Poker Etiquette

No one wants to look out of place, especially not at a poker table. The sharks lick their lips when a fresh fish sits down for the first time at a table and swarm in to take their money. And conversely, no one likes to play with a player who doesn’t follow minimal poker etiquette. Here are a few things to keep in mind so you can at least look like you know what you are doing when you play in a brick and mortar casino.

1. Don’t Touch What is Not Yours: Playing poker in a casino can feel like an exercise in meaningless rules: you can’t touch anyone else’s chips even just to count them, you can’t take your cards off of the table even if you can’t see them and you can’t touch the chips in the pot even if you’ve won them until after the dealer pushes them over to you. Break any of these rules and suffer a range of consequences from disqualification to banishment to making an entire table angry at the prospect of losing out on a bad beat jackpot (A bad beat jackpot is triggered when someone loses with a full house containing three Aces and pays out handsomely to everyone seated at the table. If a player breaks any rule during a bad beat jackpot hand, the hand is disqualified.) As arbitrary as these rules may seem, they are in place for a reason – to prevent cheating. Video cameras capture every move made at the poker table, and if anything strikes Big Brother as suspicious, terse men in suits will come and talk to you about it. This includes anything that the dealers do, which explains why they tend to be the most Draconian people at the table when it comes to protocol – you might get kicked out if you mess up, they would get fired.

2. Act in Turn: On the Internet if you look down and see you are holding 9-3, you can click the “check/fold” button and be done with the hand as soon as it starts. In the brick and mortar casino, you have to act in turn. “Acting in turn” means to only do something, or act, when everyone who is on your right but is also on the left of the big button has already acted (ie fold, bet, call.) This is very important because if you bet before it is your turn, then you have told everyone to your right what you are planning to do. This gives them an advantage and can now fold marginal lands like KJ expecting your raise. Also, if you fold out of turn then you have given anyone on your right a license to bluff as they know that they have one less caller to worry about. Really, acting in turn should be a poker practice even at the Internet table (I despise the check/fold button.) If you don’t internally decide to fold your hand until you have seen everyone else at the table act, then you are giving yourself a chance to take advantage of your table. To be a good poker player you don’t need good cards to win hands – you need to recognize situations and capitalize. Waiting until it is your turn to act is a positive step in that direction.

3. Don’t Talk about a Hand as it is Going On: You cannot talk about a hand as it is going on. Even if Satan himself has raised, you may not under any circumstances blurt anything about his hand. From, “I know you are bluffing” to “I know you have the Nuts” you cannot say anything about Satan (unless you are heads-up which we’ll get to in a moment.) The reason behind this is easy enough to see – every player at the table has got to be playing for themselves and only themselves. If someone were to blurt out their feelings on another player’s cards, they would be violating this tenant. When you are the only other person in the hand (it’s called being heads-up) then you can feel free to say whatever you want. But as long as there is a third person in the pot, you have to keep a lid on your feelings.

4. No Phones: You cannot use a cell phone at the poker table. You cannot call anyone, text anyone, play a video game or surf the internet. The casino staff looks at cell phone use as a possible way for an invisible third party to either give you general advice or specific advice obtained about another player at the table. If you have to answer your phone, you must fold your hand, leave the poker room and talk outside. It’s usually a good idea to turn off your phone altogether at the poker table.

5. Chips: Two rules when it comes to chips, and these aren’t enforced by the casino but are a matter of good etiquette. One, keep your chips neatly stacked in groups of twenty in front of you. This is done to enable other players to quickly see how exactly how much money you have without having to go through the trouble of asking for a count. Two, don’t splash the pot. “Splashing the pot” is the practice of throwing your chips into the pot rather than neatly pushing them into the middle. While this can be a very dramatic move, it slows the game down because it sends chips flying every which way. While both of these rules are often broken by high-profile gamblers and donkeys alike, that doesn’t mean that you have to. Keep the game moving, don’t be the Mike Matusow of your table.

6. Shut up when Beat: Speaking of Mike Matusow, now would be a good time to discuss the proper way to get sucked out on (being beat by an unlucky card that comes after you have already been a favorite to win.) If you play poker, you will get sucked out on. Sorry, it’s just part of the game. With that in mind, you should never put more on the table that you can stand to lose and you should never get mad when you do get sucked out on. All too often the name-calling begins when the wrong card hits the river. By the same token you don’t have to utter the completely hollow “Nice hand” nonsense or the vacuously philosophical, “That’s poker”. After a suckout or bad beat, you don’t have to do anything but get your head together and play more poker. If you are too outraged (and sometimes a bad beat can really hurt) then ask for a break and get up from the table and walk around – they’ll hold your seat for you. The worst thing that you can do is get frustrated and start playing more aggressive because you feel like the universe owes you one – it doesn’t and it will take your money if you play “on tilt” (playing looser than normal because you are frustrated.)

7. Adult Activities: I’ve never really understood these rules as poker is most definitely an adult’s game, but you are not allowed to curse or smoke at the table. Smoking is a new rule because people don’t want to be forced to suck down other people’s second hand smoke. As an interesting side note, Johnny Chan always carries an orange with him at the table; he began this practice years ago when card rooms were smoke dens so that he would have something good to smell when the smoke became too intense. He still often carries an orange today for good luck. The profanity thing I just don’t understand to tell you the truth. So, don’t curse or you’ll get in trouble.

8. Protect your Hole Cards: Anytime you plan on playing your cards you have to protect them. “Protecting your cards” means to place an item on top of them which signals to the dealer that you plan on playing them. Most players put a chip on top of their hole cards to protect them which works fine. A number of other players use good luck charms to protect their cards. WSOP bracelet winner Humberto Brenes famously uses a little shark toy. A good use for a good luck charm at the table is as a means to protect your hole cards.

9. Sunglasses: The issue of sunglasses is ultimately a question of personal style. Personally, I think sunglasses are stupid and hide nothing. In fact, when I see a player wearing sunglasses I immediately assume that they are either hyper aggressive or hyper conservative – and I’m usually right. Daniel Negreanu says that he tries to pick on players with sunglasses because he thinks that they are weak. On the other hand, Jerry Yang wore sunglasses all the way to a 2007 WSOP Main Event championship.

10. Tip the Dealer: Dealers do not get paid much. Most of them are undocumented aliens or single mothers making minimum wage. Some casinos pay more, but most do not. If you win a big pot, throw the dealer a chip or two, especially if they are friendly. No, tipping the dealer will not get you better cards nor will it win you more pots. It’s just a way to help people make a living dealing cards. You like having a dealer right? Then make sure that they make a decent wage by tipping just a little bit of a big pot that you win. Don’t tip them if you lose or for every twenty hands they deal – if you win a big pot, give them a little while you can afford to.

While it may seem like there are a lot of rules at the poker table, they are in place to protect you. Some of the most famous players in history have been cheated, robbed and in the case of Wild Bill Hickok, killed at the poker table. As for your behavior at the table, in the end those fall on your lap. But before you go calling the wrong guy an idiot, remember that most casinos will only protect you so far as the parking lot.