Languages other than english at table.

I'm not sure about other sites, but PokerStars has a rule against speaking any language other than english at the tables. I seem to run into this fairly often though. Now they're probably not discussing hands/etc, but I dont know that (hence the rule I assume). Do you say something when this happens? Do you report it? Do you just ignore it?

I just ignore it. I don't see it very often though.

i see a lot of french, german and dutch at the EVP/IPN tables i play. French are simply unable to speak another language than their own. I just ignore them, on iPoker i have the chatboy completely turned off.

Was ist los, koennen Sie nicht Deutsch sprechen?

Seriously though, I don't see any problem with it. Look at it this way, if you went to a B&M and sat down next to two people speaking swahili, does it make any difference? 99/100 times they are NOT engaging in collusion, because if they were, and one person came along that could speak their language, they'd be in a heap of trouble. Likewise, and maybe actually even more so, chat is permanently logged online at most sites, and it wouldn't be too hard to translate if you had to...

Bottom line, if it bothers you that much, and if it is breaking the rules of the poker site, then by all means, report it. Otherwise, just ignore it or leave the table!

Chris

A guy got kicked out of the casino i was at this weekend for speaking spanish and then denying it. I dont think it is right to speak other languages at the table and i always reported it at AP since it was so handy to report chat there. I also mentioned it in the chat that it was against the rules. I havent run into yet since i started playing FTP tho.

this one has me perplexed. if i went to another foreign casino, and was discriminated against for speaking english, would i be mad? probably.

why must we be so closed-minded? why are we trying to prohibit someone from saying something we, Americans (and others), dont understand? why does everyone else in the world have to cater to us? why are we so self-centered?

could there be collusion? yes. but dont you think its in the online casino's best interest to keep an eye on it? yes.

and what business is it of ours anyway?

i am conservative by nature, but this country's arrogance and paranoya is a bit misguided, imo. we need to get over ourselves, for just a minute or two. jeez.

do you really think the guy to your left is telling the guy to your right, to get out of the way...he is holding cowboys?

and, if you are certain they are picking on you, then you have more problems than the language barrier...like your poker.

It's a standard common poker rule as I understand. Casinos and online poker rooms just can't afford translators to make sure you're not cheating.

I'm not sure what country you're talking about (Okay maybe I'm guessing America:P) but frankly it's rather rude to speak in front of other people in a different language.

If you play during the morning/early afternoon at Poker Stars (or any other site I'm guessing), you'll come across alot of Europeans because it's afternoon over there. I didn't even know PS had a rule against other languages, but good to know for the future. I speak fluent Hungarian and a bit of German.

The previous posters made good points about collusion. If two players are colluding, and a third player knows the language, they're screwed. And if a couple people were colluding who knew a foreign language, wouldn't you think they'd use some other means than the chat box as a means of communication? I've had it happen to me on one game, and the SoBs never said one word on the chatbox, but their play reflected team play in some obvious ways. (They made it itm, but I snagged 1st...they got banned after most of the table reported them )

Now as to what people are saying, most of the time we are just discussing where we're from and what the weather's like. Also keep in mind that some of the Europeans don't speak English . Shocking isn't it? I've translated a couple times for a Germans...usually requesting they stop holding the table up and make a decision, hehe.

Another good point brought up is how would you feel being discriminated against for not knowing a foreign country's language and then not being allowed to speak in a casino? Kinda sounds unfair to me, but to each his own. If paraniod delusions get the best of you, there are numerous free translator programs online which are a click away.

Yeah, I dunno if they have that rule on party, I don't really care. Like you said if people want to collude, they will. It's just a very common public cardroom rule, so I can see why some sites would carry it over (especially if the majority of their players are english speaking).

On party I'm usually outnumbered by Germans anyway, so if they do speak german I don't mind.

I wonder what the French or German is for 'OMG OMG fu. ck u LOLOLOLDONK'. That's all anyone ever says in the chat on Pokerstar's anyway :P

If they do have this rule on Party and other sites that don't allow US players, it's pretty pathetic in my opinion.

