What is the most important rule of poker etiquette?

Act in turn. Folding, calling or reaching for chips before the players ahead of you have acted hands them free information and can be ruled binding by the dealer. Everything else in live poker etiquette is a variation on the same principle.

What is a string bet?

Putting chips into the pot in two separate motions without announcing your action first. The dealer will count only the first motion, so an intended raise becomes a call. Say raise or all-in out loud before you touch your stack and the problem disappears.

Is slow-rolling against the rules?

It carries no formal penalty in most cardrooms, which is exactly why it is treated so badly. Deliberately delaying before showing the winning hand wastes everybody's time and mocks the loser. Table your hand promptly when the action is on you.

Can you talk about a hand you have folded?

No, not while it is still live. Commenting on the board, the likely holdings or your folded cards gives information to the players still in the pot and is a warning-then-penalty offence in every cardroom. Wait until the pot is pushed.

How much should you tip the poker dealer?

In US cardrooms a dollar on a small pot and a little more on a large one is the normal standard, and dealers are paid accordingly. In much of Europe the rake or time charge covers it and tipping is not customary. Watch what the regulars at your table do.

Poker Etiquette: The Table Rules Nobody Explains

Act in turn, keep your cards visible on the table, announce your action before you move chips, and never slow-roll. Those four habits cover almost everything separating a comfortable live player from the one the table is quietly annoyed by. Some breaches carry a real penalty: a hand ruled dead, a bet made binding, a floorperson called over. Others cost you nothing but goodwill, which in a game you want to keep sitting in is worth more than it sounds.

The rules that carry a real penalty

House rules vary between cardrooms, but the ones below are close to universal, and each has a consequence attached rather than just a disapproving look.

Breach	What usually happens
Acting out of turn	Your action can be ruled binding
String bet	Only the first motion counts, usually as a call
Cards leaving the table	Hand is ruled dead
Exposing a card in a live pot	Warning, then a penalty
Discussing a live hand after folding	Warning, then time away from the table
Taking advice from a spectator	Hand can be killed on the spot

If something goes wrong, ask the dealer to call the floor and accept the ruling. Arguing in front of the whole table turns a small mistake into a sit-out.

Etiquette sits on top of the mechanics, so if the betting rounds are still new, read the full Texas Hold'em rules first.

Act in turn, and only in turn

This is the rule beginners break most, usually by folding early to save time. It is not harmless.

You are in the BB with 72o and toss your cards in before the CO has acted. The CO now knows two fewer players are left behind him, so he opens a much wider range than he otherwise would. You have donated equity to a stranger for nothing.

The same applies to reaching for chips, sizing a bet, or sighing before it is your turn. Wait, then act, and keep the tempo roughly the same whether you have A♠K♠ or a fold.

If what you just did gave another player information they did not pay for, it was a breach. Almost everything else is manners.

Announce first, then move chips

Verbal declarations are binding and they solve most betting problems before they start. Say call, raise, or all-in out loud, and the dealer handles the rest.

Move chips silently and you invite trouble. Facing a $15 bet you intend to raise to $50, you push out $20, then reach back for the rest. The dealer stops you: only the $20 stands, and your raise is now a call. That is what a string bet is, and it costs you the fold equity you were paying for.

Two related mechanics worth knowing:

One oversized chip is a call. Dropping a single $100 chip against a $30 bet without speaking is a call, not a raise to $100.
Do not splash the pot. Stack your chips neatly in front of you so the dealer and the table can count them.

Look after your cards

Your cards are your responsibility from the deal to the muck.

Keep them on the table, flat and in front of you. Cards that leave the felt are dead in nearly every room.
Protect them with a chip or a card protector so the dealer cannot sweep them into the muck by accident.
Do not show them to anyone, including the player next to you who has already folded.

At showdown, table your cards face up and let the dealer read them. Never announce a hand you are not certain of, and never muck before the pot is pushed. If reading a board quickly is still work, a poker hand rankings chart is a two-minute fix.

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The unwritten rules

None of these will get you penalised. All of them get you remembered.

Never slow-roll. Holding the nuts and pausing for effect before turning them over is the one breach the whole table will hold against you. You win no extra chip by slow-rolling an opponent, and a friendly game turns cold in seconds.

Do not berate anyone. The player who called your three-bet with 74s and rivered a straight is the reason your game is profitable. Tell him he played it badly and he takes his money to another table.

Do not celebrate a pot. Stack your chips and move on. Nobody in the game enjoys watching you enjoy their $300.

Do not tank routinely. Genuinely difficult river decisions deserve thirty seconds. Preflop folds do not, and habitual delay is what gets a clock called on you.

Watching, talking and phones

Paying attention is not rude; commentating is. Quietly reading live poker tells, which means watching how players handle chips and how fast they act, is simply playing well.

What crosses the line is saying it out loud. Announcing that somebody looks weak, discussing a live hand you folded, or coaching a friend in the pot are all warning-then-penalty offences because they change the outcome of a hand you have no stake in.

Phones are fine between hands and a problem inside one. Most rooms will not deal you in with a phone at your ear, and looking up from a screen every time the action reaches you will get a clock called within an orbit.

Money manners

Keep your stack visible. High-denomination chips go at the front so opponents can see what they are risking. Hiding a big chip behind your stack is angle-shooting, not cleverness.

Do not rathole. Pocketing part of your stack and continuing to play short is banned in every legitimate room.

Handle chops and tips cleanly. If a heads-up chop is offered in a tournament, agree the numbers with the floor before any chips move. In a cash game, tip the dealer promptly and without fuss.

Buy in with your own money. Loans and side deals at the table create disputes the floor cannot settle.

What it comes down to

Live poker runs on the assumption that nobody is getting information they have not paid for, and that everybody is playing at a speed the rest of the table can live with. Meet those two conditions and you will never see a penalty.

The practical version is short. Act in turn, speak before you move chips, keep your cards visible and protected, show your hand promptly at showdown, and say nothing about a pot you are not in.