive revelry and he’s looking at that. Additionally, I think the support of the group will be of benefit to him.

He’ll be under extra close observation but neither myself nor the others believe that this is a thing and feel it was a one off and perfect storm type situation.

Go.
 
merkong said:
It’s all chip, chip, chip… Here’s a deviation…

I recently threaded about a regular who was super drunk and cupped a chip from a heads up pot and got busted. Read my thread for details.

He was placed on the “wait list indefinitely” and he’s been there for several weeks.

After careful deliberation I’m setting up a face to face with this individual and am planning on reinstating.

How’s that for controversial?

I’ve been hosting for more than 20 years and this is the first incident of this nature. I took swift and well thought out immediate action and have been contemplating the ultimate long-term outcome.

I haven’t reached out to the individual yet but plan on doing so this week. He has thought long and hard about his actions, including his alcohol consumption, and I feel this isn’t a bad course of action.

I’m not stuck for players. I fill up every week. I wouldn’t have any player with a “situation” at my game just to put players at the table. Several of the other players have known “Spillsie” since grade school and they have no objection. He has an admitted propensity towards excessive revelry and he’s looking at that. Additionally, I think the support of the group will be of benefit to him.

He’ll be under extra close observation but neither myself nor the others believe that this is a thing and feel it was a one off and perfect storm type situation.

Go.
Click to expand...
While I haven't had to deal with anyone in a group stealing, I have been a part of groups where I've had to step in and call out a behavior as over-the-line. Not fun to do, but sometimes it's the right thing to do. While many will say "once a thief, always a thief", I have to believe that there is some chance to salvage the situation. If you don't object to it, your players don't object to it, and this person knows that they are now on the watch list...the worst that can happen is something similar happens again and then your choice is clear. As long as this person doesn't seem like they'd turn to violence and that it was a legitimately drunken mistake...I think you're following your heart and that has to count for something.
 
I appreciate your response. Hosting and providing a safe, clean game is a huge responsibility and one that the vast majority of hosts take seriously. I am one of those hosts.

Many in the group have known Spills since childhood. There is no history of theft or other untoward behavior. He’s a good kid, has a decent job and is a hard worker. He also drinks a bit too much. I mentioned that the crushing blow of being moved to the wait list has caused him to look at that. Which is a good thing.

Perfect storm. He created it. He fessed up immediately when confronted and showed tremendous remorse, didn’t doubt that the punishment fit the circumstances, and hoped that he could regain the trust of the game.

While I haven’t discussed it yet with him, I sense another opportunity to show who he is, is in order.

Again, thanks for the reply and show of support.

Hosting can be hard.

Ken
 
merkong said:
It’s all chip, chip, chip… Here’s a deviation…

I recently threaded about a regular who was super drunk and cupped a chip from a heads up pot and got busted. Read my thread for details.

He was placed on the “wait list indefinitely” and he’s been there for several weeks.

After careful deliberation I’m setting up a face to face with this individual and am planning on reinstating.

How’s that for controversial?

I’ve been hosting for more than 20 years and this is the first incident of this nature. I took swift and well thought out immediate action and have been contemplating the ultimate long-term outcome.

I haven’t reached out to the individual yet but plan on doing so this week. He has thought long and hard about his actions, including his alcohol consumption, and I feel this isn’t a bad course of action.

I’m not stuck for players. I fill up every week. I wouldn’t have any player with a “situation” at my game just to put players at the table. Several of the other players have known “Spillsie” since grade school and they have no objection. He has an admitted propensity towards excessive revelry and he’s looking at that. Additionally, I think the support of the group will be of benefit to him.

He’ll be under extra close observation but neither myself nor the others believe that this is a thing and feel it was a one off and perfect storm type situation.

Go.
Click to expand...
Read your thread. It doesn't seem like he was contrite and admitted what he did was terrible and wrong. Rather than be a decent person and face the music he no showed the next day and ghosted you.

It's one thing to make a mistake. We all make mistakes. But it's important to stand up and take ownership for one's mistakes. He didn't do so (or at least it doesn't sound like he did). If he didn't, he's a coward. And he's leaning on his over consumption as a crutch. Drunk people are uninhibited - they reveal their true identities. He's shown his. When, and not if, he does something stupid again, you may have to deal with the fallout with the other players at your game.
 
