B & M poker etiquette

[bushky]

Hi y'all,

I am just starting out in poker, playing online exclusively. I have noticed many players getting upset/spewing profanities after a (bad) beat.

I have also read some of these posts about las vegas pro's berating players/dealers etc.

So... How much abuse do I have to listen to? Both toward myself and toward other players/dealers? Am I allowed to fight fire with fire? Do I get to start up with antagonistic remarks? Does the pit boss or the dealer have the responsibility of taking care of this?

The reason I am asking is that I plan on being in Vegas in Nov and would hate to think I would need to leave because a jerk went amok.

Thanks in advance.

Bushky

PS Does anyone else see this as a huge landmine toward poker becoming the next big thing (Sort of like backgammon in the 80's?

[Abagadro]

I haven't found THAT much bad behavior at LL in Vegas. Occaisionally you will get a loudmouth or someone who berates players on their play. More often you will just get drunk idiots. I find most rooms/dealers are good at squashing that kind of thing down. I refuse to engage in tit-for-tat bahavior or do any berating of my own. It's counterproductive.

If you have a problem mention it to the dealer, if the dealer can't/won't do anything, don't make a big deal, just go quietly talk to the floor. If the floor won't do anything, leave. There are plenty of rooms.

[bushky]

Thanks Ab,

One of the reasons I was wondering was I have been reading pokerworks diary by Linda and there seems to be quite a bit of behaviour I would not really want to be a part of. Then Howard Lederer's journal of his 4 days at WSOP mentioned a feud that went on for a solid hour where the director had to be called and still couldn't get the players to behave.

I guess I was thinking if the dealers in LA have to put up with it (according to one post) and the players in Vegas (according to another) and the tournament participants also.... See what I mean? It seems that management just doesn't care.

But thank you for your response. I know I should calm myself down, but it is just so easy for me to get into it, hoping that management would step in and enforce SOME type of behaviour constraints.

Used to be societal shame would do it, now...

Bushky

[HDPM]

"Used to be societal shame would do it, now..."

It is public gambling. It isn't the tea and watercress sandwich party at Abigail Forsythe-Boothby's mense on the Main Line. It isn't perfect. The players are often emotional wrecks or just desperate loser types. Management controls things now more than in the past. If you play any length of time you will see some unpleasant things. Nothing unmanageable, but you will see some stuff.

[Mike Gallo]

How much abuse do I have to listen to? Both toward myself and toward other players/dealers? Am I allowed to fight fire with fire? Do I get to start up with antagonistic remarks?

For the most part, I usually ignore any rude comments. That seems to irritate people more.

Good luck in Vegas
Michael

[Greg (FossilMan)]

It's a weird world we play in.

And the way the rules of etiquette are enforced are very odd also.

In many rooms, if a player is calling you stupid, or otherwise berating you without using profanity of physical threats, he'll just get a bunch of useless, watered-down warnings. However, if you respond with a simple "F*** you", they'll punish you by making you pick up or take a time-out for 20 minutes or some such.

The thing is, there's no way to outlaw rude behavior where it doesn't involve a judgment call. But outlawing profanity doesn't require judgment on the part of the floor.

So, if somebody is being insulting to me, or insulting the other players or a dealer and I wish them to stop, I just make sure I insult them back without using profanity.

If I can think of something good, I even insult them in a manner that they may not even be sure they've been insulted. Usually, though, it's pretty obvious.

If I'm defending another player, especially an obvious newbie, I might say something to the newbie like "Ignore him, he's just a big baby who can't play nice with the other kids. Someday he'll grow up and stop whining. Until then, just pretend you're at the company picnic, and he's the boss's whiny little 8 year-old brat. You'd like to smack the sh*t out of him like he deserves, but you know that would be a mistake."

With any luck, the offensive party will respond with a profanity, and you can then ask the floor to give them a 20 minute timeout.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)