Poker Etiquette - Manners at the table
Poker is no different to any sport, there are unspoken rules among players that form a proper etiquette and sportsmanship. This is especially so, when we consider that poker is often a high stakes and high emotion game.
The Slow Roll
One of the most important acts to avoid in poker is ‘slow rolling’ another player. Not to be confused with ‘slow playing’, a slow roll is when a player that has the best possible hand in a scenario laments over a decision of whether to call or hesitates and downplays the strength of their hand before showdown. They intentionally downplay the strength of their hand or the confidence they have against their opponent(s), while knowing they have the best possible chance to win. Often done as an antagonistic tactic against opponents, very few people this practice as a psychological tactic. The overwhelming majority of poker player consider this extremely rude and poor etiquette.
Let’s go through a visual example:
In this example, you are in the small blind, the river has just been revealed as a queen and you have the king queen of spades for your hole cards. This gives you the nut flush with no other hands on the board that can beat you. There could be a combination of pairs, three of a kinds, straights and even a weaker flush. As none of these hand combinations can beat your holding it is known as holdings the stone cold nuts. You check your hand over to the big blind who decides to go all-in with an inferior hand. The action is back on you to call or fold, however there is no scenario where you would fold as you have the best possible hand and are guaranteed to win the pot.
Despite this, you agonize over the decision, taking your time for a while before reluctantly calling. You wait for your opponent to roll over his cards and act is if you are disappointed by his hand, then you roll over the stone cold nuts.
That would be considered a slow roll and it will not win you any friends at the table.
Angle Shooting
Angle shooting is a blanket term for tactics or actions in poker that involve unethical or underhanded behaviour in order to get an advantage. Though not explicitly cheating, angle shooting is walking the line between unethical and cheating.
There are various actions that are considered angle shooting, such as:
- String Betting
- Deceptive Chip Stacking
- Intentionally acting out of turn
- Ambiguous Wording
- ‘Mistakenly’ putting too many chips in the pot.
String Betting
A tactic where a player will take a number of chips in their hand hold them over the binding betting line and release the chips onto the table in separate motions, as opposed to placing the entire bet at one time. The intention behind this practice is to elicit information from the opponent(s) as each chip drops onto the table. For example, an inexperienced player may display a nervous/ disappointed expression as more chips are dropped, conveying a weak hand. As mentioned, this is an angle shoot and is often an illegal move in many games. The first chip dropped or the minimum bet may be binding.
Deceptive Chip Stacking
A practice in which a player will conceal their higher value chips behind their lower value chips. At best this is considered poor etiquette, but it is largely considered an illegal move. The intention behind this practice is to convey to opponents that you have a smaller total stack than you actually do. This may unfairly influence a decision of an opponent in how they approach a hand. For example, if you attempt to steal a pot with a certain sized bet, you may consider a player with hidden chips to be less likely to engage in a big pot and risk their stack.
Intentionally Acting Out Of Turn
As you can imagine, this practice involves a player announcing or placing an action when it is not their turn to act. For example they may push out a bet or a raise when it is the person to their rights action. The logic behind this is that it may convey a strength or confidence in ones hand to the players yet to act. For example, if you wish to dissuade other players from entering the pot, without actually having to bet you may announce a large bet out of turn. In casinos and tournaments this practice will usually not result in the bet being considered bind, but may result in a warning from the dealer. However, there is a greater flexibility in rules within home games, which may consider the bet binding.
Ambiguous Wording
A practice in which a player utilizes ambiguous wording to their advantage. An example of this that is similar to string betting, is a player saying “I see your bet… and raise”. The pause between ‘I see your bet’ and ‘raise’, is a good opportunity to assess the facial expression and body language of opponents before announcing your raise.
Mistakenly putting too many chips in the pot.
This practice is similar to the above where you might bet $500, yet put $1200 out in front of the betting line. Similar to string betting you may assess the reaction of opponents before correcting yourself and announcing you miscounted and only meant to put the announced $500 in the middle.
To conclude, angle shooting is a broad term used to describe actions that players may take to gain an unethical advantage against their opponents in a hand. These practices may incur a warning and eventual ejection from the game if continued. At best, you won’t be winning any friends at the table.
Collusion
The act of collusion is where two or more players act collectively to gain an unfair advantage over the other players at the table. The severity of collusion can vary but often includes sharing information about their hands, plan joint strategies, or making coordinated bets to manipulate the outcome of hands/game.
This occurs through varying sophistication such as signalling, subtle gestures, betting patterns. This severely undermines the integrity of the game and is a serious matter that can result in penalties and ejections within professional settings at casinos and tournaments.
The above describes a greater degree of collusion that is considered cheating. However, there are certain practices that border collusion and poor etiquette. The following are some examples of less sever collusion that may still incur penalty, but are also disrespectful to the table.