That’s true about the ghosting. He sobered up and wasn’t sure he had been actually found out. I did have to confront him to get an immediate admission. All that’s true.

It’s a tough spot and I am going to run it by the regulars that know about the situation and they’re the ones that have known him since they were all kids.

I haven’t notified him if anything at this point. I want to discuss it with the ones that know him and make any decision after that.

Thanks for giving the thread a read. The consensus is overwhelmingly in favor or a complete ban.

I will update the threads as appropriate.

Hosting can be a hard job.

Ken
 
I just want to update this thread and I’ll be copying it back to my original post on the matter.

As I sit here right now, having reconverted the card room back to a card room after Christmas I can say that I am approximately 99% sure I will not be reinstating the perpetrator who put this host in quite the unenviable position of having to rule on his swiping of a chip from a pot.

He did not immediately reach out the next day even though he knew I had him. Recall, in the moment, the winner of the pot realized he was missing a $5 chip from the pot (there were only two in it) and I took corrective action; “Spills accidentally scooped it.” He did object for a second but tossed it over. Also recall, I felt I didn’t need a dust up right then and there. He was drunk and would have obviously denied it and the game may have soured for the night. I proceeded to empty his pockets and planned on dealing with it the next day. Now you’re all caught up.

I run a clean, safe, and fair game. Several folks have referred to my game as “classy.” The equipment, the atmosphere, everything. I spread a nice game. I don’t want to bring back a regular who violated a foundational rule in poker games and put the integrity of my game at risk.

As we pick up new players, if this were to become known that the game allows this well it would be the beginning of the end. The game means too much to my players. It means too much to me.

There’s a lot of things you can do at a home game and get a second chance. Plug up the toilet, drink all the beer, puke, have an outburst but something on this level is an almost automatic oust. I only pitched it to the forum to make sure I wasn’t missing something and had it right.

On that note, when I did call the perpetrator out about 48 hours later he did not deny it (I’m surprised he remembered the look he gave me when our eyes met mid-swipe - he was hammered) and that quick admission which led to him having a conversation with the victim and a lengthy, remorseful (what do you expect) text to me, validated what I witnessed. Nobody needed to support my eyewitness account but I was so steadfast in my position on what I saw that they chose to. For that I thanked him.

I probably will not notify him that he’s been permanently removed in the too near future but likely will. My thoughts on the integrity of the game I’ve worked so hard to build will shield him from thinking it’s personal because it’s not. As a matter of fact my affection towards him bought him some time in limbo. I will let the victim (my future son in law), my daughter, and the two others that know what I’ve decided.

I’d play elsewhere but I run a game like no other that I’ve played in which is why I host.

Thanks for all the feedback and support during this difficult time lol

It was hard. If I didn’t know him etc etc it would have been much easier and they would have been removed immediately. It was Spills. He went to high school with 60 some % of my players. Way to go Spills. Don’t shit where you eat.

Thanks again.

Ken - Just the host of a classy home poker game in MN.
 
Here’s a new controversial opinion of mine - broken in cheap slugged plastics aren’t that terrible.

I’ve got this stack of Claysmith “Desert Heat” that I pulled from my shuffle stack collection that I’ve been shuffling all week, and now that I’ve basically shuffled all the flashing and imperfect edges off they feel great. I think my skin oils have imparted some grip to the chips so they aren’t sliding as much and honestly I wouldn’t be mad about playing with a set of them. Granted I don’t want to spend years shuffling off flashing 10 chips at a time, but they’ve got potential haha.

image.jpg

image.jpg
 
djfayze said:
Here’s a new controversial opinion of mine - broken in cheap slugged plastics aren’t that terrible.

I’ve got this stack of Claysmith “Desert Heat” that I pulled from my shuffle stack collection that I’ve been shuffling all week, and now that I’ve basically shuffled all the flashing and imperfect edges off they feel great. I think my skin oils have imparted some grip to the chips so they aren’t sliding as much and honestly I wouldn’t be mad about playing with a set of them. Granted I don’t want to spend years shuffling off flashing 10 chips at a time, but they’ve got potential haha.
Click to expand...

