Question about chip pocketing and table stakes in live games.

[belerophon]

I've been thinking about one of the players at my table at a live game I was in a little over a week ago. I'm not 100% but I'm pretty close to 99% sure he was chip pocketing. The thing is he still had more than enough to cover anyone else at the table. He had gotten lucky with a few suited cards and got paid off when he hit a couple of flushes so he was up a great deal.

At one point he changed 100$ in 5$ chips for someone with 4 25$ chips and then put those in in his pocket without really hiding the fact that he was doing it. No one seemed to care.

Should I have mentioned it? It is possible he brought extra chips before he sat down. They don't play behind at this casino, you have to get up and buy more from the cage when your out so there is the outside chance he just had his "rebuy" in his pocket to begin with.

I'm just curious as to how bad an offence this is. I got yelled at once playing 2-5 limit when I started packing up my chips on my last hand when I clearly had more than enough to raise and re-raise every street in front of me.

 

[bhood1776]

If the chips he offered for change came from his stack in front of him then this is not allowed.

You should have said something. It doesn't matter if he had everyone else covered or not. You never know when he will double up others, then his chip lead is gone. So those chips he had in his pocket should still be on the table for others to win if he went all in.

If you were not 100% sure if they came from his pocket or stack, you could have asked nicely and let him know the rules.