Don’t slow roll or angle shoot, and please tip your dealer. There you go, that’s the whole gist of poker etiquette. Alright, that’s not true as there is far more to it that we’re going to discuss below.

You’ve probably heard poker players refer to something being “poor etiquette” at the poker table once or a million times. Perhaps the comment was made by someone who felt another player acted in a classless manner.

As you read this article and learn about standard definitions of poker etiquette, please understand that this isn’t a rule book, nor are we claiming to be poker’s moral police. We’re merely providing examples of what most within the poker community would consider to be proper.

With that out of the way, let’s get started.

Poker Dealer Tipping 101

In some countries, tipping can be considered an insult. In others, it’s not only expected but workers sometimes depend on them. Similarly, in some industries a tip will be met with an appreciative, yet confused look, while in other areas of society tipping helps to sustain the working ecosystem. So, what is the tipping situation in poker and how much should you tip dealers?

Should You Tip in Poker?

Yes, typically you should tip in poker. Poker dealers are similar to servers and bartenders in that they rely more on tips from customers than the low-wage salary their employer pays, at least in the United States and some other countries. In nations such as the US where businesses can get away with paying service industry workers a mediocre hourly rate, it’s imperative that you tip your dealer in cash games, and also when you cash in a tournament.

Understandably, there are those who are none too thrilled to tip a dealer, especially pros who realize that the more they tip, the less they will profit from a session. But without dealers, you won’t have anywhere to play. And if you don’t tip, dealers will continue to find different occupations that pay the bills.

So, tip generously, but that doesn’t mean you have to hand over your entire stack to a dealer. There is no rule on how much to tip, but standard poker etiquette would say tip at least $1 per pot you win, and more for big pots.

While we’re on the subject of poker dealers, treat them with respect. It’s not the dealer’s fault the donkey in Seat 9 hit a gutter ball on the river to crack your two-pair. You shouldn’t have limp three-bet under the gun with six-five off-suit in the first place.

Be good to dealers. If they make a mistake, let them know in a polite manner, or ask them to call the floor manager over to correct the problem. Dealers are as important to the success of this game as anyone, so take good care of them so we don’t scare all the good ones away.

How Much Should You Tip a Dealer?

Slow Rolling and Angle Shooting

Most poker players believe that slow-rolling an opponent is uncalled for, or even classless. If you’re doing it to a friend or someone you know won’t take offense to the slow roll, by all means, go for it. Otherwise, it’s probably best to just turn your cards over at showdown when you know you have the best hand. But what exactly is angle shooting, what is slow rolling, and why are they so frowned upon in poker?

What is Angle Shooting in Poker?

Angle shooting is, more or less, a legal way of obtaining information from an opponent in a scummy manner. Those who angle-shoot are frowned upon in the poker community. Just ask Alec Torelli, a fairly prominent poker player back in 2017 before being called out by Doug Polk on his YouTube channel for allegedly angle-shooting during a Poker Night in America stream.

Torelli’s reputation took a severe hit because of the Polk video. There are many ways to angle-shoot, all of which are major no-nos in poker. One example of a common angle shoot is to begin to make a calling motion when facing a bet but then pull your chips back before they cross the betting line. The purpose of that type of move is to gain information from the opponent about the strength of their hand.

“Slow rolling in poker is intentionally taking longer than needed to make an action in poker where, realistically, there is no other choice to be made.”

Is Angle Shooting Allowed in Poker – Is It Bad to Angle Shoot?

Angle shooting is allowed in poker, although it is considered bad to do so and some card rooms could issue a penalty, especially in a tournament, and your table mates will criticize you for making that move. Another type of angle shoot, and this is what Torelli was alleged to have done, is to intentionally hide the large denomination chips in your stack so that your opponent can’t see them and is under the impression your stack is shorter than it really is.

What is Slow Rolling in Poker?

Slow rolling in poker is intentionally taking longer than needed to make an action in poker where, realistically, there is no other choice to be made. For instance, if you have the nuts and are calling an all in, this action should be instant. You cannot lose the hand and if there’s nobody behind you, tanking brings no benefit whatsoever.

