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New to live poker? A few tips on live poker etiquette.
Damn, I'm drunk
Here's an alternative guide
Always forget your ante
Berate people for their play
Laugh at them when you win
Eat pizza. Make sure you get it over cards
Be on phone
Take an age to make a decision
Spill drinks
Act out of turn
have earphones in and occasionally remove one to hear what the dealer said
Splash pots
String bet
make sure you try and scoop before the dealer pushes the chips your way
Take change from the pot
Keep big chips hidden at back of stack
Don't give your cards back after a hand
And 100% of time
If the board is 999
Hilariously say
Call the police
or devil flop for 666
if you win a dubious pot, make sure you say ul to the loser then whisper to your neighbour why they are shitee. But def in a loud enough voice for everyone to hear
always wait for the other person to show first in an all in situation. everyone loves it when it takes 20 seconds for face up card. Especially if you have winning hand. Show one card first and take an age to show other one
50x pre and then when you win blinds say that you hate jacks
Say that AK is only ace high when someone gets it in pre and loses
slowroll at every opportunity
Swat up on angle shooting pre comp
claim a misdeal even when you know it wasn't
Try it on with all valets
If you play cash. Knock over Arjuns chips that he stacks neater than anyone else
He really likes this
May have done that last week 
Comments
Haysie suggested posting it in a new thread so that anyone playing live can have a read over and any other posters can add any tips they feel may be worthwhile.
Therefore...
Firstly I would say that, assuming you are polite and respectful to others at your table (which I assume you would be)... People will generally be helpful if you are new to playing live poker. I would say this is especially likely to be the case at the SPT games. If you think about it, apart from the fact that all the Sky players and staff are such a lovely bunch, there will be plenty of people winning freerolls and other promotions to play in Manchester whom have never played live poker before, so you will not be alone!
The vast majority of people at tables would realise that it is good to attract new players to the game and make them feel welcome. Therefore it makes no sense for them to be overly impatient with new players.
Apart from a couple of hours messing around in a local casino, my first real live tourney was a WSOP event. There were 2 very famous live pros at the table and the stakes where also higher. As a relative novice at the time I made a few mistakes (betting out of turn, not acting on time when it was my turn, etc etc). Even here in this environment the players were all helpful as they realised any mistakes were completely unintentional. Their patience and understanding ensured I would be prepared to chuck my money into poker tourney prizepools for years to come.
You will probably make mistakes. Even many of the seasoned players who play on here will make mistakes! If you think about it, most of us who play a lot online are used to the software doing so much for us. Such as bleeping when it is our turn to act; posting our blinds; protecting our cards; counting our chips out for us; etc etc. It can be disconcerting and take a little time to adapt when we realise we have to do all these things for ourselves. If you do make a few mistakes, you will not be the only one I assure you.
So come along and have some fun!
Now obviously it is preferable if we can limit the mistakes. Firstly it means we are developing our live ability, secondly it may prevent the shark in seat 4 from trying to take advantage of us as they realise we have a tad less experience than Amarillo Slim.
In that light here are some of the common things to consider with regards to poker etiquette...
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Try not to be disruptive when people are involved in a pot.
For example do not state that "you just folded such and such a hand" while people have still to decide on their action. This can obviously influence the hand, a hand that you are not directly involved in.
If you are talking to someone about something else unrelated to the hand while people are trying to make a decision then keep it quiet or step away from the table and discuss it.
In the same vein... While we might be screaming inside to ourselves "Damn, I would of made a set!" when we see a flop after folding our piddly pair because an aggro maniac like Tikay opened for 10x. Don't say such things out loud as once again it will influence how the pot is played out.
Act when it is your turn to act
Try to pay attention to what is happening and act promptly when it is your turn to act. In the same light try not to act out of turn. For example if you raise from the button and the player before you in the cut off has not even acted yet then your out-of-turn action will influence how the hand plays out. As it wasn't your turn to act, this is unfair.
If you do this an odd time and it seems like an honest mistake people will usually be understanding but if it is done with a high frequency it will understandably irk some players.
