Just so you don't look like a putz, make sure to ask someone what the rules are regarding bets and whether or not to say stuff. This is super important in all games. When I started playing at the B&M here they were putting in new tables for the WSOP circuit event and they had a "betting line" on them, so for a week all the dealers were making sure to tell players about it. I don't know if this is standard in other casinos, but since Caesars Indiana is owned by Harrah's, I imagine it's the norm in a lot of Harrah's owned casinos. If you carry money past the betting line and don't announce a call or raise, if you took enough out to raise, it's a raise. This is the opposite of a lot of casinos where you have to announce a raise with an oversized chip.

I don't know why people do this, but I've seen so many people do it, so be warned. If it's your first time playing in a B&M and you post, don't throw away a bad hand if it hasn't been raised.

As far as tips go, I'd tip more for a more complicated game to deal, especially if the dealer gets to keep their own tips -- so, anything pot limit or no limit. Also if you get a drink you should tip the waitress even if it's a free drink like a coke.

Now, I have a question... I've never played NL in a casino before, but I've got a lot of limit experience. They have a 300NL game here (min 100, max 300, blinds 1/2). What etiquette do I need to be aware of? Is sufficient to say "all-in", or do I need to push all my chips in? I presume it's OK to ask someone how many chips they have. Also, is it appropriate to take a minute or two with big decisions?

Same applies with last post: I'll keep editing this one.

Call "Time" for courtesy if you have a tough decision and require time. This is really only for NL...no such thing as a REALLY tough deciion in limit.

Yes it's okay to ask how much someone has left.

Saying all-in is sufficient...but they'll want you to put them out there so that the dealer can count them down.

Here's a good article written by a dealer. I got it off of P5s

The Worst Beats: 9 B&M Rules To Know
by Goose on 4/6/2006 02:12


As a poker dealer I’ve seen a lot of what people like to refer to as “bad beats”. Getting AA all in preflop only to be called and cracked by A6, miracle one outers, hideous runner runners, quads cracked - I’ve pretty much seen it all.

In reality I’d take cracked quads over a ‘worst’ beat any day. Sure having your quads cracked is unlucky, sure it’s a bad beat, but it’s not even remotely close to a ‘worst’ beat.

The worst beat I’ve dealt was a straight flush that was cracked by trip sevens. (I’m aware casino decks don’t have the hand ranking index cards in them, but hear me out, that’s not the issue here.) While the 8d makes the nut straight flush on a 6d 7d 4d 9c 5d board, it doesn’t beat 7c7h when you only show one card and muck your other one. If you’re a novice player, you might not know that. Unfortunately, ignorance of the law provides no exemption from it, and a mistake like that could easily cost you hundreds, perhaps even thousands of dollars.

The ‘worst’ beats, as I refer to them, have nothing to do with hand rankings, nothing to do with odds of a particular card hitting, and nothing to do with how somebody played a particular hand. They occur when someone at the table makes a mistake, almost always without malice or by design, which ends up costing someone money (usually themself). The saddest part? Unlike the miracle turn/river that cracked those quads, these ‘worst’ beats are preventable 52 times out of 52 (for all you crazy math geniuses, that 100% of the time).

Poker rooms have all sorts of rules. Rules that often aren’t easy to figure out, let alone locate, even for experienced casino goers and savvy online veterans. But you don’t need really need to know the nuances of how to muck your cards, or how to showdown your cards do you? It’s not like they’re going to take a $10,000 pot away from you just because you accidentally threw the winning hand at the dealer would they?

Yes, they would. And they will.

That is why it is imperative that before you sit down at a live poker table, you at least familiarize yourself with some of the more important casino poker room rules. I’ve seen people lose a lot of money over technicalities, and believe me, it’s never fun for them. While every casino in North America is slightly different, the following nine tips should serve as a fairly reliable guide to helping you understand what you can, can’t, should, and shouldn’t do at the table.

1. It Takes Two to Tango.

You need two cards in order to win a pot. Two. If the board is 5d5c5s 10h Ad, and at the showdown you flip over your 5h but muck your 9s (perhaps you were embarrassed you called a preflop raise with that hand), guess what? You just lost the pot.

The second you muck one of your cards both become dead. Keep them live until you’ve got the pot in your hands and the dealer mucks them for you.

2. Cards Don’t Lie. People Lie.

It's what you have that counts, not what you say you have, and some players will use this to their advantage.

You make it to the river with trip 9's against a player you think might have the flush. The betting’s over and at the showdown he announces "I made the flush" and slowly begins to turn over his cards. You immediately pitch your cards into the muck.

