Is there such a thing as online poker etiquette?

Marcwantstowin said:

Do you believe there is an unspoken etiquette that should be followed at the tables online? What do you think is the right thing to do in the situation below?

You have reached heads-up play in an online tournament, but suddenly your opponent goes into a sit-out mode. Will you wait for them to reconnect and get back in the game or you would try to get an advantage of the situation and win as many chips as possible?

Thanks to @iwont20 for this topic suggestion!

Click to expand...

I will bet all the time so that I don't have to wait long for him.

If I knew the player, and felt they would wait for me... I would slow it down as much as possible and hope they could get back to the game. If I did not know the player, I would play it just as I would expect they would play it if I had connection issues, which would be rapid fire on the raise button every hand, lol

I'll keep playing, because I don't know if the same problem could happen to me, and the person might give up for another commitment at the moment.

In my opinion online poker is horrific for etiquette and breeds bad behaviour. Firstly having the options to throw eggs and bird crap at other players. What the actual hell? Imagine these online players turning up at a live game starting throwing shit when they lose or even worse suck out and win?

Bad losers are one thing but bad winners are the worst of the worst. Having the option to say ‘thank you’ should be taken away after a pot. Also the word sorry needs to be removed from these auto word pools. If someone says sorry after winning a pot to me it makes them look weak and/or patronising. Sorry would infer that they are in the wrong or didn’t intend for the out come of them winning no matter how they did it and it’s patronising because no one plays to lose ever so these sites that have defined text (partypoker) or emojis with phrases (GG). Remove sorry it’s just wrong I’d prefer to have cancer wished on me and my family and be called a crappy uk tw*t. Ah the good old PokerStars days lol.

I think it’s bad ettiquette to encourage throwing stuff at other players I have never liked it since I first saw it on 888 and was disappointed when stars and party copied it - it just makes it like Zynga kid poker to me; and shows the children playing. I’ve turned most animation off because it just annoys me when someone limps with AA and checks it to the river and lets someone hit a straight with 5-9off then starts throwing fish at them.

Also why don’t people get hand for hand play and drag the time banks that needs some kind of pop up explaining how hand for hand works

Marcwantstowin said:

Do you believe there is an unspoken etiquette that should be followed at the tables online? What do you think is the right thing to do in the situation below?

You have reached heads-up play in an online tournament, but suddenly your opponent goes into a sit-out mode. Will you wait for them to reconnect and get back in the game or you would try to get an advantage of the situation and win as many chips as possible?

Thanks to @iwont20 for this topic suggestion!

Click to expand...

But as for this no chance as soon as they are sat out I’m taking the blinds - as someone that only plays on a mobile device this has happened to me way to many times - however I’ve also come back on with 3 bb left and come back and won. I mean how long will you wait while the blinds are increasing and they always seem to get a LOT more time to reconnect than I do if I lose connection. If you wait to long the blinds will put you both all in and why should you be in a bingo situation because they didn’t stay connected?

Mortis said:

I would play as if there is a sit out. Because there is. You don't know their situation. They could have just gotten up and left. Or maybe they had a power outage and may take awhile to get back on.

Click to expand...

Or maybe they got caught playing poker at work therefore took the risk - why should you suffer for that? How long would you wait while the blinds go up and up till you are both all in every hand and it’s a shootout? Nope sorry their connection is their responsibility- they wouldn’t wait for you; and if it’s site tech issues out of their control then they will usually be reimbursed the buy in - but if their battery died or they lost signal then that’s the risk they took playing and why should you suffer because of it?

I would continue playing, if it is an important tournament, we must have a plan B in case of a power outage.

In my opinion a bad connection or connection lost by the opponent side is a pity and also can happens to anyone. So i dont wanna enjoy this situation but it is necessary to play on because usually you dont know your villain and in most cases he/she will do the same.
If this sit out takes longer, lets say for about 10 minutes or more it would be a very boring game if you fold every 2nd hand to stay at the same chip stack.

For me the only etiquette point really is not too slow roll the nuts. E.g. your opponent shoves and you have the nuts and tank call. It's just wasting everyone's time.

Sit outs are part of tourneys, you just take their chips, it's fine.

I have seen some regs get funny about moving seats to get a better position on the fish, but I think it's fine personally.

Station_Master said:

For me the only etiquette point really is not too slow roll the nuts. E.g. your opponent shoves and you have the nuts and tank call. It's just wasting everyone's time.

Click to expand...

100% agree. I would only slowroll online, if I absolutely hated the opponent. Like maybe they have been going off in the chat for no reason or something. In all other situations I just beat them into the pot to not waste time, and also to not be a jerk for no reason.

Station_Master said:

I have seen some regs get funny about moving seats to get a better position on the fish, but I think it's fine personally.

Click to expand...

