I talk with a lot of home poker game players who want to know about playing in a casino. They want to know what it was like for me the first time I played in a public poker room. They find the experience a bit intimidating and were curious to know how I dealt with my “first time jitters”.
Let me start by saying that the best first step in getting over the anxiety of playing in a casino is to ask questions. Questions, questions and more questions will put you in the right frame of mind to enter a casino poker room for the first time. Why? Because once you arrive you’ll be asking questions right off the bat. So being inquisitive in advance gives you a head start.
Here is an initial list of questions you should be asking as you enter the casino. Some answers are obvious. Some, less so. Make sure you have the answers before you sit down for your first casino poker game.
Where is the poker room?
Silly, I know. But in casinos, poker rooms are usually not located in an obvious and visible place. That’s because they usually don’t make nearly as much money for the casino as the slots, the table games or even the BINGO and KENO lounge. So just because you don’t spot it right away doesn’t mean that the casino you’re in doesn’t have a poker room. Make sure to ask. Now especially, many casinos are starting to spread poker. And with charity, Indian, and riverboat gaming, many freestanding poker rooms are sprouting up all over the place. You might be pleasantly surprised.
What games do you offer?
Nearly every casino that offers poker will spread Hold ‘Em. Find out what else they offer. Some have an Omaha game, an Omaha Hi Lo game, 7-Card Stud, 7-Card Stud Hi Lo, Razz (Stud Low only) even Draw, LoBall, Pineapple and combinations of all of those games are offered in some casinos. Some poker rooms offer certain games only during certain hours. Make sure you know the exact game that is being spread before you sit down. This is especially important if the casino spreads mixed games – that rotate among a few games. I remember waiting for two hours to play in what I thought was a great Pot Limit Hold Em game. I finally got a seat only to find out three hands later that it was a Dealer’s Choice game that had just been changed to Omaha – a game I didn’t know how to play. If you want to avoid looking like the moron I appeared to be – ask first.
What stakes do you spread?
Poker rooms frequently have many different stakes of the same game. Where I play most often, Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut, they spread the following Hold Em games: $2/4, $4/8, $5/10, $10/20 and $20/40. They also ofter No Limit Hold Em with $1/2 blinds, $2/5 blinds, and even one with $10/25 blinds, a $2,500 minimum and no maximum buy-in. They’ve offered $2,000/4,000 mixed game of Hold Em, Stud, Omaha and Stud8. So make sure you know what is offered before you try to pick the game that you think is best for your level of skill and the size of your bankroll.
Are any of the games played with a Kill?
A “kill” means that the limits double when the pot is a certain size and there is a single winner. Typically, for example, the $5/10 Omaha8 (Omaha Hi Lo with an 8 qualifier for low) game at Foxwoods is played with a kill when the pot reaches $100 and there is a single winner. The next hand is played at $10/20. The limit returns to $5/10 unless the next pot is also a single winner with a value of $100. Make sure that you understand which games are “kill” games and how the “kill” is triggered.
Where do you buy chips?
Another question that may seem silly. But it isn’t. In some poker rooms you can buy chips right at the table. Just sit down with your cash and buy your chips from the dealer. In other places you must go to the cashier. Find this out ahead of time. If there’s a wait for a table, it often makes sense to stand in line at the cashier and buy in for a game while you’re waiting to be assigned to a table. It will save you the annoyance of having to wait twice before you can actually play a hand.
Does cash play on the table?
All standard poker room games are played “table stakes”. That means that you may only bet or raise with the chips that you have in front of you when the hand begins. There is no going into your wallet during the play of the hand; nor may you “go light” and make up the amount after the hand is over. In some casinos you can have bills in addition to your chips on the table before the hand begins. These bills can be used to call and raise if you run out of chips. Other poker rooms don’t allow you to use these bills – they “don’t play” in the parlance of the poker room. Find this out ahead of time, before you are in a position where you’d like to raise or call with your cash. Nothing worse than being caught short when you mistakenly thought you could use the cash you had sitting next to your chips.
