Visiting a bricks and mortar casino for the first time
Break your real casino 'virginity' this summer!
WHERE THERE’S MUCK… The online poker explosion has brought about the new phenomenon of internet players who are venturing into a bricks and mortar casino for the first time. If you’re holidaying in Las Vegas this summer and you’ve never been in a physical poker room before there are a few things you really need to know in advance.
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT Let’s suppose during your first live game Lady Luck pays you a most unexpected and potentially profitable visit. You find yourself looking down at a board showing face up cards Jack-Jack-Jack-3-8 and you are holding the fourth Jack and an irrelevant five. It’s the showdown so you flip over your Jack like an excited lottery winner and toss your lousy five face-down into the muck. Well, guess what? You just lost the pot as well as the plot. The moment you muck one of your hole cards, both cards will be deemed by the dealer to be dead, irrespective of the fact you have compiled the highest hand at the showdown. Rule number 1: You MUST show BOTH of your hole cards to the dealer even though you were only utilizing one of them to make your four-of-a-kind (Jacks in this case).
…THERE’S TROUBLE! Similarly, always be sure you have actually lost a hand before you muck your cards in a poker room. Just because an opponent yells out “I’ve made a Full House!” doesn’t mean he has. If you have already tossed your flush into the muck before he flips over his cards to reveal his eyesight wasn’t what it should be or he’s the conman from Hell (He’ll be the latter, claiming he’s the former) you will have lost the game whilst owning the winning hand. Any card under any circumstances contacting the muck is a dead card under any casino rules of engagement. Be warned. Obviously, you are protected from all this stuff when playing safely online so it can come as a nightmare if you’re a bricks and mortar virgin.
INSURANCE COVER Finally, it is advisable to cover your hole cards with a chip at all times during a crowded live ring game. If an opposing player pitches his cards into yours carelessly at any time during a live game your hand is in jeopardy. Unless you are properly protecting your hole cards at all times and another players’ cards contact yours in such a way as to cause possible confusion as to which card belongs to whom both hands are automatically mucked. It happens. Pack all of the above items in your mental luggage and you’ll enjoy your holiday. Good luck.
