Rules Questions for Live Cash Games in a Casino

We recently (about four months ago) got table games at the local casino and there is a fairly active poker room. I've played primarily in Atlantic City and have never had any issues but it seems like every time I go to this casino I have the floor hounding me about some stupid rule. The new casino is about 1/2 hour away while AC is about 3.

First of all, they will not allow you to have an MP3 player on the table, you have to hold it or keep it in your pocket. I don't see where holding an electronic device could take away an advantage I'd have by having it in my cup holder.

Second, they won't allow you to put in both earbuds, you can only use one. I find this particularly asinine because sometimes you want to drown out an idiot. I usually just put it back in when they walk away but on my last visit they brought over security and made a big deal out of it. I don't like to talk when I play and I feel when I do I might give away info, sometimes I don't even have music playing I just don't want to be talked to.

Also, I had a hand where I made the low end of a straight and declared a straight and showed my cards after the final round of betting. Everybody started mucking their cards and the dealer said "Doesn't anybody have a ten?" when a ten would have made the high end of the straight. I politely told the dealer that he shouldn't help players if they're mucking. He told me that since it was checked down that everybody has to show their cards anyway so it didn't matter. He also said that if somebody would have taken their cards back and shown a ten that would have been ok as long as their cards didn't touch the muck.

I've also seen them tell players things like "The way you're going, I wouldn't fold anything pre-flop" or comment on how much I've won. I don't want the dealer telling other (new) players how long I've been there or how much I've won or lost.

Am I nuts or have entered some alternate universe where I'm the only person with any common sense?

House rules trump all. However I have never heard of anywhere where the dealer is allowed to help any player that much without being asked for such help. I would ask the floor if the dealer is acting appropriately according to house rules, and if so, not ever play there again.

Charlestown by chance?

No, Penn National. Some of the dealers from Charlestown play there.

Meh, just learn the house rules and play by them.

Great rule by allowing players to only have one ear-bud in, maybe you are playing at low volume, but generally the "WHAT", that happens several times per session annoys the hell out of me.

If the dealer speaks at all about a hand, just call the floor and let them sort it, trust me he won't do it again.

Electronic devices is fair enough as well, personally I use my i-phone to take notes at the table, but i do it nice and carefully. Severally others are openly doing it and telling the fish "I'm noting that about you", when they play a hand badly. Its about to be banned at my card club, I agree.

I always pay attention and never have an issue w/ the earbuds. I also can't see singling out people who listen to music when the play at the casino is painfully slow no matter what is going on. The dealers are awful with their yakking all the time with players. I actually had a dealer stop the game to call the floor to see if he could "wash the cards" because four cards to a royal flush was dealt on the board.

And what's up with asking to "wash the cards" anyway? If I'm winning I don't want them doing that. Why should a player get special treatment just because he isn't winning?

Another annoying thing they do is ask every new player if they have a card. They always end up searching through their wallet for forever while everybody waits and then they have to scan it in at the table. They don't even give comps for poker play so why the hell do they waste time with this shit?

Another thing they allow is people jumping tables when they're changing cards. This weekend a guy jumped in our table w/ about $50, called a pre-flop raise and then went all in after the flop. The one player took about five minutes deciding and then folded. He then took his winnings after the cards were changed back to his table.

I had seen them stop people from doing this before but this guy knew the woman in charge of the room so he got special privilige.

Don't see any problem with the headphone and MP3 player rules. Even if somehow you manage to never miss your action with your headphones on and you never have to confirm anything (which I find very hard to believe, BTW) there are loads of other players that will have those problems. There's no two ways about it, it slows the game down so if the room has a rule against it just deal with it.

Tend to agree on the dealer points though, they just shouldn't be talking about how hands are being played.

What's the "wash the cards" thing about? Do you mean the dealers will actually do a wash shuffle at a player's request? I've heard of it (and other things like deck changes) being done in high stakes games to keep a player who's worth a lot in rake happy but at low stakes it's just asinine.

If there's things you feel strongly about you might want to have a quiet word to the floor manager and encourage other players who feel the same way to do so as well. There's no guarantees of any changes, of course, but if enough people feel strongly enough about something you might find some changes get made.

I can almost see saying something if somebody is constantly holding up action because of headphones but to just ban them like that is too much. Like I said, I don't like to talk much because I don't want to give away info. Plus I can concentrate on my play more and not be distracted by big mouths at the table.

I'm a player who is always tuned into the action and I actually get pissed when guys constantly are yapping away and holding up action. If you're folding pre-flop at a 1/2 table there is no excuse for taking time to fold if there isn't a raise.

I'm usually the guy who ends up clarifying things for the dummies because all of the dealers are inexperienced and are usually just as confused as the idiots.