Casino cash game vs friends

[Roboligraphy]

If you are playing at a full table in a cash game with 1 friend and notice a tell will you tell him about it or take advantage of it? Also do you think that it would be considered cheating if you told him about it?


Personally I'm not exactly sure how I would react about it; I know that poker is a game where spotting tells can merit a huge profit but taking advantage of a friend just doesn't feel right to me. I'm not how I would handle this situation, just another hypothetical situation to try and stir up some insight.

[TheyNeverLearn]

I don't think it would really be cheating if you don't tell your friend but if you take advantage of him then you are not a very good friend if you cheat your friend of his money but that's just the way I see it. I love my friends so I would tell them if something like that because even if I don't take advantage of it somebody else might.

[Roboligraphy]

I meant that if you told him what his tell was because it could look like you are "soft playing" him. I think thats the phrase that I was looking for.

[TheyNeverLearn]

Oh sorry I don't know all the poker lingo yet haha but I mean it's your friend, so why wouldn't you tell him? I mean I don't know maybe I am just too good of a friend but like I say I don't want my friend losing a lot if he doesn't have to.

[liladypokerpro]

I think it depends on how good of a friend he is LOL *kidding*

Seriously tho, I would most likely tell him after the fact, but not during the game. Especially if you play with this friend often.....you wouldn't want him leeching off of you if you were in his position...

[stoffmakers]

poker and friendship should be kept separate in any serious game. if you cant split them at the poker table, you should be sitting there. one time when me and 2 of my friends were playing 1-2 and were all up close to 400, i said if we take any of eachothers money, will just give it back. long story short, one of my friends screwed me bigtime and i only ended beign up 60 bucks and he gave me 40 bucks even tho i deserved at least 140 from him. never again will i trust anyone at the poker table including my friends.

[iceveins0901]

a couple weeks ago I returned from a weekend in Chicago, a friend and I went to the casino. I spotted a tell on him, and I told him I found one, but I didnt tell him what it was until the end of the night. Also we sat right next to each other, he had position on me, but we didnt go easy on each other, the pots we were in against each other werent big, but we didnt really hold back too much.

[AnArkhos]

I play mostly with friends and the gaming is the same as it would be with strangers, except that with friends we talk about a broader spectrum of things during the game.

Any tells are kept secret, as it is very likely that you are not going to be able to use it against the player after a while.

I have tells that my friends wont tell me so this is only fair vice versa.

In a casino, If I'd win my friends money off him/her with this tell, I'd buy him a few drinks with the money I won. Just so it wouldn't be too big of a loss to him/her.

I think it would be the case if the situations were the other way around too, so..

[Roboligraphy]

Even if he was my best friend I'm starting to think that I would take him to the cleaners because I know that my friends would act in the same way although like AnArkhos I'd probably buy him a drink. I don't think its fair or ethical to play different against strangers as it is to play against friends; because you are giving your friends an advantage by telling them one of there tells which also affects the whole game not just you and your friend.

[frob23]

The way I have always played is that there are no friends at the table itself. There are no family members, boy friends, girl friends, partners, friends with benefits, cohorts, BFFs, or any other such creature on the poker table. Poker is a game of individuals playing for themselves and only that. I know certain things about the way my cousins play, the way my sisters play, the way my step-brother plays, and the way many of my friends play... these things often help me decide how to act or react at the table.

I wouldn't bring it up with any of them unless they were about to go into a game that I felt would brutally take advantage of this for more than they could afford and which I wasn't playing in. If I was playing in the game then I would never breathe a word of it.

The poker table isn't a kind place... teddy bears and security blankets are best left at home. I know this sounds harsh... but it's also essential to keeping the game as pure as possible.

If I went and told my cousin (for example) that she never over-bets the pot in draw, after the draw, without a full house or higher... you would think that I was just helping her by letting her know how predictable that one move of hers was. That's actually true, by the way, she'll only bet larger than the pot (often much larger) in NL draw if she's boated up or better. Knowing this make it really easy for me to lay down straights and flushes. But imagine I told her that. And right before we went to play in a NL draw game... together.

Now, if we get involved in a 3 way pot with another player and she makes an unusually large raise... what is likely happening? It's very likely that she could be signaling me that she's got a strong enough hand to take this pot and that I should just fold and get out of the way. I likely would, because of the knowledge she knows I have of her play. Without my intent, I have caused her to collude at the table against a 3rd party.


Ok, truth be known... my cousin that plays like this has alligator blood. If she recognized that I recognized this, she would start to occasionally make this sort of over-bet when she was against me alone... simply because it stands a high chance of success. I could see myself being hurt a lot more by sharing this than anyone else because she would ruthlessly attack my belief of the strength of her hand. But the collusion reason is still the main reason that you don't share tells or other things like that with people. Because you're basically telling them how to signal to you the strength of their hand.

[frob23]

I should probably add that I love playing with friends. I really do, even though I will do everything possible to take their chips at the table. It's like any other competition with friends though. I don't intentionally miss a basket because my friend's team is behind and needs to be able to catch up. I don't quickly turn the dice after rolling them to avoid landing on Boardwalk because I know my friend likes to own that land in Monopoly. When playing backgammon, I don't avoid landing on their blot and putting it on the bar... because it's mean to make them have to try and escape before they can "fairly" try and out-race me.

Poker is just like any other game, even if it is played for money, in that when you play with friends you shouldn't be looking to help them play (unless they are brand new and are learning the basics) against you. Unless your on the same team (not possible in poker) you shouldn't be helping them... you should likely be doing the opposite.