To Fiddle or Not, That is the Question

I am on the road so much that I rarely get to watch TV in the comfort of my own home. I have Tivo, which is the stone-cold nuts. For the 17 of you who don't know what that is, it is a 21st-century VCR thing that uses no tape, requires no entering of a zillion things to record, and has this all on a hard drive. This, among other things, allows you to watch a TV show live, answer the phone, and come back to the TV without missing a moment of it. The dang thing automatically records anything you are watching! That's right, it records what you are watching, so if you get called away unexpectedly, you can come right back and not miss a beat. With the plethora of shows on now about poker, this is great. How many times have you been watching a big hand when the phone rings, the kid cries, the dog barks, or nature calls? Anyway, I think Tivo was made with some premonition of the poker surge that was to come. I can simply program to record all shows that involve poker. You can imagine how many hours of poker I have recorded that I will never find the time to watch. Luckily, my recording unit holds more than 80 hours!

That said, I am getting more and more mail from new players who are entering the foray of live-action poker only because of their "experience" watching it on the tube. I get questions that many of you would think are obvious, but for enthusiasts who have never been in a casino, much less a cardroom, they are very real dilemmas. Recently, I got this letter.

Dear Jan,

My name is Jared, and I am a young poker student. As I approach 21 years of age and prepare to enter my first cardroom to test my mettle, I wonder about cardroom etiquette. In particular, I want to ask you about the standard regarding those chip tricks that the ESPN coverage of the World Series of Poker glorifies. I also have seen it on the World Poker Tour, FOX, and all of the other networks.

I know only one, for I believe my time is more wisely spent reading about the game than learning tricks. At any rate, I've gotten into the habit of riffling my chips in my home game, and I would like to ask you about the proper time and place to go about my routine in a cardroom.

Is it an annoyance to riffle my chips constantly, or do many people engage in this kind of thing all the time? Is it courteous only when I'm actually involved in a pot? I would really like to avoid looking like a fool on my first trip.

Any advice you could offer would be a comfort to me.

Thanks in advance,

Jared

Antonio Esfandiari showing a chip trick.

Good question, Jared, and I applaud your maturity for asking what is appropriate versus what might be annoying. Many players today don't seem to care, and are concerned only with looking cool in their dark glasses! There are lots of "chip tricks," and I am guilty of doing many of them myself. I use the word guilty only in terms of what I consider to be a bad habit of fidgeting at the table, rather than being annoying. Riffling chips, doing the thumb or knuckle roll, or any of the various other chip maneuvers is bothersome to your neighbors only when you end up splashing chips all over the table, or into the pot or another's stack. It is not considered bad etiquette to do chip tricks in general, and the player who finds it bothersome is in the minority and really should chill, in my opinion. Historically, players have played with their chips, either consciously or not, and have lived to tell about it.

Most players have some sort of shtick that they do, and the fact that Jared made the effort to ask ahead of time leads me to believe that he is a considerate young man who will do fine in a cardroom when he reaches legal age.

There are many things that are annoying at the table, far more so than playing with your chips. Talking constantly, criticizing other players, giving lessons, chewing or snapping gum, rude or crude behavior, poor hygiene, passing blame, and being abusive to others are but some of the anti-social behaviors that still exist far too abundantly. If more players would take the time to find out the do's and don'ts, or just use common courtesy and common sense, the poker world would be a kinder and gentler place. I think we are getting there, but it is taking some time. With more new players this past year than the previous 20, there is still a long way to go. Some of us dinosaurs in the industry need to be sure that we set the proper example so that the new players will have someone to emulate. Class dismissed.

As always, please e-mail me your questions, comments, or column ideas. Also, you can learn about the upcoming WPPC (World Poker Players Conference) by going to www.cardplayercruises.com. The WPPC will consist of a full day of poker seminars on Nov. 6 at Bellagio Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.