Anything's better than non-denom dice chips! :ROFL: :ROFLMAO: But one thing that I really appreciated with the cheap sluggos from Discount Poker Shop that I've had experience with was that they didn't have any flashing. I had a friend who had spent more money on "Poker Knights" slugged chips than I did on my "Monaco Casino" or "Outlaw" chips last year, and ultimately he returned them because the flashing, and the splits in the plastic between the base and edge spots, were absolutely terrible in his set.

Obviously I've "moved on" from my DPS sluggos, but I still have them and would have no problems using them in a pinch!
 
djfayze said:
Here’s a new controversial opinion of mine - broken in cheap slugged plastics aren’t that terrible.

I’ve got this stack of Claysmith “Desert Heat” that I pulled from my shuffle stack collection that I’ve been shuffling all week, and now that I’ve basically shuffled all the flashing and imperfect edges off they feel great. I think my skin oils have imparted some grip to the chips so they aren’t sliding as much and honestly I wouldn’t be mad about playing with a set of them. Granted I don’t want to spend years shuffling off flashing 10 chips at a time, but they’ve got potential haha.

View attachment 1049726
View attachment 1049727
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Yup, 12 stripes aren't bad chips for cheap chips. I almost bought a whole truckload of them to make custom sets for my non-chipping sons.
 
12thMan said:
Bluff Canyon chips were one of my first loves. Still love them actually.
Click to expand...
They're not a terrible starter set, my first blackjack table had its tray stocked with Bluff Canyons.

I still have about 1500 of that 12-stripe design, but label designs mixed... Was planning a relabel project, but I don't have the energy to do that many chips, so setting up as many people as I can with playable sets and will probably yeet the remainder to new members here once that process is done.
 
I don't think I've been rendered more flaccid by a chip set than the Tiger Palace.

No real spot progression, super busy spots, dayglo everything and a mostly uninspiring inlay design that's dominated by the word-form "TIGER".

I can't even find one that I'd want to relabel for anything....
 
AlbinoDragon said:
I don't think I've been rendered more flaccid by a chip set than the Tiger Palace.

No real spot progression, super busy spots, dayglo everything and a mostly uninspiring inlay design that's dominated by the word-form "TIGER".

I can't even find one that I'd want to relabel for anything....
Click to expand...
Welp any other thread this would be my reaction
get-out-leave.gif


Also..... Don't buy chips from this guy.... The other ones didn't make him flaccid




*This is a sex joke*
 
Not sure if this is controversial, but @BarrieJ3s post in another thread reminded me how much I dislike having denominated chips with "half the value" or 1/10th the value or whatever. I feel like I see it a lot, so maybe others don't mind, but for me it would be absolutely insane to spend several thousand dollars on a set and not even get the denominations right.

Non denoms I also dislike a lot, but it would better than playing with 100s being worth 20 or whatever the hell people do!
 
Marius L said:
Not sure if this is controversial, but @BarrieJ3s post in another thread reminded me how much I dislike having denominated chips with "half the value" or 1/10th the value or whatever. I feel like I see it a lot, so maybe others don't mind, but for me it would be absolutely insane to spend several thousand dollars on a set and not even get the denominations right.

Non denoms I also dislike a lot, but it would better than playing with 100s being worth 20 or whatever the hell people do!
Click to expand...
100% agree, it would tilt me to no end. I mean, just murder and get gear labels like a normal human being
 
Marius L said:
Not sure if this is controversial, but @BarrieJ3s post in another thread reminded me how much I dislike having denominated chips with "half the value" or 1/10th the value or whatever. I feel like I see it a lot, so maybe others don't mind, but for me it would be absolutely insane to spend several thousand dollars on a set and not even get the denominations right.

