Hi MHE:

I'll address this in the book.

Best wishes,
Mason

Hi brianr:

While we certainly like to sell books, the purpose here is to improve poker rooms. But hopefully if the book is very good, we will sell a few.

Best wishes,
Mason

Hi rickroll:

I know nothing about poker in Macau. So, the book won't go there.

Best wishes,
Mason

Hi rickroll:

Poker room location and the role of what a host should be will both be addressed in the book.

Best wishes,
Mason

Hi borg:

I suspect that your opinion of dealer quality and my opinion will be a little different. How many of these dealers talk a lot? I can't believe the number is around 5 percent.

Best wishes,
Mason

Hi Punker:

I understand your point but don't believe a poker room should be a necessary evil. It should be one of the many games that a casino offers and if it's done well should be an asset to the casino.

Best wishes,
Mason

What should the procedures be? Should the floor warn the table or automatically call security to remove the abusive patron?

Most poker rooms have foul/abusive language rules on the books, however, some enforce them, some do not. I've been physically threatened and the floor/dealers did nothing. I called the casino management and told them about the situation. It obviously makes me think twice about patronizing the establishment, even though this situation happened a decade ago.

I feel like most dealers aren't trying to get the floor involved, they simply want to keep the game moving and keep getting tips. Sad, but true.

The unfortunate truth about abusive players is that aside from their character flaws, sometimes they're great for the game....

I can vividly recall a night when a person who fit this bill who lost 20-30 buyins in a 1/2 NL game in a 3 hour stretch.

Despite being scum of the earth, there were people at the table who were biting their tounge and putting up with his offensive shenanigans. Some even implored him to stay when it was clear he was about to leave.

probably 15-20 percent
but they almost all control they game really well, get cards out quickly, sort out side pots, running it 2-3 times very fast, always know the pot size in plo even in 2/2 where they aren't allowed to round. i'd say half of them that talk a lot are naturally talkative the other half talk when people start talking to them. but all of them shut up if the pots get big.i'd also say about half of the talkative ones talk way more in small games than they do big games because generally speaking people are joking around a lot more in the smaller games.

are there some women who play live once get treated like crap and never come back or even try live?sure. although there are some i'm sure some who only play online to avoid bad treatment. but the idea that this is the main reason women by and large don't play is laughable. on a whole they are simply just not interested in playing poker for money as a game itself. while there are always exceptions men and women have different interests.

a TON of players have their first experience playing poker online these day and that was probably even more the case in the US 10-15 years ago. and still there were very few online players who were women.

while harassing women who are playing poker is disgusting, people today also want to act like everything is always equal in every way shape and form which is utterly ridiculous. you're not going to wave a magic wand and have a ton of women interested in poker. the poker rooms could be filled with men wearing tuxedos behaving like perfect gentlemen and women would still barely play poker, although there would be a small uptick. you can't use marketing to force people to be interested in things that just don't interest them.

How about cardrooms get their players under control when it comes to misogynistic and homophobic comments, and then we'll see if it has an effect on the environment? Because I can tell you that having made friends with a lot of female players in my time as a dealer, they definitely don't appreciate how men treat women at the table.

i totally agree that this should be done

Not having a lower barrier for new players to enter ($200 buy-in is huge for working class newbies) seems pretty obvious.

How?

Grunting but I still remember my first time playing live and it's not obvious how to get on lists, how you'll get called for your seat, how much time you have to claim your seat, where and how to get chips etc etc. Dunno what to do about that maybe some sort of faq for new players. Maybe those exist.

Calling ahead to get on lists is another one.

Generally making it less intimidating to get into a game.

kicking out players who are harassing other players for the night with a permanent ban if they don't stop when they return.

the first time i ever went to a casino was to play blackjack. i tried to buy chips at the cage. they told me to buy them at the table. i tried to hand the dealer the money and they told me to put it on the table.
the first time i played poker live i tried to buy in at the table. they told me to buy chips at the cage.

Hi easy:

A couple of things. First abusive players need to be handled by the poker room management. I believe the best approach is for the floor to identify these players and then to talk to them quietly away from the table, and part of the conversation should be what the poker room is doing for them (which this book will address) and what this player needs to do in return. But if the problem continues, disciplinary action should be taken, and this can include banning the offending player for an appropriate amount of time.

But there is a problem that you may be running into. Certain layers, whether you like it or not, will have what we refer to as "sucker privileges." I have a chapter on this topic in my book Real Poker Psychology.

Best wishes,
Mason

Ho borg:

I'll concede that there may be a few dealers who can talk a lot but who are still dealing well. However, in my opinion, this is the minority od the talking dealers. Also, these excellent dealers who talk are sort of setting an example to some of the other dealers that talking is okay, and this will then encourage other dealers to deal poorly. SO, in my opinion, they all need to be quiet.

Best wishes,
Mason

Great subject - I've found myself wondering why the poker rooms in Vegas are all done about the exact same way. They haven't seemed to evolve with the new days of marketing themselves on the internet.

Will read through this thread later.

Hi check:

I started playing a lot of poker in the early 1980s, and I guarantee that things were a lot worse in this area. Now that doesn't mean that there still isn't room for improvement, and poker room management (and the floor) need to address it when it occurs, but things are much better than they once were and that's not disputable.

Best wishes,
Mason

But that will cause a lot of issues. Where do you draw the line? How do you define “harassment?”

What if someone calls a female player a “girl?” Or “sweetheart?” Or makes a comment like “women usually aren’t that aggressive?” Are those considered harassment?

I just think it’s a slippery unenforceable slope. Decent card rooms should already have rules on the books concerning name calling such as b**ch or homophobic slurs but other than that, I don’t know how you can clearly delineate what’s worthy of being kicked out and what’s normal talk/table banter.

I'm going to try to address this. When I first came to Las Vegas there use to be $10 + $2 buy-in tournaments. These seem to be completely gone now and it could be a good way to introduce players to different forms of poker, especially if the entry is earned through a promotion

Best wishes,
Mason

Hi pwnsall:

A host who actually works as a real host should help with the first issue.

Call-in Lists will be addressed in the book.

Best wishes,
Mason

Hi Joey:

This is an excellent thread and it'll definitely help me to do a better book.

Best wishes,
Mason

Hi Dr. Meh:

Your points are good ones. This is where top poker room management needs to meet and discuss with the staff so that these sought of things are handled in a consistent and fair manner. And the solution may vary some from cardroom to cardroom.

Best wishes,
Mason