Railbirds Etiquette

[ViperHawk]

Etiquette (Manners) at the poker tables is as important as knowing how to play poker itself. You may be a good or even a great player, but if you display poor sportsmanship then your image as a good/great player is destroyed. The other players will give you no respect and hence, will try to knock you out of the game the first chance they get.
If on the other hand, you display a good image and show good sportsmanship, other players will give you the earned respect and you may even find it easier to get that hand you’re bluffing.
I have compiled a short list for online poker etiquette. Feel free to add to the list.

1. No Name Calling: So what if you’re Ad Ah just lost to 7c 2c. (Flop 7d 7s 2h) Accept it, it happens, just remember, it’s poker. Congratulate the winner and move on.
2. Don’t belittle other players and don’t be rude: Some heckling is acceptable if done tastefully. Ask that player “How can you call half your stack with 7c 2c?” Tell him/her you’re going to keep an eye on them. “Maybe I’ll see what you saw in a 7c 2c bet!!” “You sure seem to know what you’re doing!” Don’t over do it.
3. After you’ve lost all your chips, go away from the table. Don’t hang around bothering/heckling other players.
4. If you’re not in the hand, KEEP QUIET! If you mucked 7c 2c preflop and the flop comes 7d 7s 2h, don’t blurt out that you would have had a full house! Everyone will know that it's unlikely that any player still in the hand has the full house, making it hard to bluff and represent that hand.
5. Don’t delay the game. Bet, Call or Fold! If you leave the computer, click to sit out next hand. Don’t make everyone wait for the timer on you to run out. If you do get upset/mad, sit out a couple of hands and cool down. If another player is bothering you and won’t quit after being asked, turn off their chat! You can’t answer what you don’t see. Let them know that you have “blocked” their chat.

Just remember there are a lot of bad players (FISH) online and those that think they can say or do whatever they want.

And Finally: When playing with FISH, don’t tap on the aquarium!! You'll scare the fish!

ViperHawk

[timspade]

Thank you....great advice - i know I have been sucked in and lost my cool a couple times.. Thanks again.

[egotripping]

Originally Posted by ViperHawk

And Finally: When playing with FISH, don’t tap on the aquarium!! You'll scare the fish!

Hah, don't tap on the aquarium.

Brilliant!

[Fizz_Hicks]

I love scareing fish, shouldnt it be dont scare away the fish. now serving fish and their chips lol.

[MinorityRule]

Great list, viper.

Got one to add or at least elaborate on.

Table talk is really poor etiquette. This is kind of an addendum to Viper's #4 I guess. If you ARE in the hand, keep quiet. Obviously, I'm not talking about taunting or using the chatbox to induce a call or fold or whatever, but you shouldn't be discussing how you're going to act before the action gets to you. This is especially important when someone's allin. I like that chat is disabled on some sites when a player is allin (Pokerstars, Paradise Poker) because I can't tell you how many times I've played on FTP and someone's been allin and one of the ppl in the hand says "check it down". Yeah, it's good tournament poker to check down hands when someone's allin unless you have a monster, but to say it while the hand is going on is really underhanded.

Also, when someone's contemplating a big call, a lot of people like to put in their two cents with "Call!" or "Bluff" or even "I bet he has a busted draw". Please please avoid doing this, there's nothing worse than pushing allin and having the whole table deliberate on what your opponent's action should be.

"Live every week like it was shark week."

[kensai]

Originally Posted by ViperHawk

When playing with FISH, don’t tap on the aquarium!! You'll scare the fish!

made my day

good article

[Kaobak]

Nice topic Viper, just hope that all read this and "obey" to it. It would be a really better game.

[TURBO_MJL]

very,very,very,very good advise
now all we need to do is post this on every poker site from here to ten buck too

I hate when people do that. call, iam all in, it drives me nuts

keep putting up good post like this and maybe include this when you register for all nebies like my self.


Michael

[SlowPlay4Play]

When fish have been swimming in the aquarium for a long period of time they get used to the tapping. They don't seem to mind the tapping at all. They just love the water they are swimming in too much to wanna leave.

Hell you can take a hammer to the aquarium and it won't phase most of the fish.

[di5illusion]

I love being an asshole.
It just makes it all the better when you break the donks.