Is Slow Rolling Allowed in Poker – Is It Bad to Slow Roll?

Yes, slow rolling is allowed in poker, however, it is bad to do so and you should not do it at the table. Most poker players believe that slow-rolling an opponent is uncalled for, or even classless. If you’re doing it to a friend or someone you know won’t take offense to the slow roll, by all means go for it. Otherwise, it’s probably best to just turn your cards over at showdown when you know you have the best hand. Here’s a classic example of a Shaun Deeb slow-roll of Mike Matusow that you shouldn’t copy.

While everyone loves Deeb — okay, maybe not everyone — he may not be the prime example of poker etiquette. That’s not to say the perennial World Series of Poker (WSOP) Player of the Year contender isn’t a good dude or lacks morals. Far from it. But his penchant for slow rolling his opponents is frowned upon by many within the poker community.

Table Talk: What You Can and Can’t Say at the Poker Table

Despite the odd table where everyone has their hoods up, sunglasses on, and headphones firmly in their ears, there’s usually a bit of conversation at the poker table. But what is okay to talk about, when is it not okay to talk, and are there any things you definitely should not say?

Avoid Controversial Topics

There’s a time and a place for any type of conversation, but some are best kept away from the poker table. Take, for example, politics. Most people have strong political beliefs, but the fact of the matter is hardly anyone has even the slightest ability to be objective on this topic.

Conversation at the poker table should remain civil, and that’s difficult to accomplish when politics come up given that these days most people live in echo chambers and cannot control their emotions when someone else has the audacity to have different political views.

No one wants to listen to a couple of biased political know-it-alls having a pointless heated discussion while trying to enjoy a game of poker, especially considering we all know these debates never lead to anyone involved changing their minds.

“Not only is it a poor strategy to encourage other players to play better, but it’s also just plain rude. You play your game, they can play their game.”

Berating Opponents and Using Abusive Language

Sparking political debate is far from the only way to show poor etiquette at the poker table. Another way to disgrace the game is by berating opponents. Going even further, criticizing the play of another player when you weren’t even in the hand is just bad form.

Not only is it a poor strategy to encourage other players to play better, but it’s also just plain rude. You play your game, they can play their game. If you lose a pot to an opponent who simply got lucky and played the hand poorly, why complain about it? You should want your opponents to play like donkeys because you’ll make money in the long run.

Plus, there’s just no need for that type of behavior at the table (sorry, Phil Hellmuth). If you need an example of the type of professionalism you should mimic at the poker table, start with Phil Ivey, Phil Galfond, Chance Kornuth, Maria Ho, and many others who never berate players even following a brutal bad beat.

You don’t have to become BFFs with your table mates. In fact, you don’t even have to like them, but there’s simply no need for taunting, insulting, and berating other players.

Tanking and Acting Out of Turn

Tanking isn’t black and white when it comes to poker etiquette – some spots are more suitable than others to tank. On the other hand, acting out of turn is never okay when done intentionally. Here’s what tanking is in poker, what acting out of turn is and when it’s okay to do so.

What is Tanking?

Tanking is the act of taking a long time to make a decision at the table. For instance, let’s say you make a set on the river, but there’s also a four-card straight out there as well. If the pot is already a big one, your river decision of whether to raise for value, raise as a bluff or just check and hope it goes to showdown is a tough one. So, although tanking often carries a certain stigma with it, it’s sometimes perfectly reasonable to take a while to make a decision if the spot you find yourself in is particularly difficult.

“Most recreational players are put off by pros who take forever and a day to act.”

Is Tanking Allowed in Poker?

Tanking is allowed in poker, as it’s entirely subjective in most spots as to how long a player should take to act. So, how long should you take to act? That all depends on the situation. There are certain instances in which tanking is perfectly acceptable. Take, for example, facing a huge all-in shove with a big but beatable hand. In that spot, you have every right to pause for a while to make a decision.