Non denoms I also dislike a lot, but it would better than playing with 100s being worth 20 or whatever the hell people do!
Click to expand...
It has to do with chip availability and desirability (at least for me). I like the colors and spots on high denom chips more. My players tend to play low stakes so I’m never going to get those HSI $500s in play otherwise. Murdering and relabeling isn’t instantaneous nor free. Gear’s queue is probably north of 4 months now. I have 10 racks of JC sec $25 that I use as quarters just because they were cheap and mint. Not worth murdering or relabeling.

My Garden City set plays at 100x because I used to play there in person and those high denoms were always out of reach for me at that time.

1674243689654.jpeg


Murdering those leaded IHC would be worse than playing them at 1/100 face imo.

1674243837037.jpeg


My 1000x set is just a passion project. Blaze 1ks used as $1 yup.

Who doesn’t want to feel like you’re playing on High Stakes Poker?

Having said all that I only use 100x and 1000x multipliers. The 5x or 20x stuff you’re describing probably just reflects chip denom availability.
 
Marius L said:
Not sure if this is controversial, but @BarrieJ3s post in another thread reminded me how much I dislike having denominated chips with "half the value" or 1/10th the value or whatever. I feel like I see it a lot, so maybe others don't mind, but for me it would be absolutely insane to spend several thousand dollars on a set and not even get the denominations right.

Non denoms I also dislike a lot, but it would better than playing with 100s being worth 20 or whatever the hell people do!
Click to expand...
I agree with @DirtyTIVA. Using multipliers or division or whatever people want to call it is pretty common to expand the flexibility of chipsets. It was fun watching @BarrieJ3 struggle IRL to conceptualized the 2/5 blinds I used at my one-off 20¢/50¢ PL mix game, but after the first few hands everyone will realize that the only time you need to convert the chips to real cash value is while buying in or cashing out.

The WSOP main event used to give 10,000 in chips for a $10,000 buy-in, but have since moved beyond the 1:1 mindset. You don't really calculate ICM all the time thinking about how each chip is worth in terms of prize money during a tournament. We can apply the same leap in logic to cash games.
 
Marius L said:
Not sure if this is controversial, but @BarrieJ3s post in another thread reminded me how much I dislike having denominated chips with "half the value" or 1/10th the value or whatever. I feel like I see it a lot, so maybe others don't mind, but for me it would be absolutely insane to spend several thousand dollars on a set and not even get the denominations right.

Non denoms I also dislike a lot, but it would better than playing with 100s being worth 20 or whatever the hell people do!
Click to expand...
100% - it just seems a little too cute or clever to me. I guess we all have different priorities in this hobby, but to me it’s all about getting the right chips for the right game.
But wait, you say! The chip room is selling $25,000 chips and they’re really cool!
I’m sure they are, but I have no use for them. Shrug
 
I call BS but it's 100% subjective (so grain of salt and all that).

For @DirtyTIVA, like he said, it's a passion project. Not as a slight at all, but does he host? Is he recruiting players? Does he really care which sets hit the felt when with who for the best player experience? I don't know, but I don't think so. I think it's more so, I'm enjoying my chips and this space and playing, but no I don't actually care much what we're doing when playing micro stakes and goofing around.

@ArielVer18 I agree with you in every way, shape, and form. My challenge or whatnot would be this though, how many betting errors do your players have per game when doing multiples and unique setups? I don't know if it's less than 1, 1, or above 1 per game, but in all the non-multiplier games we've seen one so far, someone betting "4 chips" and throwing out $5s instead of $1s.

Being honest, I'm a new player, new chipper, new everything. So I can't speak to what happens the majority across games, what's better than the other etc., I just know how I like to run mine. If you come to The Continental and there are thousands of dollars in play, there will be no guesswork. There will be no interpretations. There will be food, drink, merriment, and degen.

And yes, I suck and I'm boring for not getting big denoms into play. But in every other thread and nook and cravasse of this forum, every host speaks to "remove the variables, take away the threat of impropriety, don't build in the possibility for mistakes, keep it simple stupid". We can go against our own advice, but at risk.
 
ArielVer18 said:
I agree with @DirtyTIVA. Using multipliers or division or whatever people want to call it is pretty common to expand the flexibility of chipsets. It was fun watching @BarrieJ3 struggle IRL to conceptualized the 2/5 blinds I used at my one-off 20¢/50¢ PL mix game, but after the first few hands everyone will realize that the only time you need to convert the chips to real cash value is while buying in or cashing out.

