The other day, I found myself in a hand heads up with a new player that just sat down at the table. He was the only caller to my pre-flop raise.

I have no idea what was on the flop. I never looked at the board. I watched my opponent the whole time.

I have no idea what my hole cards were, either. It felt like everyone was weak and I wanted to take down the small pot from half dozen limpers.

On the flop, I was first to act. I reach for chips and say to my opponent, “Did you check?”

He eyes me the whole time and says, “Yeah, I check.”

I toss out $25.

“You can’t do that Sammy,” the dealer tells me.

“He checked,” I reply.

“You are first to act.”

“Oh. I thought the button was … ok. I guess I check.”

I bet the turn and my opponent folded.

It was a twist on the act out of turn to gain information – only in reverse.

Dealers are in the service industry, which means they do not get paid much relative to the responsibilities they have.

When a dealer sits down at your table for their half hour shift, they are responsible for the money in their tray, your money on the table, and for managing the game.

Dealers are obligated by state law to enforce the rules of the game and those of the casino.

They have to do all this with the expectation that 30 – 45 hands per hour will be dealt with no mistakes.

The last thing a dealer needs to deal with is an obnoxious drunk asshole.

In one of the casinos I play at, they have a rule: no F-bombs at the table.

Even though I frequently say “fuck” in normal conversation, I respect the rule.

But, the other night, some drunk dumb fuck young gun just could not help himself.

We had a female dealer at the table and floor management was standing nearby – within earshot of the table.

The kid ends up donking off all his chips on two consecutive hands.

After four or five warnings about his language, he stands up and says, “Fuck you you motherfuckin’ bitch.”

Really? Are you that big of a jerk?

How do you expect the dealer to respond?

Like the dealer has any control over what cards come out and how you play.

What? You think the dealer – male or female – is going to stand up and square off with you? They will lose their job and maybe their license to deal.

Like me, they are there for the money.

Floor management should have come over and 86ed this moron.

He did not.

The dealer is a friend of mine, so it gets put on me.

How I get myself into these situations, I don’t know. But, I too stood up and tried to firmly explain she was doing her job and he was out of line.

Fully expecting to show this boy how we fix this in Detroit, he says, “Yeah? Then let’s go heads-up freezeout for a thousand!”

“What? You have not lost enough money already? Go home to mommy,” was my response.

The table laughs and the kid leaves.

I still feel bad for the dealer. Some take this stuff to heart.

They are just doing their jobs.

The House Rules are posted in plain view.

Read them before you play in a card room for the first time. It will save you money and heartache.

This week alone, I saw four blunders that cost each player involved their hard earned money.

Rules vary from casino to casino. What is acceptable in one is forbidden in another.

Here is what happened this week:

Monday

A player is first to act in three-way action. He bets $100 after the flop and shows one card.

The dealer scoops the $100 into the pot and mucks the player’s hand.

The remaining two players did not have to act on the bet.

The rule is, to avoid collusion, cards cannot be exposed in multi-way action.

When you do this, you just declared your hand dead.

Tuesday

A player sitting across from the dealer did not protect his cards by placing a chip on top.

One of the first rules in any card room is it is the PLAYER’S RESPONSIBILITY to PROTECT their hand at ALL times.

Long story short, this player did not protect his hand, and after investing $300 in a hand by the turn, the dealer thought he was folding on the river and took his cards. Once they hit the muck, it is a dead hand.

He claims to of had A-A, which would have been the winning hand.

Instead of taking a $1000 pot home, he took the bus home.

Wednesday

This scenario happened twice on this day: A player checks the winning hand on the river, declares what he has, and I show the losing hand.

The player then mucks his hand and waits for the pot.

Since he mucked and I showed, I win the pot.

Hee haw.

Thursday

A player was on his cell phone when the cards came out.

The dealer warned him twice to get off the phone.

This player had A-A and ignored the dealer.

The dealer waited a good 30 seconds to deal the flop.

Floor management happened to be standing at the table.

The dealer had no choice but to warn the player a third time and deal the flop.

Once the flop hit, the player bet $100.

Instead of getting off his phone, he got off the hand.

The dealer grabbed his cards and mucked them.

The cards and the money were gone in a flash.

Know the rules.

The most frequent version is when someone does not announce raise or the bet amount, but silently pushes chips in with two or more motions.

When this happens, either the first stack of chips or a minimum bet is all that gets in the pot.

The other style of string bet is when someone says “I see your bet and raise you”. You hear this in the movies and see it in home games all the time.

Hell, I saw it twice within 10 minutes at the casino recently. Here is what happened:

Some ex-military guy says “I call your bet and raise you $100.” I was not in the hand and the dealer let it go. After the hand, I told the dealer that was a verbal string bet. He agreed in retrospect.

Two hands later we have a new dealer. I flop quad 4s with one person behind me. He is also an ex-military guy. Long story short, we get down to the river and my opponent made his hand: nut flush.

I bet and he says “I call your bet and raise you all-in.”

Before I could say “call”, the dealer tells him it was a string bet.

That cost me a bunch of money.

In a casino cash game, poker players need to speak before they act physically. The only words to be spoken are “call”, “raise”, and “fold”. If you are betting or raising, declare the amount before acting.