Protect your hand at all times
You do not need to wear a glove or anything like that... just try not to let other players see your hand for obvious reasons. You also do not want the dealer to mistakenly throw your hand into the muck. It therefore makes sense to protect your hand at all times. Whether this means you sit a fancy little card protector atop your cards, such as a fossil like Tikay's opponent in a live game last night does, or simply keep your cards out of everyones reach is entirely up to you!
Give your hand up when the pot is done
I have to admit I was terrible on this front when I played live for the first few times. You win a pot, are all happy, counting your newly acquired chips, placing them all neatly in piles and wondering if you have enough to build some cool little chip structures and then the dealer asks you if they can have the cards back... OOPS!
Well the aces were nice, it would have been nice to keep them.
Again, it is unlikely anyone is going to flip the table upside down and declare 'shenanigans' I just thought I would highlight this as it is so easy to do when we are just starting out in the live pokersphere.
Clearly state your action
You do not need to tell everyone you are going to the bathroom or intend to order pizza but... if you are calling then just say "call", if you are raising then just say "raise to X amount". You do not usually need to state the amount as long as you put the correct amount of chips out into the middle but it just makes your intentions much more clear to everyone and avoids awkward situations.
Be polite
Apart from not doing Will Kassouf impressions...
Try not to go overly crazy if you win a big hand and rub peoples noses in it. I don't think there are usually specific rules that deal with this (I could be wrong). I imagine some of the general rules on behaviour could be used though. It is just more to do with not humiliating other players.
If you need to make/recieve calls then jump away from the tables to do so. It is generally frowned upon to take video etc on your phone while at the table too. I am not sure how Sky or the casino will view this but generally there are copyright issues and also other players privacy to think about.
I guess not slowrolling people falls into this section too. It is generally considered rude if you feel you have a hand locked up and make an opponent needlessly sweat and think they have won a hand.
Do not pretend you are raising to see opponents reactions, such as by starting to move a big pile of chips into the middle and then bringing them back.
Also while it is fine to ponder your action and plan the crazy line you are going to adopt to make an opponent donate their stack to you... try and do so in a reasonable time. Live poker goes more slowly than online and it is therefore good to try and keep things moving along relatively quickly so you can fit a good few hands in and hopefully be dealt a few premiums.
Make your bets clear with your action
For example do not put out one chunk of chips and then add a few more and a few more etc. Generally this would not be accepted anyway. Just put the chips together for the size of the bet you want to make then put them out in 1 motion.
Do not throw your chips into the pot otherwise it is hard for anyone to tell what you actually put out into the middle.
Also keep your chips in your area and put any large denomination chips at the front for all others to clearly see. If your big chips are hiding away at the back then people will have an inaccurate picture of how many chips you have and may alter their action accordingly. There was a high profile case about this just recently in a televised game when Alec Torelli done this.
Keep your cards to yourself unless you have to show them
There are occasions when you may want to show your cards. You are giving other players valuable info though when you do this so generally try not to (there are caveats - "9 high like a boss!" springs to mind). If you do show your cards then they have to be shown in a way that everyone can see them, you shouldn't show your cards to just certain players.
The majority of the above info is from my own experience but some snippets will be from articles I have read online.
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As mentioned at the start, you will probably not remember all of that and will make the odd mistake or three. As long as you are polite to people and try your best to keep up with the action I doubt anyone will be anything other than helpful. They may try to remove the burden of having chips from you (it is the nature of the game afterall) but they will generally try to do so in a polite and understanding manner.
It is loads of fun playing live and I have no doubt Sky will pull all the stops out at the SPT to make it a memorable experience so come along and have some fun.
Good luck!
[QUOTE Whether this means you sit a fancy little card protector atop your cards, such as a fossil like Tikay
Posted by markycash
Bit harsh
Posted by dragon1964
Lolz, don't quote me as saying that or he will arrange for Mr Bates and The Ambassador to be sat on my left at the SPT!
Great post, thanks for taking the time to write this up. Nice alternative from Jac as well, the ear phone piece is dead on, quite hard work trying to get some chat at a live table.