I used to do this, when I was a cash game grinder. But I can kind of see the problem with it, since it might make it very obvious to someone, they are being "bum hunted". And nobody wants to see themselfes as the fish, so its clearly not good for the game. But if its a problem, its kind of up to the sites to prevent it. For instance they could introduce a minimum time frame between leaving a table and joining the same table again. Or force players to take the same seat, they just left. So as long as the software allow players to change seat, I would not have any moral problems about doing it.

Nope, not really, it’s dog eat dog. Ppl say you should wait for an opponent if they are having connection issues. I don’t think this is the responsibility of the player. I also think that time banks are abused and should be shortened on most sites.

If it is because my opponent switches to sit-out mode due to a connection loss, then I would at least think about it and probably wait for a while.

But if he switches to sit-out mode without leaving a comment in the chat, I would interpret this as "I give up my game!"

fundiver199 said:

If the game was being streamed, and I was a professional player, then I would wait for image reasons. But apart from that: No. If I am the one sitting out, my opponents dont wait for me, so if I waited, I would put myself at a disadvantage for no reason. All online players know or should know, that they can not sit out during heads-up play, so thats the one situation, where I will make an effort to be back from a break on time and postpone a toilet visit to the next break, if at all possible.

Click to expand...

So it matters only what others think of you and not of what you think of yourself? You'd only do the 'courteous thing' if people were watching you for 'image reasons'? I don't think OP was referring to an extended bathroom break during the break time. I believe it stated when the match reached HU and one player has lost their connection (or perhaps I've read it incorrectly).

I've actually seen this scenario happen a bunch of times, when players weren't streaming and very often the one player would sit out for a long while to give the other a chance to get back online. A classy move and something I think many poker players lack. Many regulars would choose to wait I believe.

I for sure thought you'd opt to sit out and wait. You've surprised me (or maybe it's because you're referring to an extended bathroom break or something different from what I'm thinking)

fwiw, I'm not talking about HU in a 50cent Spin'N Go, I'm referring to a large field $22+ buyin (or perhaps the Sunday Storm) or something like a $55+ (of any sized field).

Luvepoker said:

Is there poker educate online? I dont know if there is to be honest.

As to the situation suggested, It actually happened to me. The event was also be called on holdem radio as this was a winner take all WSOP seat from a sub site. Just like CC we were a community after black Friday. I actually did slow down the action only making my play as the timer ran out. I never thought of the consequences of what if i did this and he came back, and I lost. I was just doing the right thing in my opinion; I think i only won 3 hands while he was getting back his connection and I did win my seat. Looking back at that I was a big - EV play but I am glad i did it. The response from the members on this move by me were all very positive.

Would I do this again? I like to think i would. I would if it was a CC game event.

Click to expand...

GLAD TO HEAR IT!!!

I've had problems with internet, lack of electricity, and other cases, no one ever waited for me, I don't wait either, I don't know how long my opponent will take, I keep playing

If I reach an agreement to split the amount I sit out the same as the opponent, if I do not reach an agreement and it has a normal malfunction I will continue to play

Sometimes I see players dropping chips to players who are in a sit-out. This may be honorable and may even increase reputation among other players. But I've never done that and don't plan to. My goal in a tournament is to win. I will not give my chips even to good friends on our forum, and especially not to an unknown player who is in a sit-out.

so act like a person on the chat

If it was not a friendly game, I would take his chips as fast as possible. Everybody do it, and every time I get disconnected my chips melt. I never think my opponent is a bad person doing that.

What an interesting topic and it was great to see what other members think about it

Personally, I don't think is the right thing to do, but like other members said- if my opponent goes into a sit-out mode for whatever reason(connection/ software issues and/or phone call, or maybe he's a bit late after the usual 5 minutes break/ hour), I would gladly take as many of his chips as fast as possible... also, if my opponent did a similar thing if I'm sit-out, I would never blame him for taking my chips... still, depends on the situation, if for example it was a software issue that I had no fault in, I'd ask for compensation from the site I was playing on...

Sorry , but I would take all his chips the fastest I can.No time to hesitate.The only etiquette I always try to follow is to be polite with all my opponents.Time is money mates!

I would steal all his blinds and hopefully he don't comeback lol etiquette at poker online, he would do same if happened to me

However we often repeat a quote "Nothing personal, it's just business", it's personal in fact. So my decision will depend on attitude to that player. Also outside factors matter. Earlier there were more reasons and desire to be gentle and polite and make compromise.

i continue to play, even at a faster pace.

Take the chips as quickly as possible, your opponent will do the same.

MTCashman said:

Take the chips as quickly as possible, your opponent will do the same.

Click to expand...

merry xmas. heres your new profile pic

robertboz said:

If I reach an agreement to split the amount I sit out the same as the opponent, if I do not reach an agreement and it has a normal malfunction I will continue to play

Click to expand...

when everyones waiting for split agreement 100%
I start jamming

deny it once it popups and start a revote
jam jam jam