Be Nice

by Mike O Malley | Published: May 12, 2004

My mother once told me, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

Not too long ago, I walked into Bellagio to play some poker. I usually don't play poker in Las Vegas because there just isn't the game selection I am looking for there. On this particular trip, I was visiting friends and ended up with some time to spare, so I thought I would either burn off or accumulate a few racks of chips.

When I first arrived, there was a shorthanded $20-$40 Omaha eight-or-better game going. I put my name on the list for some hold'em games and took a seat in the Omaha game. After playing for a few minutes, a new dealer sat down and requested the collection from all of the players. One of the players who had been in the game for a while told the dealer I was a new player and the dealer did not ask me for a collection. This is a fairly common practice in collection games, to allow a new player a free pass on his collection if there is no list for the game. I like this rule and think it helps bring new players into short games when they might otherwise wait for the collection to be taken before taking a seat.

After playing in the Omaha game for an hour (and playing a few collections), I was called for a $30-$60 hold'em game. I racked up my chips and moved to the hold'em game. Apparently, I had been the only name on the list, because when I sat down in the game, there was another open seat. I posted my blind and played for about 15 minutes before a new dealer arrived. In that 15 minutes time, a few things happened: A new player walked in and took the other empty seat, and I ran over the game, winning $800. When the new dealer requested the collection, I asked him if he could find out if there was a list for the game, thinking that if there wasn't, I wouldn't have to pay the collection. After all, that is exactly what had happened in the Omaha game just over an hour earlier. Before the dealer was able to answer my question, the gentleman sitting to my right asked me, "Why would it matter if there is a list or not?" Sensing that he didn't understand what I had thought the rule was, I explained to him that if there was no list for a game, a new player wasn't required to pay the collection. His reaction was anything but nice. He started laughing, and in a mocking fashion said to the other players in the game, "This new guy doesn't think he has to pay the collection after winning $800." Obviously, he was agitated that I had beat him out of a few chips. I immediately told him that it didn't matter how much I had won or lost; if the rule dictated that I didn't have to pay, I wasn't going to.

By this time, I was aware that maybe this wasn't the rule, because this particular "regular" advised me that I must be smoking something and everyone pays the collection. Not wanting to cause a scene, I paid the collection and continued to play. The regular continued the conversation by explaining to me that every poker room has the same rule, and that everyone pays the collection every time a dealer sits down. Obviously, this is not the case, but I wasn't about to educate him.

This player's confrontational manner made me feel uneasy, and I left the game after only one hour. Had I felt comfortable, I probably would have stayed in the game all night. I took my $1,200 win and left.

The moral of the story is this: Be nice to players who don't know the rules. Try to explain a rule that might be different from the one where the new player plays. There are so many variations of rules being used in poker rooms today that it is hard for even a regular player such as myself to know them all. Running off new players is not a good idea for any game, no matter how well they play.