1. The player who tosses his chips toward the middle of the table where they all roll in different directions. He mutters "sorry", then does it again next time he bets or calls, and again, each time saying "sorry."

No. You're not. If you really were sorry, you wouldn't keep doing it. It's basic high school physics- when you throw a round object, it rolls.

2. Player bets the river, old guy calls. Player shows his hand, OG holds his cards in front of him and stares at them . . . . . . . . . . . then leans forward and looks at the board . . . . . . . . . then looks at his cards . . . . . . . . . . then looks at the board . . . . . . . . . . then looks at his cards . . . . . . . . . . then... slowly... folds.

3. The player who is so into whatever game is on tv that the dealer has to yell to get his attention back to the table whenever it's his turn to act. I actually had a dealer once who kept getting distracted by the football game on the tv. "Uh, dealer? Everyone checked. We're ready to see the turn now."

Even worse when old guy has the winning hand here, just had to check like six times to make sure he had a straight.

I'm of the opinion that basically everyone other than the very best players in the very toughest games would benefit from tabling every hand at showdown.

The basic rationale is that the EV of never losing a pot where you misread your hand is probably higher than the -EV of giving out limited information about your hands.

Sometimes even the best players should just table their hands:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2VZbgoayNk

Played with this old guy last night. After the dealer would announce the bet, this guy would say "dollars?" For example, say this guy was in a pot heads up with another player. If the other guy bet $25 on the flop and the dealer announced $25.

He would say "dollars"? He did this almost every street when facing a bet. Jesus.

He was about to leave and playing hands out of the rack and then this happens. He flops two pair with J9 and loses to T9 with the turn and river coming running tens.

Btw, if someone asks you what you do for a living, and you want a lot of action, the very best thing you can say is, "Professional poker player."

Nah, best reaction is when you answer "gun runner."

Didnt play much cash until I arrived in FL. But this is new for here I think:

dealers take in bets when there is a raise except for the amount of the raise w/o players asking.

is this correct?

your spelling of "peeve" is my pet peeve

There is a containment thread for this but actually yes this is a huge pet peeve of mine

Dealers shouldn't do this unless asked by the player that action is on. It's a double edged sword for me since sometimes I do want my bet to 'look small' and encourage a call but there are others where it will show that I failed in my bet sizing and actually are giving the right calling odds.

Dealers that leave the stacks in tact in the pot are even lower on 'the list' IMO. GL

Dealers should not do this. I personally don't even like them dong it when asked by a player.

I don't know if it's correct, but I see it sometimes in NJ/PA.

Generally if A bets, B raises and A calls, there isn't time to pull in the bet separately from the raise.

If A bets, B raises and A begins to think, then sometimes the dealer will pull the bets in, leaving the raise.

I think it saves some time, for a few reasons. I'm a fan of saving time. Primarily, it makes the "how much" and "how much more" questions shorter. Assuming the dealer is going to count/verify called bets, I don't think it takes much longer for a dealer to do that with the bet+raise, than just the raise, but it's usually going to be shorter. The time waiting for a player to act can be used to count/verify the bet, shortening the time after the player acts. Finally, it may be a way to 'nudge' the player to act.

That's probably a house rule or house "recommended procedure" thing. I've seen them do it in a lot of places, usually depending on the dealer.

Sometimes it makes sense, sometimes it doesn't. Don't drag the $3 limps when someone makes it $15. If there's a short stack all in with several calls and a raise and there are people tanking a bit ... fine, use that time to get the main pot correct and speed things up. heads up it's usually not worth the effort.


One of my peeves is when dealers size up stacks to make a call. Guys shoves all in for something that looks like $147, gets called and wins, then dealer takes the calling player's chips and stacks them *next* to the estimated number to make them even. Complete disaster if they knock one over.

this actually happened in a game i was playing i today.

player A bets, player B raises. Player A looks down at his cards, looks up and the dealer had pulled in the initial bet without mumbling a single word. player A obv confused and had to clarify with the dealer. dealer was actually slowing down the game. just terrible.

What I occasionally see playing limit (I don't know if it happens as much at NL) is the dealer assuming that the BB is checking his option. I'm in the BB, it gets around to the SB who tosses in $1. At the same time, the dealer's started bringing in the chips, sometimes muttering "option", sometimes not saying a word. When I slide a raise over the line, sometimes the dealer will put the bets back out before asking for calls, sometimes they'll just ask.

I see this all the time in limit. 5 limps and all bets get pulled in. Why do this? If the BB was distracted now he slows the game by searching for all the players with cards. Which is another pet peeve I've mentioned (players putting their hands in front of the cards).

In NL it may make it easier to see the amount of the raise, but it slows the game because it's harder to figure out the size of the pot. I find it easier to multiply the number of stacks by the number of chips than to remember all that complicated stuff.

Don't do drugs.

Ha ha this made me laugh

Just some of my live poker observations...

Please shower at some point within at least 48 hours of sitting at the table... have had some very unpleasant experiences.

If you are a "Reg" and you constantly criticize and belittle bad play by bad players, stop it! You are costing you and me A LOT of money by being a jerk. I see this all the time and that dude isn't coming back to the table anytime soon.

We all need time once in awhile to think through a hand. If you are one that has to sit and stare down your opponent for 30 seconds before each and every move, (usually you are wearing sunglasses, earphones and a hoodie) you are costing us recreational players, all the time. Let me explain; recreational players = profit, recreational players like to have fun, you make slow and a drag. Recreational players play blackjack instead, your profit goes bye bye. Poker is fun

But not showering is part of my strategy to tilt people. And when I'm HU with the guy on my left or right I just lean in and breathe towards them until they fold or run away screaming.

Welcome to page 2... We're up to about 54 now.

Jk, don't mean to riff, I just found it funny that with your first post you managed to hit probably the top 3 things that literally *everyone* bitches about in the poker world :P

+1. Or else they pass out from your putrid breath and/or stench. Who rakes the pot then?

Easy game man. Easy game.

"But not showering is part of my strategy to tilt people. And when I'm HU with the guy on my left or right I just lean in and breathe towards them until they fold or run away screaming.

+1. Or until they pass out from your putrid breath and/or stench? Who rakes the pot if you're opponent passes out? Or is it a "Dead Hand" if you're breath can be proven to be toxic enough to actually kill another human being at close enough range.

Solid first post. Some truly groundbreaking observations. You've given me food for thought.