If you get mad at me when you lose a pot it's going to bother me whether you use my name or not. I know it's part of the job but constantly being blamed for something I have no control over adds up.

You sure don't mind being tipped over something you have no control over though, do you.

There are ppl who pay good money to get yelled at, tied up, whipped and humiliated. Dealers get some of that for free and complain about it. Count your blessings, imo.

Chapter 1 Don't care about anything but money

Want to make sure that tourist knows you live in this room and know every dealer's goldfish's name? Ask yourself if that makes the money.

Break down the strat of that last hand because you want to be thought of as the smartest guy at the table by your fellow regs? Ask yourself if that makes the money.

Writes itself/isn't that hard. Learn how gambling works.

Here's how gambling works: The pit boss will try to remember your name. Every table game dealer will try to sense the mood of the table and adjust attitudes to appear friendly. The establishment will lure you w/ hospitality and do everything they possibly can to make sure that you enjoy your stay. And Heaven help the employee who causes a patron to write a bad note and drop it in the box at the Player's Club desk.

btw, many of your tourists have played in poker rooms. They are used to players that live there.

Is the dealer's goldfish's name also printed clearly on the dealer's name tag? I have not received an advance copy of your book.

You're one of the people nobody texts when a big game is going, floors regularly 'forget' about when getting a player a table change to the action game and nobody speaks up for when a dealer makes a mistake or the floor rules against them.

But at least nobody would think you live in the room or are literate enough to read the dealers name tag.

This may be the most autistic thread to ever appear in the forum. Is the question really whether it's OK to use the name of someone you know, who's name is literally on their name tag, because other people will feel bad that you all are so chummy?

I always call dealers who's name I know by their name. Are you saying I'm a loser?

(actually sometimes I don't call them by name when I say "button good dealer" even though I sometimes get the response "Ok player")

Not mad as when your mother uses both your first and middle names when speaking to you ... really, not 'mad' at all. But a few "Come on now, dealer." lets out a little steam when things don't go your way. I would never do this unless I thought I already had a decent rapport with them to begin with.

I've actually run into a few loose cannons who thought the dealer stacked the deck for me simply because I was addressing them by name.

On the flip side there are some dealers that I just don't win 'anything' when they are at the table. It's really a stat that you need to ignore as with all variance, just coincidence of course. GL

Yes, blaming the messenger is not the way to go but unfortunately is an easy way to go to vent. The burden a dealer might carry, especially in a reg infested room, could be heavy without the ability to compartmentalize the personal side of human interaction.

I will/would never consider myself a true professional until I can master the mental side of the game where any person observing the game wouldn't be able to tell if I'm winning or losing. Sometimes the competitive fire brings out any remaining remnants of immaturity we have, some more than others.

It's no different than on the restaurant side. The wait staff (dealer) has little control over the kitchen (deck) and yet must deal directly with the customer, sometimes with the manager (Floor) being called in. GL

I guess I'm just a loser. I generally look at their name tag, and if the pronunciation is questionable, I ask. Once I know for sure, I say...."Hi there, <name>, welcome to the table."

I guess I always presumed people would rather be called their name, are there any dealers who post here who rather I didn't?

You have no idea how old that gets.

You think they don't notice the name tag on the dealer?

I play at smallish rooms where literally all players are regs, so everyone knows everyone's name... Just seems reasonable to refer to the dealer by name, like they do with me.

Because I say "thanks" instead of "thanks Timothy" or "button right? Cool" instead of Tammy is the button right thank you Tammy and how are your kids? " yeah...ok.

If that's the price for erring on the side of caution when it comes to treating recs like op was treated I guess I'll live. I know I've never made a live one want to not come back that matters to me a lot more.I

Not being overly familiar (I'm extremely polite, never abusive, tip reasonably, etc) leads to staff abuse...maybe this shouldn't have been needlessly separated from the tipping thread if that side is really that petty.

I've certainly seen people leave games based on the it's me vs eight other people in on it together vibe. I've never seen anybody leave a game over me saying "thanks" instead of "thanks Timothy and how have you been?good investment dealing me winners!" a la the op I responded to.

Again, try making them feel like they're part of the group. You'll be surprised. It's a WAAAAAY more inviting and welcoming plan than trying to make it a completely impersonal environment.

I have never and probably will never play professionally, especially in a tourist city with a lot of churn in the player pool. That being said, what you're saying actually makes sense to me in some respects. However, coming from a guy who says dealer instead of first name though for different reasons, I think the second chapter is a lot more important for pros than the first. A lot of younger guys in their 20s play at my local room and love to get on the same table and talk strategy.