Do I have to post a blind to get a hand?
Some places deal you a hand as soon as you sit down even if you haven’t posted a blind. Other places require that you put up an amount equal to the Big Blind if you want a hand. If that’s the case then you might as well wait for the Big Blind to come to you before you play your first hand. Find this out first, before you sit down. If you have to post, you can take a few minutes after you get seated to buy your chips, go to the bathroom, etc. while you wait for the Big Blind to come to you. If not, then plan to play as soon as you sit down.
In Stud, what is the maximum initial raise?
In Stud there are limit games and spread limit games. Some spread limit games, like $1-5 for example, allow you to raise the $1 bring-in bet by the maximum amount of $5.00 to $6.00. Other poker rooms limit your initial raise of the bring-in to $5.00. It may seem like a small thing, but it’s important to know this before you attempt to raise the maximum.
What is the maximum number of raises?
In some poker rooms it is three, in others it is four. Know this before you sit down. Similarly, in some rooms there is an unlimited number of raises if only two players remain in a betting round. In other rooms there is an unlimited number of raises only if the betting round began with two players. Though the situation of continued re-raising comes up infrequently, it does come up from time to time. Know what the rules are before you find yourself in a situation where you need the answer.
What is the rake or time charge and how is it taken?
This may be the most important question of them all – as it affects your ability to make money and it faces you on every hand. You need to know when the rake is taken and what the maximum amount is that can be taken from the pot. You need to know if the rake is reduced if the game is shorthanded. Some poker rooms will reduce the rake if there are fewer than six players – others don’t cut the rake unless there are four or fewer players. You need to know if there is a smaller maximum on the rake in a split pot game if the pot is heads up. Some places cut the rake in half in these situations – making the games like Omaha8 and Stud8 more attractive. Different poker rooms have widely different policies. Find out the answers precisely so you can play where it is most advantageous and so you can tailor your game to suit the rake.
Oh, you don’t think the rake matters much to your game? You’re wrong. Consider this example. In one casino the rake is 10% with a $4.00 max. $3.00 is taken out of the blinds/antes and the fourth buck comes out when the pot hits $40.00. Another room has the same % and the same $4.00 max. But their policy is that they don’t rake until the pot hits $10. They then take out $1 for every additional $10 that’s in the pot. Do you think that a thoughtful player might have different ante-stealing strategies for each room?
Similarly, some poker rooms rake their $20/40 game. Other rooms have each player pay $7 per half hour of play – and they don’t touch the pots. This could have a profound effect on your general approach to the game – generally making players more aggressive in the game with the time charge and tighter in the raked game.
Summary: Get the answers to all of these questions and any others you can think of before you play your first hand. That’s what floor people and poker room personnel are for.
Ashley Adams has been playing poker since 1961 when he learned it literally at his grandfather's knee. He started playing seriously in 1993 when Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut opened their poker room. He can usually be found there at the $20/40 stud or the $2/5 no limit hold 'em table.
Ashley has played poker all over the world, winning money in ring games and winning tournaments in Hungary, Austria, England, the Bahamas, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Nevada, California, Washington, British Columbia and the Yukon Territory. He was the most prolific writer of poker articles in 2005, 2006, and 2007 and has written two poker books. His first, Winning 7-card Stud (Kensington, 2003) is available on Amazon.com. His no limit hold 'em book, Winning Low Limit No Limit Hold 'em, is an ebook and most readily available directly from the author for $10.00 at asha34@aol.com.
Ashley also runs charity poker tournaments, teaches poker privately and at the Boston Center for Adult Education, is a frequent guest on radio and television programs (having appeared on WBZ-AM, WHDH Channel 7 TV, WGBH-TV, NECN-TV), and has a regular radio show that can be heard 24/7 on www.houseofcardsradio.com.
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