Is this standard?

[The Camel]

So I witnessed this exchange today:

Player 1 asked on facebook if anyone had any dollars for Vegas in exchange for Stars/Euros/Sterling

Player 2 replied I can do it for Stars money with 3% vig.

Do poker players not do stuff for other poker players out of kindness? Sometime in the future player 2 is going to need a favour, and to be frank, he doesn't deserve anyone to help him out if he's so damn nitty.

Or am I totally out of line, and what player 2 offered was fair enough?

[redarmi]

Ah this reminds me, sorry to hijack thread, but i am going to be in the UK arriving the morning of the 27th May.  I will likely have about $2.5k US that anyone going to Vegas is welcome to them at spot but I don't really want to go out of my way to save myself like a score or something so would have to meet me in Central or East London or at Gatwick. 

[tikay]

I heard a near identical story over the weekend.

A player, very well known, and popular, was trying to buy some dollars for Vegas, and was offered up to x thousand at 3% above spot by a fellow poker player.

Needless to say, he declined the "offer".

[Magic817]

So I witnessed this exchange today:

Player 1 asked on facebook if anyone had any dollars for Vegas in exchange for Stars/Euros/Sterling

Player 2 replied I can do it for Stars money with 3% vig.

Do poker players not do stuff for other poker players out of kindness? Sometime in the future player 2 is going to need a favour, and to be frank, he doesn't deserve anyone to help him out if he's so damn nitty.

Or am I totally out of line, and what player 2 offered was fair enough?

Is it really even kindness? Its just at some point player 2 will need the favour/you are helping someone out (maybe even helping yourself if you want the stars $) so do it at spot.

[The Camel]

So I witnessed this exchange today:

Player 1 asked on facebook if anyone had any dollars for Vegas in exchange for Stars/Euros/Sterling

Player 2 replied I can do it for Stars money with 3% vig.

Do poker players not do stuff for other poker players out of kindness? Sometime in the future player 2 is going to need a favour, and to be frank, he doesn't deserve anyone to help him out if he's so damn nitty.

Or am I totally out of line, and what player 2 offered was fair enough?

Is it really even kindness? Its just at some point player 2 will need the favour/you are helping someone out (maybe even helping yourself if you want the stars $) so do it at spot.

Yep, if it's a pain or a nuisance or will be a struggle to do it just don't offer.

[mondatoo]

In general this is something poker players are way more helpful with doing than the average joe public. Not many people who you didn't really know that well would be up for bank trfr 1k for money online.

Agree with the point made though, just saying.

[cambridgealex]

Definitely off to charge vig. A favour's a favour, no-one should benefit. Often these transactions are mutually beneficial e.g. one party needs $ cash for Vegas, the other party has spare $ cash he's not using, they trade- everybody wins.

[JaffaCake]

I heard this today too and was amazed. I don't see it as a favour to others, I  thought the point of selling at spot was that both parties get a better deal than if they sold somewhere else, so both are getting an edge? If u don't wanna sell em don't, but to offer with a 3% tax? Do people do this with Stars $$ too these days? If not why not, same thing isn't it? Sometimes it's harder to get Stars $$ if you've maxed your limits, u can get real $$$ anywhere, maybe not at such a great rate. Maybe these guys should charge 5% on Stars $$

[The Camel]

The only way I can see where charging vig is even remotely justifiable is if Player 1 had directly approached Player 2 and asked him to change it up and it didn't really suit Player 2.

So player 1 offers a little bit of vig to sweeten the deal for him.

The way player 1 threw the offer open to everyone on facebook - definitely seems out of line Player 2 asking for vig.

Do a transaction with a total stranger it is somewhat different.

Player 2 is assuming a small amount of risk - so charging vig in that spot is fair enough I think.

[LonOhRay]

Is common to charge small amounts of vig for online money

Games are getting tougher ... edges getting thinner

Edit: Doesn't seem that out of line, just offering a service and putting an offer out there. Can't go to M+S bureau de change and use Stars cashier.

