Mailbag: First Time in a Live Poker Room

Q: I played my first live game at a casino this weekend. I played $1/$2 NLHE for about and hour or two at the Sands in Bethlehem, Pa. I finished with a very small profit, but I found the game a lot less fun than playing a home game with friends or online. A big part of my less-than-stellar time was my total lack of familiarity with the environment. The table wasn’t especially welcoming, and every player at the table clearly viewed me as a fish, so I wasn’t feeling very comfortable to ask my fellow players what I’m asking you now.

I’m hoping you might be able to provide a quick “Casino Etiquette for Dummies” Mailbag post. The etiquette I feel worst about was that I didn’t tip the dealer. I’d heard of the practice before, but it didn’t occur to me until I noticed a good 45 minutes into the session that a few other players did it. I did rake a few more pots after that that I could have tipped on, but I generally was so caught up in the hand that it slipped my mind until the cards were in the air again. Honestly, I’m generally a pretty generous tipper, so it wasn’t for lack of interest that I stiffed the poor guy. My question is should I tip on every pot I rake? If not, how should I determine what pots I should tip on, and how big should the tip be? Would it have been very odd for me to slip the guy a chip or two as I was leaving the table to rejoin the friends I was there with? (It seemed odd to me for some reason, or I would have done it.)

Also, the play was much generally faster than online. There were a few big decisions where guys took way longer than you would be able to online, but generally, as the action went around the table, guys very quickly made whatever move they were going to make. When I play online, I generally take at least 5-10 seconds to do whatever I’m going to do (unless it’s to fold), to minimize the risk of giving off easy timing tells. Am I a big douchebag for holding up the game if I take that amount of time in the casino?

Finally, I had my phone handy because I was with a large group of people who weren’t playing poker, and I wanted to be able to respond if they wanted to leave. Once, as I was checking my phone, the action came to me. The dealer and another player very civilly explained that I couldn’t look at my phone when I had cards in front of me. This makes sense to me. My question is if you can think of any other rules like this that I should be aware of if I should find myself at a casino poker table again.

Thanks for any advice you can provide.

A: This sounds very similar to my first few experiences playing live poker – and to Tommy Angelo’s. And actually I still feel a little bit of this every time I go to a new room. Everyone expects you to know all this stuff but no one actually tells you it.

Two 2+2 Brick & Mortar forum already has a much better First-Timer’s Guide to Live Poker, so I’m not going to reinvent the wheel. Instead, I’ll offer a few more general pointers:

Don’t worry. Mistakes are inevitable, and so are whiny poker players. Even if you did everything perfectly, they’d find something to complain about. For me, getting comfortable had less to do with learning the rules and procedures – though that helps – and more to do with not caring about looking a little silly or needing to ask for help. Traveling in a foreign country also helped me get accustomed to feeling vulnerable and disoriented.

Let the staff run the game. Don’t listen to know-it-all players, because they don’t know it all. If someone tells you you did something wrong, look to the dealer for confirmation or guidance. If you aren’t sure how to handle a certain situation (whether and how to post a missed big blind, for instance), just ask. Explaining this sort of thing is part of their job, even if they act like it isn’t. Try to wait for a convenient time, usually while the dealer is shuffling, rather than distracting her while hands are live and players are acting.

Be polite even – especially – if people are not polite to you. If they snap at you for doing something incorrectly, apologize cheerfully and learn from your mistake but don’t feel bad about it. There’s no reason you should have known any better. Many dealers and floorpeople will get defensive if you ask for rules clarifications, because they’ll assume that you’re trying to argue with them. This isn’t based on anything that you’ve done, it’s based on the number of combative assholes they’ve had to deal with in the past. All the more reason to be super-duper over-the-top polite.

Tipping. Some of what you’re asking about varies by casino, but one thing that’s universal is that dealers (and anyone else in a casino) will be willing to accept tips at any time. That said tipping for nearly every pot is standard. I tend not to tip if it’s a small pot that ends pre-flop, but otherwise I tip $1 for all but the largest pots or best dealers. In an all-in pot where the dealer has to do some work counting out lots of bills/chips AND does a good job of it, I’ll tip $2-$3. The way I remember is to use a $1 chip as a card protector. When the dealer passes me the pot, I pass her my cards with the chip on top. That way I remember to tip and I remember not to muck my hand until the pot is passed to me, which is also a good habit.

Have fun! This is why you’re there after all. It’s certainly more fun when you’re comfortable, but try to think of the whole scene – the grumpy players, the unwritten etiquette, the nitpicky procedures – as part of the experience. Every poker room has its own eccentricities, but they all have a lot in common that comprises a fascinating slice of Americana (of course there are poker rooms elsewhere too, but I don’t know how applicable this info will be in those places).

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