7 seconds or even a bit longer is fine...occasionally. Not every time.

1) Cash games have a different expectation of time than tournament .. Look at your cards as you get them and keep the game moving.

2) The more action you need to consider, the more you can take to think on an average basis.

3) Most low limit players aren't going to pay attention to your consistent 'routine' and just want to get on to the next hand so they can get AA!!

4) If you are a reg, I would expect some banter from the dealer/other regs with regards to time. Saving face by needing to fold your 35o to a 3-bet isn't worth as much as you think.

5) Tipping is optional .. but certainly don't (fully) expect a dealer to not try to move the game along so he can make more money. 'My' dealers know that I pay on 'commission' at the end of the session ... so they also know that if I'm down that they want the hand to move along.

nope.

player can reduce the time by gathering cards (as dealer deals them) so that once the action on one, it takes only about 1s to peek at cards. One can peek them before action is on one but that is a bit different story.

My hands are really dry sometimes and lotion doesn't help. If you wash dishes 48+hours per week, you will know what I mean, and when the dealer throws the card and hits under the arm rest cushion, it takes like 4 seconds for me to pull them out. I really don't take longer than 10seconds on 99% of my hands preflop.

if people are commenting on how long you take then you are taking too long

I stated my meaning improperly. I mean it's not a horrible offense really. And who knows, maybe said player doesn't play utg with anything less than JJ. There are much worse offenses to spend your time worrying about. Like does it really take this guy 7+ secs every single hand he gets? Or has he been watching too much Helmuth on TV?

My point about it speeding the game up is that UTG+1 can act sooner.

I'm never going to say it's ok to muck out of turn. But in turn, it's the players choice to act on 1 card or two (HE). And this means raising, limping, folding. They can even raise in the dark! It's their turn!

What you don't seem to be grasping is that if it really takes you 4 seconds to gather your cards that is fine. But Why are you waiting until its your turn to act to do that?

You see if you gather them as they are pitched to you the fact that it takes you time to gather them doesn't slow the game down.

Na, no one has ever made a comment except for that one dealer.

I actually only have this problem when im in UTG or whenever Im first to act preflop because of a straddle. I purposely straddle my UTG because I don't want to slow down the game sometimes.

So wait, ^^^^ you still take 7s to fold even though you have an ENTIRE round to look at your cards until the action gets to you? Do you not look at your cards until its your turn or somethin?!? lol this isnt a $10,000 WSOP event. i play 2/5 and 5/10 every weekend and i always look instantly.

this is a joke correct

If I'm UTG I'll decide my range before the cards are dealt (loosening/tightening up from default) and the time it takes me to fold is pretty much 1 second after the second card has landed.

It sounds like OP is just sitting there and when the dealer has finished dealing the button his second card he finally collects the cards and looks, then takes even more time to decide whether he wants to play or not. It would tilt the **** out of me and probably making some comments about it.

Is seven seconds too long to tie my shoes?

Where do you folks come up with this awesome content??!!

so 99% of the time you take 10 seconds preflop wtf

also how often are dealers throwing cards under the arm rest lol. nobody is gonna get mad the once in a blue moon that happens and you have to fish it out.

You should be able to act pretty much the second it's on you, most of the time. UTG should be easy because your range should be narrow and you should already know what you are opening and for how much.

EDIT slowponied by Kelvis. But yeah, you play a sub-10% range with zero action in front of you, this should be a snap decision.

If you take 7 seconds to act every time the action reaches you preflop, yes you are slowing the game up.

7 seconds is ~almost the equivalence of an online player who refuses to "Auto-Post" in a Stud game.

OP: Learn to look at your cards as soon as you get them. And, if the lotion isn't helping with your dry hands, ask your doctor if there's something better, perhaps stronger that you can try.

Fwiw: I play with a few guys who take a little too long to act for my liking but I never said anything to them.

I always look to my left before acting UTG (or any other position, really) because I like occasionally open-limping.

I'd suggest putting your hands in front of your chips in an attempt to catch cards and look at your first card before you receive your second card. Also, consider sitting next to the dealer because sometimes they just set the cards down in front of you instead of pitching it a short distance.

Please don't do this. This often creates a ramp for the card to get exposed. It'll also probably earn you a short pitch or a pitch to the left or right, cause there's no way I'm intentionally aiming for your hands. Just wait until the card has been delivered; don't try to catch them.

Either have your fingers perpendicular to the plane of the table, forming an obvious backstop, or have the heel of your palm touching the table and the fingers pointing upward, creating an obvious cave and no ramp.

No - Keep your freaking hands out of the way of the deal.

UTG you get the 3rd card dealt on the 2nd orbit of cards. You have 4,5,6,7,8,9 and 10 cards being dealt time to look at your hand. By the time the dealer is done, you should have at least seen your cards.

I always give 'my' dealers a target for the cards. They adapt to which side of my chips I want the cards to come to and very rarely do I have an exposed card. I think it slows the game down even more when you have to move the cards around on the felt in order to peel them up. Most dealers will adapt to where they need to go. There are a few players who will get the short shots since they don't know how to get their bets out far enough either or have a history of exposing cards, but for the most part I find dealers are pretty accurate with the pitches. GL

It'd be less rare if you got your freaking hands and **** out of the way.
UTG, EP you move them while the rest of the cards are being dealt. MP+ you move them while UTG & EP are acting.

HOW does that slow anything down? Exposed cards, those slow the action down.

This feels like a troll.

I let my chip stack be the dealers target , and sometimes it's big enough to be a backstop. I keep my hands off the table till the dealings finished. I have had a few dealers tell me they prefer that. Small sample, maybe most don't care IDK.

way too long