Poker Etiquette

Etiquette? What does that have to do with the rough and tumble world of high stakes poker? I often feel this is what many of the young players think. To many of them, its something ladies worry about at tea parties - nothing to do with them.

As it turns out, poker etiquette is an absolutely critical aspect of the game - especially for anyone who expects to play fairly regularly. Etiquette is where you show the quality of your character. It indicates the degree to which you are to be trusted. It shows to the world whether you are a straight shooter with a good ethical backbone or if you are a conniver, a cheat, a selfish imp who has no respect for others. So if you play regularly, you will be playing with the same players over and over again. Furthermore, those players will interact and trade stories about your exploits at the table. It's amazing how fast a good or bad impression of a player will circulate through the table in cities all over the country, if not the world.

Obviously, if that impression is negative, that profile of you will stay with you for a long time to come. Here are a few examples; Jamie Gold refusing to chop after he made a deal; Rich Gordon's "back up the truck" comment on Poker After Dark; The discovery of tournament poker chips in a well-known players hotel room. (Rather not mention the name in case you are unfamiliar with the case.) Each of these players are going to spend years and years to live down these breaches of etiquette. Some will recover more easily than others, but once you cross the line, it is brutal trying to win back a reputation as a clean, trustworthy player. I always tell young players to err on the side of generosity. If you misread your cards and your opponent mucks the winning hand. Offer to give him the pot anyway (or some portion). If you catch a glimpse of an opponents hole cards, let them know that that need to protect their cards better. etc.

You want people to trust you no questions asked. If you offer a deal in a tournament or its a backing arrangement, you don't want to have to prove your good character over and over again. Keep being consistently honest and aware of all nuances to the etiquette game. Treat everyone with respect. Be careful how you talk about others. Its not hard and it may even seem silly at times, but in the end it is absolutely critical for aspiring professional players.

If you make a brazen breach there may be card rooms where you could never show your face again. If you make an honest mistake, go above and beyond the rules to make things right. In the long run, you'll be glad you did.

Position, position . . . Position?

We always how important position at the poker table is. As we all have heard a million times. Its best to act last - that's why we call it "having position."

For many years, I've understood why this is so, but as a player, I've haven't put a priority of having position as many others pros have. Something inside of me was saying; "Position isn't all its cracked up to be." But I could never really put my finger on why I subscribe to this notion.

The other enduring rule for the good poker player is to find a seat at the cash table in which the loose crazies are on your right and the ABC rocks are on your left. The theory is that you want all the raising to be ahead of you so your not so easily trapped into a big, expensive hand with marginal cards. And yes, you guessed it, I'm going to challenge this convention as well.

The cards have started to cooperate with me as of late after a horrendous down streak, probably one of the worst of my poker career. Part of my success was to position myself not to the left of a wacko player who continuously overplayed his hand, but to sit to his immediate right.

My strategy was quite straightforward. At the table were mostly experienced players, most of whom I had played with many times and all were very aware of the lunatic sitting to my right. Who couldn't notice that he was entering almost every pot and raising or re-raising 50% of the time. We all knew he was not valuing his hands properly. No one gets playable hands near 100% of the time and no one gets premium starting hands 50% of the time. The 5/10 no limit game we were playing was essentially a 25/50 game. We all knew that we were going to be putting in at least $50 into the pot pre-flop if we were to play any hand.

It was fairly early on that I realized that my position against this guy wasn't the worst position, but the best position to be in. Every time he raised, players would roll their eyes as they were forced to put in $50, $60 or up to $100 on a hand such as J10 suited, when in a "normal" game they'd rarely put in more than $40. What a set up this was for me. When a big hand came my way such as QQ, I'd limp. Mr. Mental Institution would immediately make it $75 or some such thing. Good players would reluctantly call. Often three or four. I'd then make it $500 or more. My position allowed the pot to be built up substantially so I was making a $300 or so win risk free. Occasionally, the lunatic would call me. Now I could push again on the flop and he'd fold. So my position still benefited me. It was a wonderful thing. I made a killing that night.

There were other tricks I was gathering well. For a full review of my revolutionary new strategy - the new position in position poker - go to my poker courses and have a looksy. Go get 'em.