Displaying hands
Upon the victory of a hand, you may boastfully show your hand to a friend of yours at the table or the player next to you. This is a rude practice and it is a common rule that if you ‘show one, you must show all’. As you might have guessed cannot select a certain player to show your cards to, if you choose to show them you must show them to all at the table.
A more serious variant of this is folding your hand and showing the cards while their is still an active hand in play. This is an unfair practice that manipulates the outcome of the hand. This displays information to those currently in the hand that would not usually be available to them.
Coaching
As mentioned above, a cooperative between players is not a part of poker, as it is a solo game. Thus it is poor etiquette and even illegal to provide advice or coaching to any other player at the table, whether or not you are in the hand or not. It is especially poor form to provide advice to someone when you are not involved in the hand and is even considered rude to speak when a hand is taking place.
Language
When playing poker in a certain region it is expected that you use the primary language. Thus when playing in the USA it is expected that players use english at the table. The use of other languages between players is considered unfair as they may be using it to speak unfairly about the game.
Speech Play
This refers to the verbal actions and comments made during the game to influence the decisions of other players or elicit information from them. It's part of the psychological aspect of the game, where players may try to mislead others about the strength of their hand or encourage certain actions, like making a bet or folding. Common forms of speech play include:
- Table Talk: Casual conversation, jokes, or statements that may distract or mislead opponents. For example, a player might say something like, "I'm so weak here, I don't even know why I'm betting," to trick others into thinking they have a weak hand.
- Bluffing and Semi-Bluffing: A player might say something like, "I have the nuts," trying to mislead others into thinking they have the best hand when they don't.
- Intimidation: Some players might try to use speech to intimidate others into folding, saying things like, "I don’t think you can call this bet," or “I’ve got a monster hand.” These comments attempt to make the opponent doubt their own hand strength.
- Table Presence: Some players might use speech play to establish an air of confidence or dominance. This can be designed to influence opponents’ decisions by projecting strength, even if the player’s hand is weak.
When Speech Play Becomes Poor Etiquette
While speech play is a common part of poker, there are boundaries where it becomes poor etiquette or even against the rules:
Non-stop Talking: Constantly talking during a hand to throw off other players, even when it doesn’t make sense to the context of the game, can be disruptive. While some players enjoy banter, excessive chatter or distracting comments can irritate others and become a violation of etiquette.
Personal Attacks: Making rude or insulting comments about other players, either to make them feel bad or attempt to provoke a reaction, crosses the line. Poker should be competitive, but personal attacks or inappropriate comments about someone's skills, appearance, or behavior are considered poor etiquette.
Giving Advice: Offering unsolicited advice or attempting to "help" other players by revealing your thoughts about the hand or their plays is frowned upon, especially in a competitive setting. Saying things like, "You should fold," or "I think you’re getting too greedy," can make the game less enjoyable for others and is seen as disrespectful.
Tilt
Perhaps one of the most common occurrences in poker, especially so in high-stake games, is ‘tilt’. A player is tilted or going on tilt when they become frustrated/ angry/ emotional as a result of negative outcomes. This emotional state interferes with their rationality and strategic approach, instead their judgment is impaired and they play poorly. This can often be the result of unlikely cards being turned over when a player thought they had the winning hand, either at showdown or on the turn/river.
Excessive anger or hostility is often present when someone is ‘tilted’ and it is poor etiquette for it to be directed at another player.
Suckouts
When discussing ‘tilt’, the next logical topic is ‘the suckout’. This describes a situation where one player, based on current probability, is a heavy favourite to win the hand. The competing player has a limited number of cards in the deck that can change their hand from losing to winning. When one of these unlikely cards appears, changing the ‘underdog’ to the victor, it is a suckout.
Now sucking out is not inherently poor etiquette, as it is beyond a player’s control how the cards are dealt. However, as it is in life, It is how we react to unlikely outcomes that define us. To win with humility and lose with grace. When you have the good fortune of a suckout, it is poor form to goad or boast your victory.
Exposed cards
No games are immune to mistakes and unintended outcomes. It is not uncommon for cards to be unintentionally exposed at the poker table. However, as discussed earlier with showing your hand, if one person sees a card, the entire table must see it.
This is most common with hole cards, as the dealer pitches the card to players( a technique where the dealer tosses the cards to a player), they may flip over. Why this matters is best explained with an example. If you were dealt pocket kings and saw another card exposed as an ace, you have access to substantial information. You know the likelihood that another player at the table having pocket aces substantially decreases, as there are only four aces in the deck. Moreover, you know if an ace is dealt on the flop, that it is even more unlikely that anyone is holding pocket aces. Thus it would be an unfair game if only you had access to this information and it must be made available to the entire table.