I play anywhere from 200-400 hours per year and lose 0-8000 over that time and I cannot stand when they start talking strategy. I assume people who are more recreational or total whales feel just as bad or worse about their conversations. I can't even play at the same table as a couple of them because they constantly have turd breath and are annoying to be around. I don't think I'm the only semi regular losing player who feels the same way.

I've been a reg at the same poker room for over 10 years. I know dozens of dealer by name, and they know me. Of course when they come to the table we greet each other by name. It would be weird not to. Likewise, if another reg shows up, I'll say "hi Joe" or whatever. This doesn't mean though that every time I say something to the dealer, I work his name into the sentence. That's silly; no one talks like that.

I play at a room that gets lots of tourists, and I never try to hide the fact that I am a local and a reg. That is a dumb idea as well, and is about as effective as the jerks who think they are being slick by sitting with a bottle of beer and act drunk and clueless, even though everyone sees they haven't taken a sip in two hours.

Tourists know there will be regs at the room they visit. It's no secret. I've played with thousands of them over the years. But I talk with them, ask them about their work, where they live, why are they visiting, etc. and I treat them with respect and never berate their play. Poker is a social game for rec players, and they want to have a fun experience. And if you, as a reg, facilitate that, they will be happy to play with you and eager to return even when they lose their money. That's how poker works.

I've had tourists approach me and say stuff like "you won't remember me, but we played together last year, and I had a great time. I'm back again for vacation this year." And I'll welcome him back, tell him I remember him, and invite him to come over to my table if he gets the chance. So IMO this entire notion of trying to hide that you're a reg by not using a dealers name is misguided. Tourists expect to play against local regs. They just expect to have a good time doing so. If you do that, they will never get that 8 against 1 feeling. Besides, I rarely see that situation anyway, as the regs will move around to where tourists are rather than all congregate at one table whenever possible.

So you are saying "thanks dealer" and "dealer is the button right thank you dealer"?

Nobody argues that you have to use the dealers name over and over. The question is if you are using the dealers name or the term "dealer" if you have to chose between those two options.

Whose question? I certainly never said that in the original situation. I can't recall the last time I've needed to use either.

The original point concerned regs making a visiting player feel like an outsider. I agree to some extent w the guy who said he uses everybody name introduces himself to everybody he hasn't met etc. I can't pull it off and neither ca?n most. Most games are very antagonistic towards new players. I think Barry even mentions in his book spots where he quit whole cities based on this.

The guys who live in a room and catch up with every dealer who sits down make games bad. The guys who live in a room and do the same with the five other regs when they sit down make the games bad. On top of making the games bad they promote an image of impropriety. You see threads all the time talking about regs getting special treatment and part of the reason is the regs who go out of their way to visibly separate themselves from non regs. You think uf a floor rules in my favor over a non reg he's going to be as suspicious as when that same ruling goes in favor of a reg who's made dinner reservations w the last eight dealers who swiped in in front of that non reg?

That's the type of behavior ive addressed not whether or not somebody cranes his neck and squints to read a name tag when he needs to stop the game. If that's the point you've been making don't know what to tell you. The behavior in op was terrible and every example I've used is both common and bad for games.

haha okay man.

If you don't agree with yourself then just ****ing say so instead of digging your heels in and trying to gaslight everybody who can clearly read what you said.

Now you're trying to convince us that what you meant was that you never use the dealer's name because you never address the dealer at all. So then what was all that **** about saying his or her name?

Dealing yesterday at a 1/2 NL table. Seat 1 is a rarely seen player. He seems somewhat familiar, but I don't really know him. He probably plays at my room 2 or 3 times/year. Seat 6 is "Bob" who plays 5-6 times/week on average over the last 5 years.

On the river, seat 1 bets $60. I announce, "60 to call, Bob."

Bob tanks for a while and them makes the call with a pocket pair on a very wet board.

Seat 1 mucks his hand and then informs me that he doesn't appreciate me saying "60 to call, Bob" because it was a tell, and I was prompting for Bob to call the bluff.

I briefly protested that A) it was, in fact $60 to call. B) The action was on a guy named Bob and C) I had no idea what Seat 1 had or what Bob had. I didn't have a read on either player, and in fact, I wasn't putting even the slightest amount of effort into thinking about how the hand had played out.

The only thing on my mind was that the action was on Bob and that he was facing a $60 bet.

Sounds like youre insinuating soft play between regs. If you feel like the outsider and the regs are gonna go after you, perhaps that is a great chance to capitalize if youre not a fish.

As for this other stuff about calling dealers by their names, it just sounds like you dont have much live experience. Its a bit immature.