Grossberger
Cardschat Elite
Silver Level
If you have never played in a casino and are planning to do so, here are some things you should know not to do while playing. There are other things that can be listed but these can make you unpopular with the other players or the floor personnel. These apply to both cash games as well as tournaments.
1. Don't make your own change - If the bet is $7 and you don't have any $1 chips and throw out two $5 chips don't take change from your neighbor the dealer will give you your change once all the betting is done. Now before the hand is dealt you can ask your neighbor to give you some $1 chips for a $5 chip. This rule is mainly so the dealer can keep track of who owes or paid what, if you make change and the dealer doesn't know you made change it slows the game up.
2. Don't talk about the hand - It may sound like no big deal but saying things like "wow 6 8 would be nice right now" on a 4 5 7 board or "who has a Ace" on a 8 8 8 8 K board could cost someone money. Believe it or not there are some people who play poker that sometimes don't see what the winning hand is. On the first example a player may not realise the straight is there until someone says something, and now that player could play more cautiously now knowing a straight is possible. In the second example a player may not think about a Ace being the deciding factor in who wins the hand they may just think it's a split pot due to the 4 of a kind. Believe me I have seen both happen.
3. Don't show emotion if you would have hit the flop - lets say you folded Q 5 and the flop is 555, yes I know it sucks that you folded the winning hand but you don't want the players in the hand to know that, because if a player sees you react then taht gives them information they didn't have before and that is knowing their opponant doesn't have the last 5 in the deck. Another example would be you fold 4 9 preflop and flop is 4 2 9 and then another 9 on the turn and you sit back in your chair and growl softly, this could take away from a player trying to represent a 9, because now the other player knows the chances of that player having a 9 are very slim since hes sure you folded a 9 by your reaction.
4. Act out of turn - There are a couple examples to this. First most places verbal declarations are binding, meaning if you say raise out of turn as long as the action does not change before it gets to you you will have to raise, this can cost you money in two different ways. Lets say you have the stone nuts and say raise out of turn a player before you may have been raising but since you acted out of turn they decide to fold or just call and now you lose money when they don't raise into you. On the other hand if you say raise out of turn and a player was gonna raise and they have the best hand they just call the bet to them and now your forced to raise when it comes back to them they reraise you and got more money than they probably would have had they raised not knowing you were gonna raise. Another reason is it gives unecessary info to players before you. Wait til its on you to fold even if a player says raise. If the player before you says raise and you fold right away this could change his raise knowing he has one less player to worry about, and it's not fair to other players, wait til they put out their raise then once its on you fold.
5. Don't look at cards til its your turn - Yea this doesn't seem like that big of a deal but it shows weak players, It was said during a wsop on ESPN during one of "the nuts" segments they were talking about spotting the sucker at the table and a couple pros said to look for the player that looks at their cards right away. You can give information to other players that they may not have if you wait til your turn. Example you look at your cards before its on you and another player picks up something on you letting them know your gonna just call or raise, we ll now they may fold knowing your gonna raise costing you a few chips or they may just call with a monster knowing you are gonna raise for them then they reraise and get more of your chips.
Now your reasy to play in a casino live. And remember to look for these things the other players do to give you information and help in making better decisions.
1. Don't make your own change - If the bet is $7 and you don't have any $1 chips and throw out two $5 chips don't take change from your neighbor the dealer will give you your change once all the betting is done. Now before the hand is dealt you can ask your neighbor to give you some $1 chips for a $5 chip. This rule is mainly so the dealer can keep track of who owes or paid what, if you make change and the dealer doesn't know you made change it slows the game up.
2. Don't talk about the hand - It may sound like no big deal but saying things like "wow 6 8 would be nice right now" on a 4 5 7 board or "who has a Ace" on a 8 8 8 8 K board could cost someone money. Believe it or not there are some people who play poker that sometimes don't see what the winning hand is. On the first example a player may not realise the straight is there until someone says something, and now that player could play more cautiously now knowing a straight is possible. In the second example a player may not think about a Ace being the deciding factor in who wins the hand they may just think it's a split pot due to the 4 of a kind. Believe me I have seen both happen.
3. Don't show emotion if you would have hit the flop - lets say you folded Q 5 and the flop is 555, yes I know it sucks that you folded the winning hand but you don't want the players in the hand to know that, because if a player sees you react then taht gives them information they didn't have before and that is knowing their opponant doesn't have the last 5 in the deck. Another example would be you fold 4 9 preflop and flop is 4 2 9 and then another 9 on the turn and you sit back in your chair and growl softly, this could take away from a player trying to represent a 9, because now the other player knows the chances of that player having a 9 are very slim since hes sure you folded a 9 by your reaction.
4. Act out of turn - There are a couple examples to this. First most places verbal declarations are binding, meaning if you say raise out of turn as long as the action does not change before it gets to you you will have to raise, this can cost you money in two different ways. Lets say you have the stone nuts and say raise out of turn a player before you may have been raising but since you acted out of turn they decide to fold or just call and now you lose money when they don't raise into you. On the other hand if you say raise out of turn and a player was gonna raise and they have the best hand they just call the bet to them and now your forced to raise when it comes back to them they reraise you and got more money than they probably would have had they raised not knowing you were gonna raise. Another reason is it gives unecessary info to players before you. Wait til its on you to fold even if a player says raise. If the player before you says raise and you fold right away this could change his raise knowing he has one less player to worry about, and it's not fair to other players, wait til they put out their raise then once its on you fold.
5. Don't look at cards til its your turn - Yea this doesn't seem like that big of a deal but it shows weak players, It was said during a wsop on ESPN during one of "the nuts" segments they were talking about spotting the sucker at the table and a couple pros said to look for the player that looks at their cards right away. You can give information to other players that they may not have if you wait til your turn. Example you look at your cards before its on you and another player picks up something on you letting them know your gonna just call or raise, we ll now they may fold knowing your gonna raise costing you a few chips or they may just call with a monster knowing you are gonna raise for them then they reraise and get more of your chips.
Now your reasy to play in a casino live. And remember to look for these things the other players do to give you information and help in making better decisions.