The problem is he didn't make his flush - your 9's would have been good - that is, if you didn’t toss them away. It’s not fair, not ethical, but unfortunately that pot is his money now. While players are technically not allowed to purposely misrepresent their hand, it is definitely a grey area and it’s best to stay on the safe side. If you make it to the showdown, wait to see your opponent’s cards, and double check you’re beat, before you throw your cards away.

If you really want to be safe, just turn your cards over and let the dealer interpret them, sometimes you might have more than you thought, and this way there's zero chance of your good cards being mucked.

3. Protect your Assets.

If you think people with card covers look silly, you won't when your AsAc is mucked by the dealer because the player next to you inadvertantly pitched his cards into yours on the table, ruining your hand. If your cards are not protected, and someone else's cards come into contact with them in a way that raises doubt about which one are yours, your hand becomes mucked. Protect them!

Also, if you don’t keep your cards close to you, especially if you're next to the dealer, they could very easily be interpreted as folded... once the dealer has them, you don't get them back.

The easiest way to prevent these problems is to simply drop a chip on top of your cards. This lets the dealer know your cards are live, and which two exactly are yours.

4. Focus!

Generally, you are held responsible for any money you put into the pot, even out of turn. For example, in a $1/2 NL game you’re sitting in seat 6 with pocket sevens. You’re not paying attention and announce raise and throw $20 into the pot. The problem is, the action is actually on seat 4, and he pushes all-in for $160. You have the option to fold, but most casinos aren’t going to return that $20 to you.

Be aware of betting or raising ahead of you, and make sure you’re acting in turn (even when you’re folding, as if you consistently fold out of turn you will likely be penalized). Also, never try to act out of turn to purposely confuse or trick an opponent – it’s unethical, not to mention a form of cheating, and will be treated as such.

5. Say it, don’t splash it!

There are all sorts of rules regarding what is considered a raise or a call when you throw chips in without verbally announcing anything. If you’re not 100% confident you understand the casino’s particular rules, then verbally announce your raises or calls every time. This way, there is ZERO confusion, and you won’t accidentally throw in too few/too many chips - because once they’re in the pot, you're responsible for them.

Nothing's worse than having the dealer interpret your raise as a call (rightly or wrongly) when you have AA and 6 people then see a cheap flop. Verbally announce your intended action to protect yourself. If you're going to raise, you don't have to indicate the amount right away, but be safe and announce "raise", then take your time to count out your bet and announce the amount.

Announce what you’re going to do, and then do it. Also, don’t splash the spot. If your chips land in the main pot, you may have just donated those chips to the pot.

6. Kill the power before you check the bulb.

Players can generally request to see the cards of any player who makes it to the showdown, even if they fold their cards at the showdown. The mitigating factor here, however, is that if the cards hit the muck, they are dead.

For example, you and one other player make it to the showdown. He shows first, and you throw your cards in. If you pitch your cards directly into the muck your cards cannot be turned over. However, if you simply throw them forward, the dealer can show the table your cards if it is requested. The point: when folding your cards, try and pitch them into the muck so they can’t be shown by request.

Also, and this is extremely important to note, if you win a pot, especially a big one, and you do not have the nuts and would like to see what someone else threw away, make sure you remind the dealer to touch the cards to the muck before exposing them.

If the dealer does not touch the cards to the muck before flipping them over, then they are technically live, and if a player folded a better hand (i.e. he misread his hand), and the dealer flips them over without touching them to the muck first, then they are still live and can still win. This happens.

7. Play Nice.

Each casino affords their dealers a certain amount of discretion dealing the game. It is always a good idea to stay on the dealer’s good side, as his interpretation of an exposed card or whether or not you made a bet or a call can turn out to be critical to your session. Try to keep up with the action and post your blinds before the hand begins, and there shouldn’t be any problems.

8. Show One, Show All.

If you purposely reveal your cards during a hand your hand will probably be rendered dead. Also, any cards shown to another player at the table will be shown by the dealer to all the players. There’s no reason to expose your cards during the game, so don’t.

9. Speak Up!

If you have a question about something, then ASK IT! It’s much better to feel a little silly asking the dealer a procedural question than it is to look a lot silly when you lose a pot because you were too embarrassed to ask a question that would have prevented it from happening.

And if you’re unsure, be certain to ask your question BEFORE you act!

Good luck!

Common Angles and How to Deal with the Dicks that Shoot Them.

From the online poker dictionary:


In the following examples, our erudite poker player, Hero, discovers and deals with the nefarious angle shooting of the villians of our story, Dick and Johnson.