Actually, if I went to a casino in a country where english wasnt the primary language, I wouldnt expect to be allowed to speak english at the table. It seems obvious to me, and I dont see how its discrimination. Likewise if I joined some online poker room in say french I wouldnt expect to be allowed to speak english.

It doesnt bother me a lot, and I've never done anything about it, but I'd say something like 20% of the tables I sit at it happens. Just wondering how others view it and react to it.

Originally Posted by Chopper

this one has me perplexed. if i went to another foreign casino, and was discriminated against for speaking english, would i be mad? probably.

why must we be so closed-minded? why are we trying to prohibit someone from saying something we, Americans (and others), dont understand? why does everyone else in the world have to cater to us? why are we so self-centered?

could there be collusion? yes. but dont you think its in the online casino's best interest to keep an eye on it? yes.

and what business is it of ours anyway?

i am conservative by nature, but this country's arrogance and paranoya is a bit misguided, imo. we need to get over ourselves, for just a minute or two. jeez.

do you really think the guy to your left is telling the guy to your right, to get out of the way...he is holding cowboys?

and, if you are certain they are picking on you, then you have more problems than the language barrier...like your poker.

^^^acronym renton hates^^^

I speak some French and German and I've never seen anybody collude in a non-English language. Whenever this happens, I just write "Man muss nur Englisch am Tisch sprechen!" or "On doit parler seulement Anglais à la table" and they usually apologise and quickly switch back to English.

Besides, PS have staff who speak a whole bunch of different languages (particularly European languages) since they have customer service centres in various European locations.

Originally Posted by taipan168

I speak some French and German and I've never seen anybody collude in a non-English language. Whenever this happens, I just write "Man muss nur Englisch am Tisch sprechen!" or "On doit parler seulement Anglais à la table" and they usually apologise and quickly switch back to English.

Besides, PS have staff who speak a whole bunch of different languages (particularly European languages) since they have customer service centres in various European locations.

Particularly post US-ban there are an increasing number of sites which are skinned to other languages. So there is no standard language at all.

But I like taipan's way of handling it where there is a rule. Classy

I tend to switch off the chat because it does nothing to help my game, but I also speak enoug French/German/Nordic to able to follow most chat anyway.

Originally Posted by Chopper

this one has me perplexed. if i went to another foreign casino, and was discriminated against for speaking english, would i be mad? probably.

why must we be so closed-minded? why are we trying to prohibit someone from saying something we, Americans (and others), dont understand? why does everyone else in the world have to cater to us? why are we so self-centered?

could there be collusion? yes. but dont you think its in the online casino's best interest to keep an eye on it? yes.

and what business is it of ours anyway?

i am conservative by nature, but this country's arrogance and paranoya is a bit misguided, imo. we need to get over ourselves, for just a minute or two. jeez.

do you really think the guy to your left is telling the guy to your right, to get out of the way...he is holding cowboys?

and, if you are certain they are picking on you, then you have more problems than the language barrier...like your poker.

I disagree.

If I went to a foreign casino, I just wouldn't speak. I'd learn the foreign words for bet, check, and raise.

Few guys speak Chinese at our local casino. My mate learned words for flush, set, top pair etc and could find out what hands they had (after the hand) cos they would tell each other when it was over in chinese.
GambolGambol

I remember one time when an American guy was about to fight a hispanic guy for speaking spanish. He was asking his friend to order him another drink, and the american guy stood up and was like...learn to speak english, and started a scene. I think he had a little too much to drink, or was playing on tilt. But since my native language from the philippines is based off of spanish, I understood what he was saying and had to calm the other guy down saying that they aren't colluding, but ordering a drink. He apologized and bought the 2 friends a round. lol. But yeah, one thing I absolutely hate is colluding. I went to a table one time, and there were 6 guys that were obviously together, all having a good time, pretty much just taking money from the other 4 that weren't with them. It was $2/$2 LHE, and each of them had 2 full trays of $2chips. First person would bet 2, 2nd person would raise to 4, then 6, then capped at 8. All raising on BS cards. Oh well, they'll get theirs one day.

Ginger, isnt that an example of cheating though? Isnt the poker rule tell all or tell noone? This is the equivalent of showing your cards after the hand to some people, then mucking them without showing everyone.