If you have never been to a casino or public poker room before, your first trip can be filled with excitement, anticipation, and exhilaration. It may also cause you a little fear and apprehension. This article gives you a few pointers and some information about how things work in most casinos and public poker rooms. Let's get started with a major part of any casino experience -- the staff.
Below find an introduction that answers some of the questions players have when deciding to play in a live poker room for the first time. First casino poker game, with a fresh stack of chips. Apr 01, 2015 So, after reading this and visiting a casino, are you ready to play in the Grand Prix Million at DTD in May? Join the UK partypoker facebook forum where you will find many like-minded individuals, many of whom are about to take their first trip to casino for a live poker experience. We exchange stories and you can ask all the questions your. Sep 29, 2014 For his 'Casino Poker for Beginners' series, Robert Woolley asked poker dealers to share advice to new players sitting down to play for the first time. Live Events 2.
One of the most important things to remember is that the staff of a casino or poker room is there to make your visit as comfortable as possible because they want you to come back. If you can't find the card room or if you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to ask a staff member.
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The dealer is also part of the staff. If you are sitting down at a poker game in a casino or card room for the first time, tell the dealer that it is your first time and ask them to please keep an eye on you to make sure you aren't doing anything incorrectly. You may be amazed at how helpful and useful someone can be when you show them a little respect and ask for their help. Many times, especially at the lower-limit tables, other players are also helpful.
Also, most poker rooms have a place to sign a waiting list for a particular game. Some have a white board with the games and limits available along with the waiting players' initials. Others will just have someone who writes initials or names on a sheet of paper. The card room calls the next person on the list when a seat becomes available. Simply ask whoever is in charge of the board -- or a staff member -- to place you on the list for all of the games you are willing to play. If you are in a small poker room with no visible sign-up area, ask a dealer how to enter a game.
Well, now that you've found your table and you're ready to play, here are some general tips for casino poker:
- Wait for the big blind (The big blind is the largest forced bet at the beginning of a game designed to stimulate betting. The player who has to contribute the big blind rotates one position to the left after each game.) to get to you before playing. Use this time to watch your opponents, and get a feel for the way they are playing. It's amazing how much some players reveal if you just pay attention.
- Most players tip the dealer when they win a pot. This is not required, but if the dealer is doing a competent job, you should tip. Dealers are like waitstaff in that they make most of their money from tips. A sample plan would be to tip the dealer .50 on average size pots and possibly $1.00 on larger pots if the dealer is doing a good job. Also, you can watch what the other players are tipping to get an idea. Remember though that every dollar that goes to the dealer is reducing your winnings. You should be able to come to a happy medium with experience.
- Act when it's your turn. Never act before your turn. This is very poor etiquette and can change the outcome of a hand. The other players will understandably get upset with you.
- Make sure your cards are in plain sight.
- It is a good idea to place a chip on them to show that they are still live and protect them because the dealer won't take them when the chip is on them. If you leave your cards unprotected, the dealer might muck them (mix with discards) by mistake, and there is no way you can retrieve them. Most players keep their hand on their cards.
- When you win a pot (the total amount of money bet in a single game), don't reach for it. Let the dealer push the pot to you. Do not surrender your cards until the pot has been awarded to you on a winning hand.
- If you aren't sure whether you have the best hand at the end of a round, turn your cards face up, and let the dealer read the hands. If the dealer makes a mistake, it can often be corrected. If you throw your hand into the discard pile (often called the 'muck'), you are not eligible for any of the pot even if you made a mistake and had the best hand.
- Don't throw your chips into the pot (called 'splashing' the pot). Place all bets in front of you, and let the dealer pull them into the pot.
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For more information on playing poker and other casino games, try the following links:
- To see all of our articles on poker rules and advice, go to our main article on How To Play Poker.
- Learn How to Play Texas Hold 'Em Poker, and you'll be ready for the most common poker game.
- If you think you're good enough, you might want to test your skills in a high-pressure situation. Be sure you know How to Play Poker in a Tournament before you ante up.
- As long as you're in the casino, you might as well drop a few bucks on some other games. Keep these Casino Gambling Basics handy.
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?
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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.
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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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Do you have a question for the Thinking Poker Mailbag? Please leave it as a comment below!