However, unless a shot clock is in place, there technically is no set rule for how long a player has to act when facing a decision. But most recreational players are put off by pros who take forever and a day to act.

Tanking is a problem in poker because it makes the game less enjoyable for casual players. Scaring off recreational fans is about the worst thing that could possibly happen to the poker ecosystem.

But if you’re under the gun with seven-deuce preflop, just throw your cards in the muck. Don’t sit there twiddling your thumbs for 30 seconds before doing the inevitable — folding. There isn’t a set amount of time to act that is right, so use your best judgment. It’s okay to pause for a brief moment before making a call or raising so as to not give off any tells. Just don’t make everyone wait all afternoon when you already know what you’re going to do.

That said, calling the clock on a player facing a difficult decision in a huge spot is also poor etiquette. You should only call the clock on habitual tankers who are wasting everyone’s time.

Christoph Vogelsang Ripped for Tanking

What is Acting Out of Turn?

Acting out of turn means making a decision in a hand before it is your time to act. For instance, if you look down to see the dreaded 27 off-suit, you know you’re going to fold, but you still need to wait until the action gets around to you to do so. Players who act quickly are appreciated in poker but it is poor etiquette to fold, call, or raise before action is on you. That’s because doing so can give another player an unfair advantage.

“Do unto others as you would like them to do to you, or something like that.”

For example, let’s say a player with the nuts bets out on the river in a three-way pot. Action is on the player in middle position who is pondering a call with a marginal hand. Before making a decision, the third player announces “call,” which convinces the middle position player to fold assuming their hand can’t beat two other hands.

In this situation, the player with the nuts would rightfully be upset given they lost out on some money. You’d hate if this happened to you, so don’t do it to someone else. Do unto others as you would like them to do to you, or something like that.

A Few More Poker Etiquette Tips

Personal Hygiene

This goes without saying, but sadly many don’t seem to follow this poker etiquette rule: Please take a shower before you arrive at the poker room. No one wants to sit next to a sweaty mess who smells like they haven’t showered since the Bush administration.

Pay Attention

Another tip is to avoid slowing down the game by failing to pay attention to what’s going on. This goes beyond just tanking. Some players don’t intentionally take forever to act. They’re busy watching the ballgame on TV or chatting it up with another player and don’t realize when action is on them. Doing so slows down the game and frustrates everyone else at the table.

Eating at the Table

One last piece of advice on the poker etiquette topic is to, at the very least, wipe your hands before touching the cards and chips if you’re eating at the table. Many players will eat while playing, although some don’t like it. If you do eat during a poker game, especially if you’re stuffing your face with a greasy burger or some saucy chicken wings, have plenty of napkins handy.

So, there you have it — a complete guide to poker etiquette. You’ll be a delight to play with if you follow the above rules.

Poker emerged from COVID in 2022 in a big way and players all over the world were treated with a return to big tournaments and large prize pools.

The WSOP debuted to huge crowds and the mid-major tours grew with stops at new venues all over the country. Meanwhile, in Europe, the PokerStars European Poker Tour drew big fields throughout the world, including a new stop in London and a record-setting turnout in Prague.

All signs point to 2023 being even bigger for poker, but before we look ahead to what might come, let’s review a few of the predictions that PokerNews had for 2022:

Prediction #1: Jungleman Goes Back-to-Back at the Poker Player’s Championship

This one was easy to see coming, and it has everything to do with who Dan “Jungleman” Cates is and how he carries himself.

Over the years, the Poker Player’s Championship has gained a reputation among poker’s most talented and notable professionals as one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world. It’s the ultimate test of skill against the toughest field in poker in several different variants. For these reasons, winning the PPC is a big deal to poker’s top pros.

The pressures of the PPC are different than that of the Main Event and other big tournaments at the WSOP. It’s the one shot all year to gain the adulation of a tough group of peers, and most of the top professionals very badly want to win it. So badly, in fact, that the pressure can sometimes lead to mistakes that top players might not usually make.

