Oops … while reading through some Robert\’s Rules (you know, you gotta stay fresh when you haven\’t been tournament directing for a while), I realized I have been regularly violating one of the tenets of basic etiquette:
POKER ETIQUETTE
The following actions are improper, and grounds for warning, suspending, or barring a violator:
Deliberately acting out of turn.
Deliberately splashing chips into the pot.
Agreeing to check a hand out when a third player is all-in.
Reading a hand for another player at the showdown before it has been placed faceup on the table.
Telling anyone to turn a hand faceup at the showdown .
Revealing the contents of a live hand in a multihanded pot before the betting is complete. Do not divulge the contents of a hand during a deal even to someone not in the pot, so you do not leave any possibility of the information being transmitted to an active player.Needlessly stalling the action of a game.
Deliberately discarding hands away from the muck . Cards should be released in a low line of flight, at a moderate rate of speed (not at the dealer\’s hands or chip-rack).
Stacking chips in a manner that interferes with dealing or viewing cards.
Making statements or taking action that could unfairly influence the course of play, whether or not the offender is involved in the pot.
Using a cell phone at the table.
As various home-gamers know (mostly the ones who do the flop one card at a time), I have been regularly berating people for a reluctance to turn up their hands when the rules say they should. My apologies. It may or may not happen again. But really — and maybe one of you recently unemployed poker-room managers can answer this question — if a player makes a bet and gets called … is it inappropriate for another player at the table to request to see the cards of the last bettor? Does it make a difference if they are already headed toward the muck?