The Ten Commandments of Poker by Nolan Dalla

This is from one of his latest blog posts and I love it!

1. Thou shalt practice good personal hygiene.

Is anything more important than this fundamental commandment? Think of those excruciating occasions when you’ve sat in a poker game amongst players with body odor, or skunk breath. Or with players who dress in tank tops and have sweat pouring from their armpits. If you play poker in public, please do everyone around you a favor: (1) take a shower, (2) brush your teeth, and (3) dress appropriately at the poker table.

2. Thou shalt not slow-play.

What in the hell has happened to poker tournaments? What is it with taking two ****ing minutes to make every single table decision? If an opponent shoves and you sit there holding ace-king or a big pocket pair, go ahead — take some time. But these purely orchestrated moments of high drama on every poker hand are sucking the life right out of the game. Everyone gets bored to shit when the time-waster sits there like he’s playing heads-up in the Main Event, showboating his ass off, when he’s probably holding jack-four off-suit. Unfortunately, the problem of “slow play” seems to be getting worse instead of better. Even players who make the wsop November Nine are now taking so much time with decisions, they’re ruining poker on television. Slow players should be stoned to death.


Here is the link to the blog - strongly recommend that you check out the 8 on the list!

The 10 Commandments of Poker Etiquette

If the average online payer would learn to read, then read this, oh joy, oh bliss.

Wonder if the Poker Brat & all them what worship him will notice #4, #6 & #10, or if they will wonder why there are only 7 commandments?

I love it! Advice to live by.

Did you ever see that character, called "squeaky" I think...he was at the last WPT event (they are airing part 3 this sunday). Guy was a nightmare. I just do not know how the other players tolerated the guy. He is constantly being warned about his table antics, talking smack, jumping up and down like he won the whole thing after only getting someone to fold. It's just horrible!

And what about Tony G? Remember the WPT grand prix de-paris he made the final table and then HU?

After you see these guys, you almost wish they had the B.O. problem instead, lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=gE8LCUYJVFQ.

I agree with all these commandments. Adhering to them will make poker a better game.

On a side note, Nolan Dalla and Peter Alson co-authored "One of a Kind: The Story of Stuey 'The Kid' Unger, the World's Greatest Poker Player". It's a great read for those who have never read it.

That was fun to read. Thanks for posting it.

Great, I especially love number 10. I hate watching pros play poker and they behave like little brats. They need to control themselves.

Very well put,,, thanks for sharing that. I haven't played live much and have already ran into some "Sinners"..lol

love the one about not blaming the dealer sick of hearing players moan about havin the same cards then askin them are they same suit and then they say no but theyre the same number
psml

Sitting next to a smelly guy who on top of that is a card rack and it's against you is not a good experience.

So try to pick up a girl at the poker table and a guy is already drawing dead? Don't buy it. It can and has been done.

Hellmuth is allowed to break any rule he wants because it's not real life, his persona is like that of a professional wrestler. The poker is real but the show he puts on is just that a show. He does sometimes get too into and involved with his act and goes overboard, but I've heard nothing but top notch things about the type of guy Hellmuth is overall.

My best answer to any of the above is the cold stare. They always get it and they hate it, the more they continue the longer it lasts.

The part about acting in a sportsmanlike manner shouldn't be limited to pros. Poker would be a more enjoyable and better game for everyone if all players would adhere to a high standard of behavior at all times.

Always add the first two rules of life to any list of do's and don'ts.
1. Life is not fair
2. Nobody likes an a$$hole.

Nice! I think I want to print that and hang it on my wall.

I disagree with #5 somewhat. I don't see me wanting to say much to anybody when I play. I never chat when playing online but I do open up somewhat at live tables I guess. Its harder to ignore people when I am siting next to them. Either way the way I see it, I didn't join any table to chat. Hopefully that doesn't sound too rude.

I love #5 - pretty much for the reasons he states. Let's make the less experienced players to the game feel welcome and make them want to come back.

Also - I am pretty sure that by engaging with them I gain an edge. They do not view me as a serious guarded player. I talk to the more experienced players for the same reason.

When I first read # 8 I didn't see the word "On" (Thou shall not hit "on" women) So I thought It said Thou shall not hit women at the poker table, and I was thinking 0.o you should never hit a girl/ women and didn't realize what it actually said/ meant till I read the description...

<.< >.> I felt kind of stupid after I noticed

#3 stack chips appropriately

so by value with the ones worth more on top

at least I think it's a rule

emirlidan said:

#3 stack chips appropriately

so by value with the ones worth more on top

at least I think it's a rule

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I usually give each chip its own stacks 1 with 1's 10's with 10s 100's with 100's so on... but I do put the bigger chips like the 5k chips in front of my stack so it is clearly visible for everyone at the table and not hidden

The only rule is the higher chips have to be at the front visible to the table and to the dealer.
It bothers me not because I want to hide them from visibility, I wouldn't mind a digital readout of chip counts, but because I feel a need to protect them, like I wouldn't walk around with all my high value bills asking to be stolen.
But that's the rules so that's what you do.

But apart from that I don't care, how they are stacked. I prefer to keep the ones I need in a usable manner, like stacks arranged for easily peeling of antes and blinds.

Personally, I can't stand anyone who does these over-the-top celebrations every time they win a hand.

I think the author makes a very good point about professionalism, even if you're not a professional it never hurts to act like one.

Propane Goat said:

Personally, I can't stand anyone who does these over-the-top celebrations every time they win a hand.

I think the author makes a very good point about professionalism, even if you're not a professional it never hurts to act like one.

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If some one wins the WSOP Main Event I'm okay with celebrating but that's about it I don't mind mental high fives or a fist pump every once in awhile since usually this is adrenaline combined with happiness but other then that shouldn't be done.