Jungleman is immune to the pressures of the PPC and he is able to create a situation where the entire tournament is played on his terms. He sets the tone for the other players, as well as for the rail that inevitably starts to gather as the tournament gets down to the end. While his opponents have to focus harder to use all of their brain’s bandwidth in a chaotic room, Jungleman is entirely relaxed in an environment of his own making. It’s a big advantage.

I can’t say for certain that Jungleman will win his third PPC in a row. He may not even show up. But if he does, he will remain the favorite to win a tournament with that much at stake.

Prediction #2: Bally’s and Paris Will Rise to the Occasion

The 2022 WSOP was a hit. Admittedly, most of the evidence is anecdotal, but it’s hard to find any serious gripes about the new WSOP venue. The reaction to the new space was positive from both professional and recreational players, and while there is plenty of room to improve, the WSOP quickly found its form in its new home on the Strip.

Prediction #3: The RunGood Continues

Another easy prediction with the RunGood Poker Series taking a serious eye towards growth in 2022. The mid-major had a bumper year with new stops all over the country and the tour’s first six-figure first prize at its late-Summer stop in the Bay Area. The Bay Area event was the first at Graton Casino and they’re already planning a return for RGPS Checkpoint in Late February.

The tour officially wrapped up with the $2,500 Season Finale, where Brett Murray outlasted a field of 417 to win the top prize of $172,835. RGPS also made a postseason stop in Las Vegas, where Survivor champion Rob Mariano won his second ring of the season in the RGPS ProAM.

Prediction #4: Ali Imsirovic will win a bracelet, WSOP Player of the Year, and 2022 PokerGO Tour Player of the Year

You can’t predict them all.

Prediction #5: Brazil Wins the WSOP Main Event

While the 2022 Main Event champion (Espen Jorstad) ended up coming from Norway, the Brazilians still made their presence known throughout the WSOP. Pedro Bromfman and João Simão won bracelets, in the $10,000 2-7 Lowball Championship and the $5,000 Mixed Hold’Em event, respectively, and three players from the country finished in second during the 2022 series: Fabiano Kovalski in the $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty, André Akkari in the $2,500 Nine Game Mix, and Yuri Dzivielevski in the Poker Player’s Championship. Simão and Dzivielevski also finished in the top 15 on the Player of the Year Leaderboard.

I don’t think it will be long before this prediction comes true.

Overall, PokerNews made a few forward-thing guesses and one really bad one. Stay tuned for a look ahead to 2023.

Long before the Stones Gambling Hall controversy where Mike Postle was accused in 2019 of cheating on live-streamed cash games, there was Ultimate Bet, Russ Hamilton and a multi-year scandal that left thousands of players cheated out of more than $50 million.

The cheating scandal, where Hamilton and other insiders used a “god mode” feature to view the hole cards of opponents, recently received new attention when a key player in the scandal, attorney Daniel Friedberg, was revealed to be an executive at the crypto trading platform FTX at the center of what US authorities are calling “one of the biggest financial frauds in US history.”

As the FTX debacle plays out, here’s a look back at the biggest online poker cheating scandal of all time.

Read all about the 2011 Full Tilt Poker scandal

The Beginnings of AP and UB

The story of Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker begins with ieLogic, a software company founded by Greg Pierson and Jon Karl that would design the software used by the disgraced poker sites.

Ultimate Bet came first in March 2001 and was licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission in Canada. Absolute Poker followed in 2003 and the two sites made up the Cereus Poker Network. Hamilton, the winner of the 1994 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event who you’ll be reading plenty about in this article, was brought on as a consultant for Ultimate Bet.

While PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker (which had its own scandal around the same time period) dominated the online poker market in the mid-2000s, plenty of volume was being put in on Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet, which ran various mixed games and was one of the only sites that offered high-stakes cash games.

Something else Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet had was name recognition. A number of big-name ambassadors served as the faces of the two sites, including Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke.

