Chopping the pot?

I've been in a home game where we would allow people to chop the pot if the wanted to whether because it's getting out of hand or people aren't certain where they sit by the river. This is a friendly game and we enjoy the play and really don't wanna see anyone go broke. Chops have only been offered in heads up situations with very little dead money in the pot but on occasion there would be some. Some people wouldn't chop but would run it twice. All of a sudden one of our fellow players sends me a text, this is the exact text as it was sent to me cause he says no more chopping.

FYI...chopping the pot after cards have been played at anytime is called COLLUSION, it is illegal in poker, NO casino allows it.

First off does anyone know if this is true? Second I do not pick and choose when I have offered this, I offer it to anyone whose in the hand with me. If he is mistaken in his text if anyone could send me a link so that I can show him I would be grateful. If he is not mistaken that's fine to, I just want to know the truth either way!

Thanks everyone!

A Casino would only chop the pot if it should be a chopped pot at the showdown.

Some of the High Stakes players will run deals like that, but they always ask the floor if they will allow it or not. High stakes players can get away with stuff like that. I don't see it ever being allowed in a normal 2/5 game at a casino.

I personally wouldn't want to chop a pot like that, it opens the doors to angle shoot even if there is only a little dead money in the pot. But house rules are house rules in home games. So just because a casino wouldn't allow it, doesn't mean you can't do it in a home game.

They do it in the televised poker shows. Sammy Farha likes doing it.

Yes, it's not legal in tournaments, but it can be done in cash games if the house agrees, for the same reasons you can run it twice.

You can also take back some of your bet if you want and play for what's left if everyone agrees.

It's basically whatever the house allows. In a home game I'd say it's no big deal. At a casino it's probably not going to happen.

As stated before whatever the house rules are reigns supreme.

It's not collusion in and of itself, but it could certainly be abused in by colluders. For example if a pot is being played three ways and one player has bet, the two other players could raise big to force them out, safe in the knowledge that they're not risking much because they intend to chop when the original player folds.

It's up to the house / floor / whoever's in charge to decide whether that's a problem or not and whether or not to allow it.

Disallowing it doesn't really do anything to prevent collusion either, by the way. Take the example I gave above: if the two players that raise big to force the original player out don't have the option of chopping they could just show down (or have one of them fold) and the player that wins the pot could give the other one their share after the game.

Note that a non-showdown chop is very different to running the board twice. There's no collusion in running the board multiple times because it's still the cards that are deciding where the money goes, not the players, and the hand still has to reach showdown in the normal way.

A home game should be set up where the stakes hurt just a bit. Anything less than a $2-$5 N/L, one may just consider staying home & open up a few tables online. As quoted from the OP, the game gets way outta hand. By raising the stakes, your likely to reduce the amount of chopped pots due to both greed & the size of the pot itself.

so what is the difference in chopping the pot verus chopping the prize at the final table?. Fulltilt has a deal button.

Chopping the pot only happens in cash games - if two players are left in a hand they might agree to take half the pot each without going to showdown. That would be chopping the pot.

Chopping the prize in a tournament is slightly different because it can only be done with the agreement of all the players that are left in the tournament and, therefore, it isn't as open to abuse by colluders.

TBH I think the more money involved the more chance of cheaters. Home games are supposed to be fun. If you are playing with a bunch of cheaters and/or people you don't know, you should find another game to play in.

At our home games we play tourney style $10 BI with anywhere from 6-20 players. If people get busted out they usually start up a cash table. We play $10 max BI for cash too. Never have we had a problem with collusion because we are all friends and not thieves!