Preface:

Let me begin by saying, “I don’t chop”. I never did, not even in rake games. Part of that was due to the fact that when I was playing low limit, rake game poker I didn’t quite understand it as a business. I just loved to play, and I was winning all of the time among the people with whom I was playing. So, I always felt that I had an edge or I was confident enough in my play that I just never chopped.

When I started playing mid-limit poker and was introduced to games that collected time, the notion that I already didn’t chop made for a smooth transition among the different group of players that I was now playing with, who also didn’t chop. It was at this point that I started to understand poker as more of a business. I calculated how much I’d need to make in order to overcome the time each year, along with tips, etc., just to break even. I monitored my hourly rate in given games so that I could really determine how much I was winning and if I was indeed playing the right games at the right times. After a while these things became second nature. And, while the time increases when you move up in limits, one thing never changed. I still don’t chop.

Rant:

I noticed something a few years ago, and it REALLY bothered me, ethically. I noticed that other players, who also didn’t chop, now decided that they were going to do so in “time pots”. It used to be that everyone just paid his or her own time every half hour. In more recent years they’ve introduced “time pots” where either some or all of the time is taken out of the first qualifying pot. In flop games, if there isn’t a flop, there isn’t any time taken. You sit down, and the player next to you asks “Do you chop?” and you hear several types of responses like “I do whatever the guy to my left does”, or my personal favorite “I chop only in time pots”. WHAT?!

Segway:

Let us quickly go to the rules. Technically, although the casino overlooks it, in most casinos in Atlantic City (I’m not sure about those that have updated their rule books) chopping is technically not permitted. And, for that matter, neither are time pots. The dealer is technically supposed to have the time in the circle before the hand is dealt, which is why someone at the table usually puts up the time and then is reimbursed from the time pot. The reason I am telling you this is because if a player objects to chopping for time pots only or otherwise, the objection will overrule everything. Now let’s get back to the game.

Continue Rant:

I was playing $75-$150 Omaha H/L at the Borgata 2 weeks ago. I haven’t been playing for a while as I stated in another blog. John was playing a tournament, and I went out for the evening and met him for dinner. It was our first night using a babysitter so I took advantage of the time I had and decided to play a little. I was sitting with some familiar faces, but many of them were new. A friend of mine sent me a text message from across the room that read “Nice little field you got there”. He was right; they were horrible for the most part. I never really talk to people I don’t know at the table unless I am directly spoken to, or unless someone is badgering me directly. So, I sat silently and listened to the bullshit ensue.

There was another girl at the table I had never seen. She seemed to play mediocre, being one of the better players at the table of the field of 9 players. She never shut up. In fact, I started the game short handed with 2 other guys, and it filled almost immediately. When she sat someone asked, “Do you chop?” She answered, “only in time pots”. I immediately wanted to punch her in the fucking face. She continued to berate dealers, albeit they aren’t always great, but I hate people who think they know it all and just freely offer advice or opinions even when the situation doesn’t call for it. This is pretty much what she did all night.

When she agreed to only chop in time pots, I could have said something and put an immediate end to it, but I didn’t. Why? Because I knew that I wouldn’t yet be playing with regularity. I can guarantee you then when I return to poker on a regular basis, I will be opening my mouth and putting a stop to that shit. You either chop, or you don’t. It’s very cut and dry. You don’t try to avoid paying time by chopping during time pots. It’s unethical. The only time that you could reasonably ever change your mind is if you chop in a full game, and continue to play when the game gets short, and decide not to chop short handed. Everyone realizes that at that point you’d be giving up too much, so it’s an acceptable change.

Speaking of ethics, here’s another thing that I never did. I never played in the same game with someone that I was dating. I mention this because on that evening, there was a pot where the flop came 2-5-7, and the turn was a 4. It was a 3-way pot with her and 2 guys, one who was decent and aggressive, and one who flat out was horrible. Now when I say “horrible” I mean because he could never lay down a hand, and almost never correctly bet the hands he had. However, it is important to note that with players like that, when they are the one doing the 3 and 4 betting in pots, they usually have the nuts.

I don’t specifically remember the pre-flop action but there was raising involved, and 3-betting on the flop. What I do remember is when that 4 hit the turn she bet, decent player raised, horrible player 3 bet and she capped it. Decent player calls, fish calls. The river changes nothing. She checks, decent player checks, horrible player bets, she FOLDS, decent player calls. There is never a reason for her to fold here for one bet after capping the turn. The decent player has a wheel; horrible player has the high straight. I can’t imagine how she could have put in 4 bets on this board without the nuts either way. She was a better player than that, and she didn’t play aggressively enough to be doing it with draws. I was utterly confused. That is until I later found out that the dude with the wheel, the one who played decent and was sitting 3 seats away from her, was her boyfriend. Now, I ‘m not directly accusing anyone of anything, but something just isn’t right there. With the texture of that board, and knowing that the horrible player would never be 3-betting it without the nuts, I have to wonder what the fuck she was thinking when she was building that pot with her boyfriend in it.

There was one other situation where she was annoying. The decent player asked the lady next to him, Jane, if she chopped. It was a time pot and Jane said, “sure”. The annoying girl then said to Jane “You owe this guy $50”, meaning the guy to Jane’s left. She said, “You took his $50 before and now you want to chop with the guy to your right (who was her boyfriend). You owe him $50”. I wanted to really punch her now. It was none of her fucking business which person remembers chopping what money. If the pot is wrong, or someone is incorrectly awarded an extra chip that is one thing. But, to directly involve yourself in something that doesn’t concern you is just wrong. Shut up and mind your own business. It’s up to the player to say something for himself. (Now, she could have mentioned something to the player and said “Hey she took your $50 before if you want to ask for it back”, and left the decision up to him).

Ok. So while the last paragraph was another ethical rant, and I clearly turned this blog into a general matter of ethics, here is my closing thought for the day:

As players who wish to become professionals, I encourage you to act like it. Make decisions and choose your words wisely when at the table. If you chop then that’s great. If you don’t, then don’t. But, be consistent in what you do, and that will keep others respecting you, even if they don’t like you.

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