I played live for the first time the other night and it was at the Manchester 235 by co-incidence as I was up there on a works event, so I had drunk a fair bit before playing, but was ok. A couple of observations from my first attempt at live play was firstly I made a mistake one hand of not announcing my intention, so I had meant to raise and put the appropriate amount in the pot, however because I didn't say raise it was therefore treated as a call, is this normal?
It was a cash table and the rules were you could buy in for whatever the biggest chip stack was at the table, is this normal as well or does it vary?
The guy to my left was mates with the dealer, which is fine, however on a few occasions he was just showing the dealer what he had and no one else, is that ok or not, no one seemed to have a problem with it at the table, but based on what you wrote about not showing just certain players your cards I just wondered?
Cheers
Greg.
To answer a couple of your questions...
It was a cash table and the rules were you could buy in for whatever the biggest chip stack was at the table, is this normal as well or does it vary?
The guy to my left was mates with the dealer, which is fine, however on a few occasions he was just showing the dealer what he had and no one else, is that ok or not
I haven't played live yet and was veering towards the Markycash approach however Jac's does seem much more entertaining, until you get thrown out or beaten up that is.
One thing I will definitely need is my reaction to being knocked out. I guess there is a range between 'Ladies and gentlemen, that was great fun, thank you for playing and the best of luck to you all' to.... 'you are the pits of the earth....I don't do handshakes people'.
without washing their hands . We all pass the chips round , and they can be just filthy !
So if your going to have a snack at the table, nip back and wash your hands, or as my good
lady does, take some " hand wipes " with you , getting ill and missing day 2 would not be fun .
Always be polite , especially to the dealers....its never there fault we lose the pot...or plot.
I love to be away from home playing live, having a drink and not needing to drive home....
but go easy with it, just think "would I rather play against a drunk or someone sober ? "
I hope to see you all at the SPT , run good, take care.
As SR said, if you have a tough decision then taking a little time is fine. If you or anyone at the table is abusing this and taking too long then the other players at the table can 'call the clock' on you. In this case you will have X amount of time to act or your hand will be dead.
The WSOP have brought a new rule regarding this for 2017...
"Clock Rule Change: Designed to increase the hands per hour, improve the experience for the great majority and prevent habitual stalling, the reasonable time to act has been redefined. Rather than implementing a firm “shot clock,” we have opted to encourage players and Tournament Directors to more actively monitor pace of play and have staff prompt a countdown when appropriate."
Yeah it is very surprising how many people just march straight out of the loo without washing their hands.
Completely agree with the other points too!
it can change from one casino to another.
Also in some major tournament the hand can be dead if shown to anyone, even if they are not in the game,
this is the case in the Irish open , but not often enforced.
clicky
Not sure why anyone would want to straddle, seems to just be bloating the pot from the worst position at the table. Any thoughts on this?
The straddle can in theory get tighter players more involved in the action and some players may feel they can take advantage of this.
Of course a traditional straddle of putting 2x the BB out into the middle without seeing your hole cards should not be a big help in itself. Well, unless you are Daniel Negreanu and you feel that increasing the rake paid by players is going to make things better for us poker players.
There are 2 broad scenarios where having a straddle may make things better for you.
A traditional straddle of 2x the BB makes the stacks effectively shorter and thus...
(a) - If you are a more effective player working a shorter stack... For example you may be a Spin Up extraordinaire and do not feel your deepstack game is as good as your short stack game. Well this straddle situation has just made the game a bit more like the games you usually play.
(b) - You are just as good with a shorter stack as you are with a deeper stack. Even in this scenario you may love to have a straddle if half the table do not realise the stacks are effecively much shorter and are not making the necessary adjustments but you are. The general situation has just became much more +EV for you.
Now the traditional straddle is UTG but you can see a couple of reasons why players may like this, even when the 'straddler' is out of position. If the straddle is on the BTN then a player with a strong shorter stack game has now turned the game into a shorter stack game and is going to have position on the table every time they post their straddle.
In simple terms the straddle takes the game slightly in the direction of a Spin Up game. If you feel more comfortable with a big stack then you may not want to play games with a straddle. If you are a short stack whizz then the straddle is for you.