Poker Rules

I was playing at the Borgata in Atlantic City for several hours. There was a friendly Russian guy sitting next to me, he made a lot of jokes, and during one hand he won I threw him 2 dollar in chips in his pile as he won as a joke.

Several hours later in one hand we were in together, he tapped my leg with his leg, indicating to me that he had a strong hand. I think about it for a while then I fold. A while later security comes around our table, and stares at us. Then after this Russian guy leaves a security plant is placed in his seat next to me, brings up the situation indirectly, and taps his legs with mine, then leaves.

I never asked the Russian guy to help me out in any hand, it surprised me when he did it. I folded, I don't know I was going to call or fold. But I probably was not since he indicated to me that he had a strong hand.
Did I do anything wrong here? I know this is against the rules, but this was out of my control.
And if somebody is going to indicate to you that they have a very strong hand, what are you going to do? Fold or continue playing?
This situation was completely out of my control. I never asked for it, I don't know why I was approached.

The way you described it, it was out of your control. Of course, security may not know if you guys are strangers or not, or even if you have some sort of "arrangement".

But, since nothing was done to you, I think you could have asked someone on the floor - after you left the table - how to conduct yourself in the future if anything like this should happen again, as unlikely as that may be.

im confused as to why he would let you know he had a strong hand? like really a stranger you just meet, wouldnt he go for full value. did you ever think he may have been bluffing

runnerx289 said:

im confused as to why he would let you know he had a strong hand? like really a stranger you just meet, wouldnt he go for full value. did you ever think he may have been bluffing

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Maybe he was a very nice guy just there to have fun and bonded with OP. Still strange but it is possible. I am shocked that security caught that single act though, are you sure you guys were not doing anything else suspicious?

runnerx289 said:

im confused as to why he would let you know he had a strong hand? like really a stranger you just meet, wouldnt he go for full value. did you ever think he may have been bluffing

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Most likely he was just a recreational player there to have a good time - they do all sorts of stuff that doesn't subscribe to standard poker logic.

FWIW it's very possible the Russian guy didn't realise he was doing anything wrong either. He might've just thought he was being friendly and it was no big deal.

runnerx289 said:

im confused as to why he would let you know he had a strong hand? like really a stranger you just meet, wouldnt he go for full value. did you ever think he may have been bluffing

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You would be surprised. When I play live, I try to keep things friendly. Usually end up chatting it up with my table mates that are sitting around me. I remember one session, I was playing, had been chatting with some guys around me. The player to my right had position on me, and I had made a preflop raise (I forget my hand). While the action was on the other side of the table, he nudged me under the table, looked away from me and held his cards up so I could see them (yes, it was on purpose): pocket Aces. When it got to him, he raised me: of course I folded (there was at least one caller to my preflop raise--I wasn't going to stay in a hand where I had that kind of info and the others didn't), after which I told him, "I appreciate the sentiment, but DUDE--don't do that again." His reasoning: "You're nice. I'd feel bad taking your stack." I told him I could handle myself. I had been playing at the table with this guy for all of about 30 minutes. Never seen him before hand. So just goes to show you never know what people will do.

Just remember that a casino MUST act on any type of collusion no matter how insignificant. If the same scenario happens to you as happened to the OP, then it might be advisable to say "excuse me" and act as though you are repositioning your seat/leg. If you aren't a regular at the casino they would have no way of knowing if you are conspiring or just an unwilling recipient. They have cameras that show tables from about every angle. Also, like Juicy did, ask them to refrain from such activity.