I've had a few close "friends" that i knew for a few years and thought i could trust steal from me in the poker world.  It really sucks and makes me wonder who the hell u can trust in the gambling world.  I know most people are trustworthy but when you get screwed over by people who are your friends it makes it really difficult!  Anyway just sayin, gotta be careful out there.

Me and Micky B will be coming down after dinner.

DTD are definitely spot on in this.  It's an absolutely horrendous situation to be in.  Having been on the bad side of it myself I must say it's one of the things I hate most in poker, the whole table ganging against u.

Last time I had it was in Caesar's Palace, 5 paid and they all wanted to put $40 in each for 6th.  I was not happy as chipleader albeit a small one since it was a turbo but as the min cash was 3x the buyin the bubble was huge!  Nevertheless the TD said if players want to make an arrangement on the side then it's none of his business so they all went and put $40 in.  As I saw there was nothing I could do about this rather than seem like the bad guy I decided to go along with it.  It was totally redic since the shortie had 4bb's and was a near certainty to bubble, especially as he was folding to death.  In the end I really felt this cost me around $500 from being able to steal the next 10 pots in a row and secure a top two spot no probs.

It shouldn't be allowed and TD's should be far more active and just put the foot down when a player says no.  Remember NO means NO!

Guess I'll chime in as this thread is about me.

I think the comments that we turned down a dealer dealt game and hence it's not the casino's responsibility is stupid.  We're still paying a rake to the casino just a much lesser one and we are still in their environment and hence they have a responsibility towards me to protect me from being cheated by another customer.  In the end they made a decision to ban him and said that nothing would come of it if pursued any further since the evidence is not clear but it's obvious to them as they are in the industry.  All Salfi is basically asking is whether they should be doing more than this (I didn't ask him to post, my personal stance on the matter is fuck it, got cheated, lesson learnt). 

Playing HU where we're not gonna be sat super deep that is raked pretty high is gonna eat up the stacks no matter what so I think it's a perfectly reasonable decision to self deal.  In my mind the guy was not a random, he was a player in Charles Flynn's private game, I had no reason to assume anything other than he was known to Charles and hence was not even considering the possibility of being cheated.

He obviously just spotted the opportunity to cheat me and went for it.  First hand we only sat down with 60bb's, got in a 3bet pot and all money was in on T9JA with me AJ and him QK.  I didn't even blink at this, just thought standard cooler spot.  So whilst I went to the cash desk I wasn't even getting my guard up or becoming remotely suspicious of the guy.  I mean yeah when I got back getting dealt aces seems well suspicious in hindsight but at the time I just wasn't thinking.  I wasn't that awake and was only at Alea to piss around in Cf's private game, wasn't expecting anything remotely serious.  He shuffled in front of me too, I just forgot to cut the deck, I haven't cut a deck in well over a year unless I'm dealing myself, just not used to it being part of the routine anymore, I think it's fair enough I can forget. I think people calling me thick for letting this happen is wrong, I made what I think is an easy mistake to make.  I just don't expect to get scammed in a casino these days.  Plus should I suspect someone that I think is mates with one of my mates from the get go?  Am I supposed to be suspicious of and distrust every person I meet until they prove themselves?  That doesn't sound like the best way to be.

I mean had I had any suspicion after the first hand then I probably would've not stacked off with aces.  But from my pov I got back, got dealt aces (which can happen), and rather than going damn he's scamming me I just naturally clicked the raise button and b4 I had another thought the whole lot was in, I don't think I can be held too accountable for letting that sequence of events occurring.

It twigged after a few hands and I took over the dealing.   I didn't confront him cause it looked like he was gonna stay plus he wasn't that good so I thought I'd just win it back.  I only went over to Salfi when the guy said he was gonna leave in 20 mins.  I told Salfi to get the staff to look over the security.  By the time they'd reached any conclusions he was out the building.

There is a good part to the event.  The guy basically locked down and didn't put any money into future pots and seemed totally content to sit on the "winnings" until he felt he'd played long enough to be able to leave.  There were at least 3 hands in that period where he should've stacked me if he'd played his hands in anyway aggressively but instead failed to take more than a tenner each time.  So I probably came away better for it lol (or maybe he was just that shit and that's how he always played).

Anyway, thanks for the bashing, <3 the internet.

I'll play if there's time, maybe a blitz tourney?

Hi, can you put me on the reserve list please.  I play at Alea.  Been a long time lurker on here and been meaning to sign up for ages, this seems like a pretty solid reason!

Richard Hawes