Thursday, March 04, 2010

Cheating for Free

Free bar poker is an excellent place to practice your card skills.  If you lose there is no penalty - it costs you nothing to play.  It should be no surprise that people come into the poker league and try cheating.  The same thought must prevail in the mind of the cheating player - what is the worst that can happen for cheating in free poker?

Presumably you kick the person out of the league and bar them from playing with the honest players.  I catch people cheating a lot.  More than you would think.  My ability to catch them cheating has far less to do with any brilliance on my part, and relies more on their ineptitude at being dishonest.

Recently I caught someone cheating in a big way.  As a courtesy to the bar, I informed the manager about it before I went to kick the guy out.  The manager did not want her valued customer, the cheater, removed from the poker tables.  I can't imagine why; I do know they have spent time outside the bar playing for real money at his home game. Free bar poker can pay off - he gets to make use of the skills he practices at the bar poker games.

About two weeks ago I decided enough was enough.  So I told him while I could not kick him out of this one bar, he was banned from all our other poker games.  He was a very unhappy camper that night.  How does that one particular bar feel about it?  Well, they don't really talk to me anymore, so I am not sure.

He did win first place with new league running the show.  I suspect both the player and the bar manager are both happy now.  I wish them well.

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