“POTRIPPER” Brings Down AP

In 2007, players began posting on poker forums like Two Plus Two alleging that they had been cheated on Absolute Poker and reporting suspicious behavior by a small number of accounts. That suspicious behavior included phenomenally high win rates and seemingly perfect play in every spot, leading players to believe their opponents had knowledge of their holdings through a super-user “God Mode.”

Most of the suspicion centered around the account “POTRIPPER,” which took down a $100,000 guaranteed $1,000 buy-in tournament in September 2007 despite only having previously entered three low-stakes tournaments on the site. In the final hand against Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson, “POTRIPPER” called an all in bet with just ten high to win the tournament and $30,000.

Other players came forward with suspicious hands that “POTRIPPER” had played throughout the tournament and Johnson requested a hand history for the final table. Instead, Absolute Poker accidentally sent him a spreadsheet of actions at all tables from the first two hours of the tournament, which Johnson sent to other forum members.

As veteran poker journalist Haley Hintze, who spent years investigating the superuser scandal, reported for PokerNews in October 2007: “The first 90-plus hands of POTRIPPER’s tourney were included in the spreadsheet. As skilled poker players sorted and decoded the history of the hands, another pattern of consistently unusual play emerged that at least demonstrated the need for further examination. The online site PokerXFactor even created a playback file containing almost all of the hands recorded for POTRIPPER during the event, including the final table, which was added in from other sources.”

Though Absolute Bet initially denied the cheating allegations, the site later confirmed it “was the victim of a breach of security in which a high-ranking consultant to the site devised a sophisticated scheme to manipulate internal systems and access third-party computers and accounts to view the hole cards of other customers during play and without their knowledge, resulting in unfair play.”

In November 2007, Absolute Poker announced that an internal audit identified seven accounts — POTRIPPER, Graycat, Steamroller, Doubledrag, Payup, Supercard55 and Romnaldo — that had cheated during a 40-day period beginning in August 2007. The site said there was “no evidence of the current or past existence of a ‘super-user’ account” but agreed to refund $1.6 million to cheated players.

The “POTRIPPER” account was eventually traced to the site’s corporate offices in Costa Rica and was thought to have belonged to Absolute Poker Director of Operations AJ Green.

“A sophisticated scheme to manipulate internal systems and access third-party computers and accounts to view the hole cards of other customers.”

An audit by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission later confirmed what many online poker players strongly suspected: that the cheating was conducted by Absolute Poker insiders who had access to opponents’ hole cards through a God Mode. As a result of the audit’s findings, Absolute Poker was given a $500,000 fine and put on a two-year “probationary” period where it would be subject to increased supervision by the commission.

But that number pales in comparison to the eight-figure sum that the site’s founders would later admit players were cheated out of on the two poker sites.

Ultimate Bet Scandal

Insider Cheating Revealed

The cheating identified on Absolute Poker was just the beginning of the Cereus Poker Network’s troubles. In the wake of the “POTRIPPER” controversy, more players came forward on forums with suspicions of unfair play on Ultimate Bet, specifically in regards to the account “NioNio,” which players identified as having results far beyond statistical norms.

In May 2008, Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG, proprietors of Ultimate Bet, announced that an internal investigation found that unfair play did occur on the site from March 2006 to December 2007 with six accounts and 18 screen names being involved, among them “NioNio,” “Sleepless,” “NoPaddles,” and “flatbroke33.”

Here’s what PokerNews reported at the time: “The fraudulent activity was traced to unauthorized software code that transferred hole-card information of other players at the tables to the perpetrators’ accounts during live play … Tokwiro identified the unauthorized software code as being part of a ‘legacy auditing system that was manipulated by the perpetrators,’ referring to the fact that the hidden software was in place within the system prior to Tokwiro’s 2006 purchase of the site.”

“The fraudulent activity was traced to unauthorized software code that transferred hole-card information …”

As hundreds of players sorted out whether they had been cheated, Ultimate Bet’s biggest ambassadors kept promoting the site. Duke, a long associate of Ultimate Bet the sister of Howard Lederer of Full Tilt Poker notoriety, continued to rep the brand at live events and defended the company in the months after the cheating was discovered.

