Acting out of turn is a huge no-no that most novices don’t seem to think is that big of a deal. New players will often use the line, “I already know what I’m doing. It doesn’t matter what he does.” While that is true, what they don’t seem to understand is that what they do, could very easily affect what the next player/s do.
I would like to share with you some of the ways that players can change the outcome of a hand, without ever being directly involved.
Consider the following scenario: $4-8 Holdem, the Flop is K-K-2, a man named Dave yells out that he threw away a K-2. It may suck for Dave but the players remaining in the hand know that Michael (he’s already bet) is probably trying to steal the pot because the board cards are already out of play. The next player to act has now received information…his pocket pair of sixes are probably good. Dave’s need to tell everyone about his bad luck has not only cost Michael an extra bet, but possibly the pot.
While you are at the table, if you must tell everyone what you threw away, just wait until the hand is over. Discussing a hand in progress or what the possibilities are on the board, can affect the outcome of a hand – it may cost the winner a bet they would normally receive if you hadn’t mentioned that a seven would make a straight, etc.
At almost any No Limit Holdem game I deal/play in, I see the same mistake made by new players in the game.
A player named Jennifer says, “I raise” and immediately the players behind her start folding. Their thinking is that since Jennifer is going to raise - it is their turn and they fold. However, in No Limit Holdem, the amount of a raise varies. In a 4-8 game, if the bet is $4 and someone says raise, the rest of the players know that the bet will be $8 and they can act accordingly. No limit is not that simple and betting a variable amount is a key part of the game. In the example above, Jennifer knows what the players behind her are going to do and she can adjust the amount of her raise accordingly. A player who might have acted before Jennifer said, “Raise,” may now be put to a different test than they might have other wise faced if everyone behind Jennifer waited for her to complete her action.
Another example of failure to protect the other players in a hand is folding when you are not facing a bet and there are still players left to act. A perfect illustration: You are involved in a five-way action pot and you check. The next player checks and the following two players both fold. The button bets. You are stuck – does the button have a hand or are they just trying to pick up the pot? The button has information that you didn’t have when you checked.
While it is true that a player may fold if they want to, proper etiquette dictates that everyone at the table should receive the same information. Looking at it another way - if the first player to act folds, or if the button folds when checked to, that would be fine because everyone has the same amount of information. Except in three-way action, if the first player folds, they are forcing one of the two remaining players to possibly face a bet they might not have to face if the first player had simply checked and held his/her hand.
When at the poker table, you always have to remember that everything you do affects what everyone else will do. If one of your actions gives one player at the table information that another player didn’t get, you have failed in your job of protecting the other players in the game. After all, wouldn’t you want them to protect you?