Playing Casino Poker for the First Time
If you are one of those poker players that has been playing the
game locally or online for some time, but never ventured into a
casino poker room before, here are some things you can expect
your first time at the tables.
While it may be natural to be nervous the first time in a new,
usually noisy and flashy environment, poker is poker. In a
casino poker room, there is a person in charge of seating
players at the various tables. Approach them, and you can ask
what games they are dealing and if there are any seats
available. They will either place your name on a waiting list,
and notify you when a seat is available, or, if you're lucky,
they will seat you right away.
If there's a chip cage in the room, you may be directed to buy
chips from there before heading to the table. Or, you may be
directed to buy chips straight from the dealer. Either way, the
floor person will guide you in the right direction. they will
also let you know the minimum and maximum buy-ins for the table.
Once seated, you may have to post a blind bet to enter the
action. Some rooms require this, others do not. Also, you may
have to wait until the dealer button passes you before you are
dealt into a game. Once again, some rooms follow this procedure,
others do not. Either way, the dealer will gladly guide you on
this matter.
Now that you're being dealt into the hands, here is some common
poker etiquette.
Act in turn. Even if you know you are folding, wait until it is
your turn to act before doing anything. Acting ahead of time
gives an unfair advantage to some players at the table. The
dealer will let you know it's your turn to act either by looking
directly at you, or gently prompting you.
When it is your action, you can check by gently knocking or
tapping on the table. This is a sign to the dealer, and allows
you to avoid speaking and giving away information to your
opponents.
Declare your raises. If you simply put up enough chips to call
the bet, the dealer may think you are only calling and move
action to the next player. When raising, you can either declare
how much you want to raise, and then move your chips into the
pot, or simply move your chips in one motion. You cannot keep
going back and forth between your stack and the pot moving in
more and more chips. That's called a string bet, and it's not
allowed.
If a player doesn't have a small enough chip to call a bet, they
may move in the smallest chip they have, and the dealer will
make them change. This is another reason to declare your raises.
Moving in a more than it costs to call doesn't always mean
someone's making a raise.
Casino poker is played for table stakes. If the money is not on
the table at the beginning of the hand, you cannot bet it. So,
if your chipstack is low, rebuy before the hand is dealt. Don't
wait until you find pocket Aces and then try to buy more chips.
In online poker you don't have cards to worry about. In a
casino, you have to protect your cards. That's why you see
people putting objects or chips on top of their cards. That
keeps your hand from being acidentally mixed in with other
cards. So, protect your hand by placing a chip on top of your
cards.
The muck is poison. Should you muck your hand, you cannot
retrieve your cards. If you mistakenly think that you have no
opponents left at the end of a hand, and you muck your cards at
the showdown, they become dead cards. This can cost you the pot.
When it comes to declaring hands, feel free to let the dealer
declare yours if you are at all unsure about it.
This article was written by mongoose, webmaster of
http://www.online-poker-rules.net