I've been visiting my parents for a few weeks and playing at a really soft poker room. The dealers are fine, for the most part, but one dealer has a habit of commenting on hands during play, eg, "She's betting like she's got it", or "That was the most reluctant call I've ever seen". This strikes me as extremely inappropriate, yet it doesn't seem to bother anyone else, including any of the numerous regs in the room. The regs and dealers are a pretty tight-knit group and being an outsider, I haven't wanted to say anything. I'm leaving in a week, but I come back often. Am I off-base in thinking that this behavior is wrong? Should I say something, or just not rock the boat? This is the only cardroom within a few hours of here, I wouldn't want to be known as the guy who got a dealer reprimanded or fired, as everyone would surely know who said something.

Forget about it Jake, it's Chinatown.

It's against the rules.

You're on twoplustwo.com, where people are very aggressive rules nits and allow any minimal violation to ruin their entire session, so expect most people to tell you that you should make a scene and/or run to the floor.

It's up to you how you want to handle it, based on how much it bothers you. Doesn't look like these comments are all that specific nor are they influencing action, so you'll probably be fine letting it go. But if you're really affected by it, talk to the dealer between shifts after they finish a down at your table, and tell them it makes you uncomfortable.

If the dealer is pulling amateur crap like this because it's so full of regulars it's basically a giant home game, but the room is really soft and you're making $, I don't see any reason to destroy people's fun while you take their money.

I'd only complain if they're saying something like "who gots the flush?" or other comments about possible hands. If I hold KJ and the flop is T95, then a Q pops up on the turn, I'd eff'ing lose it if the deal said something about a straight.

Although it is wrong, if it's only one dealer that's doing this, I'd let it go. Maybe take a walk during his down or something or just play and try not to let it bother you.

Sometimes the immediate trade off is worth the overall gain.

I wouldn't say something unless he says something that directly costs you money. He's obviously inappropriate but the customers and bosses clearly don't have much of a problem with it. Your complaint would likely fall on deaf ears.

Since you're just visiting, and it's only one dealer, I'd just let it slide. How many hands in her down do you really end up playing anyway?

I had the same situation where I'm a reg, and I did talk to the dealer when I got him away from the table once. It was funny in a way because it was so bad. A guy would bet preflop and get a caller. So when the guy Cbet on the flop, the dealer would go "he's staying with it!" and if the other player called he'd say "he still doesn't believe him!". Then after a hand, if a guy tanked and folded, he would say stuff like "good fold, he had to have had the flush".

He finally stopped doing it (or at least stopped when I was at the table). He was a real nice guy, but he just had this funny habit of narrating every hand.

Do not say anything to the dealer. Do say something about it to the room's manager in a way that the dealer does not know that you did it. The dealer should take the feedback better from the room's manager than from you.

In this case, just let it go. If anything, you might try to use it to your advantage... if you c-bet a missed flop and the dealer is giving you more credit... maybe you can steal a bit more. TPTK and the flush hits... fire away and the dealer will tell V you hit the flush...

Yeah, it's an egregious violation. However...

Usually the best way to get a read on a new player is to see how other regs react to him. The dealer is giving you information. He doesn't know anything about you, so anything he says is help for you. And if he does say something about you, then now you know what the group mentality is about you, so you can adjust or exploit as required.

Big picture here.

As a manager, I always want to know about this sort of thing in my room, and I make a point of bringing it to the dealer up in a way that hopefully doesn't point back to the source. Typically I like to look and see the behavior myself and then be like "Here's what I saw and it lines up with customer complaints."

However after reading all the comments here I don't know that you should say anything, as much as it seems to be the right business thing to do. If there are lots of regs there, surely if enough were bothered by it they would have said something already.

Maybe the room manager knows and doesn't care? Maybe the dealer is the owner's brother or something? There's lots of possibilities, in this situation it doesn't sound like it's worth mentioning.

I am a little unclear on the OP weather she is commenting "during" the hand or right after it.

If she is making the comments right after it, its a lot easier to let it go. Some dealers have big egos because they want everyone else to know that they're not just a dealer but they also know how to play.

If she is saying "wow looks like she really has it" while action is still pending, I am going to make a very big deal about it immediately, even if I have to miss a few hands. I will be popping right up out of my seat and making a bee line to the podium.

Although you are just a visitor, this is still our industry and it needs to be kept clean.

You say that the regs seem to be okay with it. But actually you don't know .... they may all be in the same boat as you ... they may not like it but feel like speaking up makes them look bad.

There are some options ..... One is you can speak up at the table and say I don;t care if you think I'm a nit....I want this done right.

Another is to speak to a supervisor away from the table with the hope it will be addressed for the future.

Another is to wait for the chance to speak to the dealer away from the table. "Hey Bob, I want to talk to you for a moment, I didn;t want to do this at the table because I don't want to embarass anybody, but you see some of these guys aren't really good poker players and when you make comments like 'He must have it' after I bet you helping them with your insight, so I'd really appreciate it if you would stop helping these donks with those kinds of comme