What would you have done?

[J-Ri]

I was playing a friendly game of Texas Hold 'Em at a friends place last night. Tournament style with a $2 buy-in, not high-stakes by any means . We start out with 7 people, and the final two in the game are me and Mike. The whole game Mike's talking shit to everyone and gloating every time he won a hand. Once it's down to the two of us our chip stacks were fairly even at one point, and he offers to give me my $2 back if we call it quits. I said "No, but I'll split it [referring to the $14] with you", Mike comes back with "F--- you, I'll just take all your money then!". So we keep playing and I win a big hand (I went all in with 3 Jacks, vs. his two pair). He starts counting out the chips (1900 total), gets most of the way there, and has no more than 500 chips left. At that point he pushes all his chips out on the table and says "F--- it, you won, give me my $2 back. Once more I said "no", and he pulls about half the chips back toward him and said that's about how much he had. I let him keep at least double what he should have had and we kept playing. A few hands later I won the game, went all in pre-flop with A K suited vs. his J 10 off-suit, ended up winning with high card . Mike stands up, says "I'm taking my $2 back", picks it up off the table and starts walking for the door. He paid with 8 quarters and took two dollar bills. So I stand up and say (loudly) "Are you F---ing kidding me? You lose and you're gonna take your money back? You know what, that's fine but you take your quarters back!" He refused and after more words were exchanged he threw the money on the floor and left.

I offered to split the winnings with him. I would have gladly given him his money back if he had asked (before it was clear he was going to lose) "How about second place gets their money back?". I was even going to let him take his money back after he lost if he took his damn quarters back. I might have even let him take the two bills if he had shown any humility at all. Yet he left all pissed off, sure that I was the bad guy in this.

So what would you have done? Does anyone think I was unreasonable?

[BP2K2Max]

what a sore loser. tell him if he can't lose like a good sport that he's not welcome to play anymore. it seems petty to quarrel over a few dollars but sometimes it's deeper than the actual money at hand. i've gotten into arguments over like $5 but not because i want or need the $5, but just the fact that someone is willing to dick u over and you don't want to let them get away with it. tell him he's a dick.

[fredjacksonsan]

Originally Posted by BP2K2Max

what a sore loser.

Yup...usually it's the ones that gloat a lot when they win that are the worst.

Screw him. Say "no" if he wants to play again.

What would I have done? Same thing you did...call him on his BS of trying to take his money back.

[danielsatur]

Like playing blue chips on wallst, know who you are playing with!

[J-Ri]

Originally Posted by BP2K2Max

tell him if he can't lose like a good sport that he's not welcome to play anymore. it seems petty to quarrel over a few dollars but sometimes it's deeper than the actual money at hand. I've gotten into arguments over like $5 but not because i want or need the $5, but just the fact that someone is willing to dick u over and you don't want to let them get away with it. tell him he's a dick.

Unfortunately I can't tell him he can't play anymore, we only hang out together now because of a mutual friend, whose apartment we usually play at. If we don't play there, then we play at Mike's house which is only a few blocks away. It's a weekly game, and he's not usually that bad. I live 15 miles away and nobody wants to go "all the way out to my house", so we can't have the game here . But on the other hand, everybody was getting irritated with him, so maybe it's just a matter of time. I've already made it pretty clear that I don't like playing with him. You're right, it is deeper than the $2 or even the $14. I think he doesn't like me because I disapprove of something he did/does. I told him that, but never brought it up again. I "forgot" about $250 that my neighbors owed me for the last payment on a car I sold them because they were going through some hard times and are good people; it sure wasn't about the money on my end, it may have been for him though. The "something" he did/does was entirely about money and abandoning most moral/ethical values.

Originally Posted by danielsatur

Like playing blue chips on wallst, know who you are playing with!

Sadly, I've known him since 1999, and what he did wasn't a surprise. Get a few beers in him (not that either of us were near drunk) and he's the biggest asshole you've ever met. Worse than "Dr. House", and he gives nothing back.

[fredjacksonsan]

Well, don't play cards with him. If you do, don't let him drink.