The WSOP main event used to give 10,000 in chips for a $10,000 buy-in, but have since moved beyond the 1:1 mindset. You don't really calculate ICM all the time thinking about how each chip is worth in terms of prize money during a tournament. We can apply the same leap in logic to cash games.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Doing this in some situations is no real issue. Say you have a single casino set of chips but you want to play micro stakes and there are no fracs available. You may eventually buy some chips to relabel, but in the meantime, I see no issue with having a $20 buy-in and giving everyone $100 or $200 in chips to play. And then play $1/1 or $1/2. It may actually teach you that chips are chips and money is money, but chips aren't money. That can be a very helpful concept for some beginning or less experienced players who might sweat over a $10 or $20 bet when thinking that it's real money.
 
ArielVer18 said:
You don't really calculate ICM all the time thinking about how each chip is worth in terms of prize money during a tournament. We can apply the same leap in logic to cash games.
Click to expand...
I dont agree with this. In a cash game your ICM is simply the cash you have in front of you all the time. Sure, you can get used to the unusual denoms or multiples soon enough, but I just find it feels somewhat..... cheap. Which is not what I'm going for with high end chips.

I understand the want to use cool chips for a game, and have it work for your game. I just think I prioritise differently. If I wanna spend several thousand dollars on a set, proper denoms is one of the most basic needs imo. Sure, it limits the chips a lot, but I bypass that by some relabeling if I'm dead set on using some specific chips. I'm sure others think differently about that, and for example dislike relabeling chips.

I guess it's good for you guys that you don't mind, because it does increase opportunities to get whatever chips you want in play.
 
I prefer to have to the actual dollar value on my chips for poker... But for some reason that does not extend to the set I'm trying to build for my craps game?!?! I dont want to relabel $5s to $0.05, $25 to $0.25. Not sure why this is but feel 100% different on the issue based on poker vs. craps.
 
upNdown said:
100% - it just seems a little too cute or clever to me. I guess we all have different priorities in this hobby, but to me it’s all about getting the right chips for the right game.
But wait, you say! The chip room is selling $25,000 chips and they’re really cool!
I’m sure they are, but I have no use for them. Shrug
Click to expand...
I fully admit I care more about the chips than the game. I don’t play poker for income, purely for entertainment. Except when I run ice cold @Godzilla28 for -$4000 over 4 hours losing all showdowns then I go on a month-long fevered chip buying binge to make myself feel better.

BarrieJ3 said:
For @DirtyTIVA, like he said, it's a passion project. Not as a slight at all, but does he host? Is he recruiting players? Does he really care which sets hit the felt when with who for the best player experience? I don't know, but I don't think so. I think it's more so, I'm enjoying my chips and this space and playing, but no I don't actually care much what we're doing when playing micro stakes and goofing around.
Click to expand...

I don’t host because it’s a poorly lit corner of my unfinished unheated 2 car garage in the south bay. I’m relegated there because of young kids who don’t go to sleep when there’s yelling or worse. Wish I had a basement or a powered shed in the back yard but I don’t. In the meantime I just bring action and chocolate/booze.
 
DirtyTIVA said:
I fully admit I care more about the chips than the game. I don’t play poker for income, purely for entertainment. Except when I run ice cold @Godzilla28 for -$4000 over 4 hours losing all showdowns then I go on a month-long fevered chip buying binge to make myself feel better.



I don’t host because it’s a poorly lit corner of my unfinished unheated 2 car garage in the south bay. I’m relegated there because of young kids who don’t go to sleep when there’s yelling or worse. Wish I had a basement or a powered shed in the back yard but I don’t. In the meantime I just bring action and chocolate/booze.
Click to expand...
I'm with you 100%. I so desperately wish I had better space and was hosting back when we lived in Indiana or France. Lol everytime we move it's to a smaller and smaller place.

And the fam, lol. My wife and kids are staying in a hotel down by you tonight while we have poker here. The struggle is real.
 

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