The most common angles that Hero runs across:

1. The fake-out muck.
The hand has gone to showdown between Hero and Dick, where the river checked around, and Hero was first to check. It is Hero's turn to show his hand, and Dick announces loudly "I can't win" and raises his cards high in the air as if to send them sailing into the muck. Dick is hoping that Hero will bite, and muck his cards taking Dick's act as a concession of the pot. Dick's cards are live untill they hit the muck or are killed by the dealer. Hero would never fall for this.

2. The calling of action out-of-turn.
It is Hero's turn to act on his hand on 4th street. Dick is on a flush draw. Dick calls out a bet. Hero checks, intending to call (or check-raise) Dick's bet. Dick checks behind, receiving a free card. In most casinos, actions called out of turn are not binding. Hero ingores actions called out of turn, and points out that he will not fall for such antics, calling Dick by name.

3. The short-the-pot call.
Dick does not want to make a full bet when he calls Hero's bet. He shorts the pot by as much as he thinks he can get away with. Unobservant dealers sweep the call into the pot, and Dick gets off cheap. Hero guards against this by watching Dick's bet if he suspects Dick is doing this, and performs an occaisonal audit of the pot by counting it as he stacks his pot to make sure that it is not short. If Hero finds it is short, it may not be Dick that is shorting the pot. The Dealer may be palming a chip when pushing the pot. It pays for Hero to pay attention.

4. The short-the-pot splash.
Related to the short-the-pot call, Dick takes his not quite sufficient amount of chips to call the bet, and launches them into the pot. Without the dealer counting out the pot at that moment, it is not possible to determine if Dick made a sufficient contribution to the pot. Hero should insist that the dealer stop the action, count down the pot, and make sure that Dick understands that Hero will do that every time Dick splashes the pot.

5. The protect-or-inflate-Dick's-friend-Johnson's-pot raise
Dick has been playing just to the left of his friend, Johnson. It is pre-flop and there are two limpers to Johnson, who raises. Dick re-raises with air to protect Johnson's hand. Hero does not put up with this crap. If this happens with any type of frequency, Hero calls the floor over and asks the floor to look at Dick's cards the next time it happens. If the floor refuses to do this, Hero racks up and leaves.

I am sure that there are more that others have run across, some just involving Dick, others involving Dick and some Johnson. Feel free to add to this list.

And never, ever, be a Dick. Hero has a bad habit of waiting for Dicks in the parking lot.

Trodgers most of the betting/ string bet rules are there to keep people for angling. Putting a variable amount of chips in the pot based on your opponants reaction to the bet.

A couple more points I missed in my last post. Asking to see cards, if you are heads up with somone at showdown you turn over your cards. Villian mucks, NEVER ask to see villians cards. Two reasons for this, it is bad etiquette, you won the pot leave it at that. 2nd if the winner of the pot asks to see the players cards, they will not be touched to the muck first out of rule. If villian missed the fact that he had a flush, or had the same pair as you and folded what should have been a chop pot his cards are stil live. Man are you going to feel like a moron when your pot gets pushed his way.

Never trust dealers 100%. In a lot of places I play I know a lot more about no limit than the dealers. When you go to a casino usually 75 % or so of the tables are limt. Therfore the dealers spend most of their time dealing limit. Never be afaid to question a dealer, of course do it in a nice way. Most good dealers will explain to you if you are wrong. Some dealers get upset when you question them but these dealers are often the ones that make the most mistakes. Dealers work long hours and mental lapses are not unual. When it comes to interpreting rules dont be afraid to call the floorperson if the dealer rules something that you think is wrong.

A couple more things to add to Emmasdads angle shooters post.

One element of team play. Dick is sitting to Johnsons left. Johnson limps, Dick makes a small raise. Comes back arounf the table and Johnson makes a big reraise with AA or KK. I have seen this a bunch of times. Watch for Johnson limping from LP and having Dick bet for him. If it happens a couple of times call the floor.

Covering cards: A lot of people cover their cards on accident. They dont use card protectors and cover their cards with their hands. I have seen quite a few seasoned players do it on purpose. It allows them to see what action is going to happen behind them in a big pot. Again if you see someone doing this call the floor. This isnt considered cheating but it is defaintly bad form.

Casinos also have rules about players being skipped. I was playing (limit) and when it was my turn I was reaching for chips to bet and then players behind me just kept checking around. I mentioned it to the dealer and he said since 3 people had acted after me, it didn't matter and I couldn't do anything about it. It ended up working out for me, though, cause I was able to protect my hand better by raising someone who was in later position and I won the pot, but it's still kind of annoying. Although this will rarely occur, because it takes a combination of both the dealer and the players being unaware of what's going on, it can happen. I guess my advice here is to always be aware of the other players or the dealer (if the dealer is the type that looks towards the person whose action it is) and if there's anything wrong, stop it immediately.