Just don't offer player 2 any favours in the future if he's not prepared to do it vig free though

[Simon Galloway]

Real World money is worth more than online money.  That is not only my opinion, that is where an established transfer market on 2+2 has it also.

Without going into too much detail, if you post on FB or on 2+2 that you have real World money and would like Stars money at par, you will get knocked over in the rush.  If you post that you have Stars money and would like real world money at par, you won't get knocked over in the rush.  Friends might help you out and if it suited their purpose as well, I'd definitely expect it to be done at par, whichever side of the coin I was on.

[redsimon]

Definitely off to charge vig. A favour's a favour, no-one should benefit. Often these transactions are mutually beneficial e.g. one party needs $ cash for Vegas, the other party has spare $ cash he's not using, they trade- everybody wins.

This is very much true. Think I know the player Tikay talking about and quite happy to swap at spot with him rather than have a few K $ lying around as not in Vegas this summer.

[Bad Beat]

 I was thinking about this recently. A guy that lives in Dublin was offering players coming for the Irish Open euros for sterling at 3% vig. A guy in Oz used to make a shitload selling Aus$$$ every January for Stars money to all the international pros who came in. He had a good rep with Stars and got people's limits upped and stuff really easily. He also dealt t$$ for cash and for reg Stars $$$.

 I sort of thought that was all quite scummy.

 It used to be very easy in the Vic to buy money at spot but the obvious problem is that all players want to buy euro before the EPT Monte Carlo, Barcelona and the Irish Open and straight after that they want to sell it. When it's Vegas they want to buy $$$ and in July the lucky few want to sell.

 At Scoop time the guys with big Stars balances can find buyers from infrequent players who are giving the bigger buy-ins a spin.

 The guy who holds money in all currencies and is wealthy enough to not need to keep changing his bankroll back and forward is able to provide a massive service. There should really be a cost for services.

 In the past I have been very generous with my time and efforts changing money back and forward for people. I used to have a regular steady stream of people who came to me to collect money.

 I have found that when it comes to the time I want to collect my favour, the record of it does not always seem to be logged. I also find that when it gets to June many players just cannot understand that I may actually want $$$ myself and I perhaps don't want to sell them. Some people ask me at least three times when I say I haven't got them.

 I have never charged vig, but I do question if it would be wrong to "punish" players for the fact that they can't be arsed to be organised and they just expect me to do that bit for them.

 If you are asking about attempting to earn from selling lammers at the WSOP then I would say those people are scum (also people that refuse to buy them when they are in the queue waiting to buy-in in cash).

[julian]

Definitely off to charge vig. A favour's a favour, no-one should benefit. Often these transactions are mutually beneficial e.g. one party needs $ cash for Vegas, the other party has spare $ cash he's not using, they trade- everybody wins.

This is very much true. Think I know the player Tikay talking about and quite happy to swap at spot with him rather than have a few K $ lying around as not in Vegas this summer.

tx simon  

glad you posted this keith, i was chatting to tony & jaffa about this as i was shocked & disappointed that two well known players were offering to sell dollars in vegas but wanted 3% on top.

i'd rather pay full whack on the high street.

i go to vegas for 2 weeks mid june, should i be lucky enough to come back with a suitcase full i'll be selling at spot

[outragous76]

I guess when you are in comminuty like poker (i excude the likes of myself, i mean pros dealing with this all the time), you need to take the view that its a yin and yang thing.

There is probably going to be a point where you want this (is it really a favour?) returned. As such, do unto others etc. What about the day where you just need an " insta-lend" because your money is in the safe at the venetian and you are stood at the cage in Rio?

Its the line of friends and business. If you see it as a business transaction  and you are never gonna see the guy again (maybe what Neil refers to in part), then i guess charging vig is your perogative. If you do this to a friend then you probably need to reassess a few things, especially when you might need the favour returned in the near future.