Hamilton Named Primary Offender

There’s a reason Russ Hamilton is the only Main Event winner who doesn’t have a banner hanging in the hallway or tournament area during the WSOP. In the years following the insider cheating on Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker, it was revealed that Hamilton was the primary offender and personally cheated his fellow poker players out of tens of millions.

Investigative findings released by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission in September 2009 revealed 117 user names held by 23 accounts that were involved in cheating. The investigation found that “the vast majority of the computer devices and IP addresses used by the cheating accounts were directly associated with Russell Hamilton” and “the vast majority of the cheating accounts transferred money through Russell Hamilton’s player accounts.”

While the report focused on the Main Event champion, it also noted that 31 other individuals were involved (the names of those individuals were not publicized), revealing a much wider scope of cheating that went back to June 2003.

In its final decision, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission issued Ultimate Bet a $1.5 million fine and ordered the reimbursement of $22 million to affected players.

Travis Makar, Daniel Friedberg & the Cover-Up

Things slowed down a bit in the Ultimate Bet scandal as millions in refunds went out to thousands of cheated players in various batches. Hellmuth and Duke parted ways with the poker brand that they were the faces of for several years in December 2010 and both Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker shut down during poker’s Black Friday in April 2011, leaving many players to wonder if they would ever see their money again.

A few months earlier, Travis Makar, an assistant of Hamilton who owned several accounts used in the superuser scheme, came forward claiming that more people had been involved in than just Hamilton and that the money refunded was nowhere near the amount stolen.

In May 2013, Makar leaked a secretly recorded three-hour conversation between himself, Pierson, Hamilton and others revealing that they had plotted to cover up the scandal.

In the audio conversation, which Makar leaked in an attempt to salvage his reputation, the executives discussed the God Mode software and Hamilton flat-out admitted to cheating players out of between $16 and $18 million: “I did take this money, and I’m not trying to make it right.”

The leaked conversation also brought out new information about Duke, who Hamilton can be heard on tape saying was aware of the God Mode software and used it herself on a 15-minute delay (Duke subsequently released a statement denying any involvement).

While the full amount of money stolen may never be known, it is estimated that Hamilton and other superusers cheated thousands of players out of more than $50 million over several years.

Someone else who took part in the leaked conversation and was an integral part of the cover-up ploy was Daniel Friedberg, an Ultimate Bet attorney who would resurface as a player in the FTX scandal nearly a decade later.

The Aftermath: FTX Controversy

In the years following the audio leak, nearly everyone associated with Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker quietly faded from public life and the poker world, including Hamilton, who has never spoken publicly about the scandal. “I kept quiet and I didn’t say a word and I’m still not saying a word,” Hamilton recently told NBC News.

Duke managed to leave poker behind to pursue a career as a psychology writer and recently released Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away, an ironic billing given how long she had stayed loyal to Ultimate Bet. But Duke has been unable to fully shake the scandal and poker players are quick to remind the decision-making expert’s collaborators about her checkered past at any opportunity.

Another figure who has been unable to shake the scandal is Friedberg, who went on to serve as the chief regulatory officer of FTX, a crypto trading platform that recently had its own scandal that saw crypto traders, including some poker players, lose millions.

Following the FTX collapse, which was brought on by a liquidity crisis due to FTX’s intertwined finances with Alameda Research, PokerNews and other media outlets noted Friedberg’s connection to the Ultimate Bet scandal and many social media users questioned how such a controversial figure landed an executive role with the crypto trading platform.

A subsequent NBC News report on Friedman noted that “it may be difficult to determine what Friedberg’s potential involvement was in the FTX debacle or what he actually did there” and that “some people who worked at FTX or did business with it told NBC News they’d never encountered Friedberg.”

In December, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas after federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against the 30-year-old for wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering, according to CNN.

While more information about Friedberg will likely emerge as federal investigators look into the FTX controversy, his role in the Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker scandal more than a decade prior may serve as a decent starting point for understanding the crypto platform’s abrupt and unexpected collapse.