|
Good for the Game
A
good game requires a team effort among
dealers and players. I’ve sat in all eleven seats and watched tensions simmer
that could have been easily avoided or quickly calmed. Here are some simple precautions and courtesies that reduce
confusion, spats, and delays. Entering a Game Players: When you join a game, tell the
dealer your intentions: “I’ll come in behind the button,” or “I’ll
come in on the big blind,” or “Deal me in.” You can do this before being
asked, before sitting down, and before buying chips. Dealers: When new players join your game,
do not ask them if they want to wait.
Ask them if they want to play. Split Pots and Side Pots Players: Strange, we play poker for
thousands of hours and freak out when there is a brief delay. Relax.
Do not light bombs; defuse them. Only help the dealer when something is
wrong and no one else is saying what is right. If you must advise during a
discrepant or confusing situation, do not snap at the dealer.
Stay calm and coach. A good
time to speak up is when bedlam breaks out and you know the dealer is doing it right.
Say so, for the team. Dealers:
When everyone screams at you and your face flushes and players have the gall to
stick their mitts into your pot and the next dealer reaches around you to help
and dribbles coffee in your hair . . . When this happens and you are
not confused, do not fight panic with panic.
Stop, sit up straight, and maybe offer some soothing words of confidence.
They’ll get the message. When the
table quiets, resume your task. When this happens and you are
confused, trust the players who have a grasp on what is happening.
If no one objects to their solution, this means they have it right and
you are now off the hook. Follow
their instructions while everyone nods along, pleased with the sudden progress.
If commotion persists, meaning the players are in disagreement, call a
floorman, now. Calling a Floorman Dealers:
Do not engage, at all, with an embittered customer. Do not make rulings, even
when you are certain of what is right. Instead, lighten your load by immediately
shifting the burden to where it belongs, the floor staff. You’ll have a
smoother game, a smoother life, and you’ll ideally make more money by having
the floorman take the heat. Before calling a
floorman,
announce your intention to the table. If
the dispute is minor, ask “Would you like me to call a floorman?”
This is not only courteous, it is often enough to end the quarrel. When
you know a floorman is needed, do not get flustered and shout for one.
Instead, say, “I am going to call the floorman.”
Then shout. Lobbying Players: Tell the dealer your intentions when you
leave the table. We often say,
“deal me in” for our own sake, but we rarely say, “deal me out” for the
sake of others. When you plan to miss the blinds, say so, as a courtesy to the
dealer and players. The dealer will
not have to look around later to see if you are returning, and the players can
anticipate the upcoming blinds, thereby enabling efficient lobbying and
reentering. Buttons Dealers:
Hold buttons and missed blind buttons do serve as effective
reminders of who to deal to but that is not their only purpose. Those buttons
are for the players and floor staff as well.
Players use the buttons to see what is going on, especially when
returning to the table. The floor staff uses the buttons to do their seating job
efficiently. Use your buttons.
The split second is well spent. Players:
When you have a hold button or a
missed-blind button, make sure it is easy to see and then leave it alone. If you
want to save the dealer a long reach by tossing in your button when entering or
reentering a game on the next hand, fine, but wait until after the previous hand
is completed before doing so, especially when you are coming in behind the
dealer-button. Players and dealers:
Do
not move the dealer-button before the end of the previous hand. Leave it be!
Premature button passing causes mix-ups when it gets moved twice.
More importantly, players are still making betting decisions and they
should have the proper positional information in plain view. Players:
Try to imagine a game in which every
player and every dealer was a considerate team player with the common goal of
having a well-run game. See? It’s
not that hard. Dealers, remember that your players are customers. Players,
remember that dealers are people too. Okay
everybody, sing along now with Mary Poppins. Just a spoonful of kindness helps
the button go round.
© 2001 Tommy Angelo
|