I was in a tourney recently when this hand occurred. Don't really remember the cards and it's not really important. A young guy was in seat 1 and seemed like a fairly experienced player, but after this I wasn't so sure. Player in a seat 2 is very annoying. Never shuts up always telling the dealer what he should do and mentioned every chance he got how he was the top guy on this poker room's tournament leader board.

So it's down to the river and seat 1 has been betting every street and seat 2 has been calling. On the river, seat 1 picks up some chips, he doesn't say anything doesn't move them forward just picks up chips. Seat 2 announces call and flips up his hand. Seat 1 gets a funny look on his face, and seat 2 says you have to put those chips in your hand in you can't put them back in your stack. The kid in seat 1 looks at the dealer who doesn't say anything. The kid didn't ask him anything either. I start to say you don't have to put those out and can say check, but I figure I am not in the hand and if the dealer doesn't say anything I shouldn't either. Also the kid could have the hand beat and want to change his bet, pretty sure he didn't from the look on his face. Seat 1 then says ok and puts out the chips. Well at that point it was too late. Seat 1 was bluffing and had nothing.

After the hand was settled and the chips were pushed to seat 2 I told seat 1 to ask the dealer and not to listen to what another player tells you to do. I was right to wait until the hand was complete, or should I call out an angle shoot like that? I wanted to just because of how annoying seat 2 was.

No, you were not right to wait. If the dealer doesn't speak up then it's your job to protect the game.

No good deed goes unpunished. Somebody wise said that.

I would have immediately told the player to ask the dealer if he has any questions about what he can do.

This way, you are not really getting involved, and the player should get the best answers about what he can do.

When in doubt, keep your mouth shut and let the dealer run the game.

You were in doubt, so you chose wisely.

If you ever get the chance to do it again, speak up and ask the dealer to stop the action and call the floor. But this time around, I'm ok with the way you handled it.

You might have been out of line (OPTAH) to directly talk to Seat1 about his options in the moment.

You are certainly allowed, however, to ask a procedural question: "Dealer, is Seat2's call an "out of turn" action?"

You were correct not to say anything. The dealer didn't say anything because he also knows that it's OPTAH. Seat 1 didn't ask any question. Other players shouldn't get involved during a hand. You are only assuming that player 1 doesn't know the rules. You also thought previously that he was an experienced player.

Now if player 1 had asked the dealer a question, of course that's different. But since he didn't, it's a lesson learned on him. I'd put this in the same category as when the board has the nuts on it, and a player goes all in. I've seen other players often fold in this situation (as hard as it is to believe). You wouldn't say, "don't fold, you have the nuts too, the guy's pulling an angle on you.

I don't like the angle shot the guy took anymore than anyone else. But unfortunately sometimes you have to let the hand play out. You are allowed to lie in poker. If you are gullible or inexperienced enough to take your opponent's word on rules, then that's a lesson you need to learn.

What you did was fine. I don't know for sure whether I would keep quiet or request that the dealer call the floor; it likely would depend on the circumstances, such as how much attention I had paid to the action. But it definitely would be between only keeping quiet or requesting that the dealer call the floor. I would not pretend to be the dealer or the floor by spouting off my personal interpretation of the rules.

CliffsNotes: What you did was fine.

Say "Dealer Call the floor" or at least "Dealer I think we need the floor"

The situation in the OP is an angle shoot. The situation in the quote is not. I do not believe that you have seen players fold often when the nuts are on the board.

The two situations are like comparing apples and bowling pins.

Player 2 is angling, I adamantly speak up.

The correct thing to do would be to tell player 1 that he can ask the dealer for clarification on the rules in this situation since different card rooms have different policies on this matter.

The thing I would want to do was to tell player 1 to not listen to player 2 because what he's saying is incorrect. I would love to call out an angle shooter like this and since he sounds like he was being such a jerk, I might have done this in some cases if I saw that player 1 was clearly a deer in headlights.

I respect the integrity of the game so it would have been right to tell player 1 that he has the right to consult the dealer or the floor in this case. There is no reason someone should get taken advantage of because of someone angling.

TBH, the dealer did a crappy job. He should have stepped in and either told the other player, "there's no action, you can't call yet," or "player 1, you have bet 'x'."

I think you handled this fine. It would be pretty proactive to ask the dealer, "Dealer, just for clarification, if I pick up chips does that mean I have made a call?" The action hasn't finished yet. I'd probably go see the room manager on a break and mention, "Dealer A did this, I think he needs some additional training, unless you want to discourage new players from coming in the room."

I would have done exactly as you did. OPTAH.

OPTAH. If Player 1 wanted help from the dealer, he needed to ask. If Player 1 wanted the floor, he needed to ask. If Player 1 wanted a clarification from anyone, he needs to ask for it. You can't play his hand for him just because someone shot an angle.

Of course, if you're like me he wouldn't need to ask, because there's not much doubt I would have blurted out, 'That's the biggest bunch of bull**** I've ever heard... He hasn't acted yet. Do you want me to have the floor come over and clarify for you?', straight at Player 2. Then Player 1 would have been playing his hand all by himself and Player 2 would have been very clear on the rule he obviously misunderstood.

Cliffs: I would have said something, not to Player 1, but to the obnoxious angle shooter himself... Then if a hand is dead following the OPTAH rule I don't have one, so it would be Player 2's... Gotta love the rules!