Your First Visit to a Casino Poker Room

Live poker in a licensed casino is friendlier than most first-timers expect, and it runs on a routine that barely changes from room to room.

Before you go

Bring a passport or national ID card. Every European casino registers players on the first visit and checks the national self-exclusion register, and a driving licence often will not do. In the United States you need a government photo ID and you have to be 21.

Take cash or a card. You buy chips at the cage or at the table, and cards are accepted in most European rooms. The ATMs inside casinos charge heavily, so use one before you arrive if you can.

The schedule is worth checking before you travel. Cash games start late in many European rooms and tournaments close registration at a set point, which makes a trip easy to mistime. Venue pages here show typical stakes and days, and each one links to the casino’s own schedule.

Getting a seat

Go to the poker desk and ask for the game you want. Rooms run a waiting list, and at busy times you get a buzzer or a text when your seat opens. Minimum buy-ins are usually 40 to 100 big blinds, with the standard amounts listed on the venue page.

At the table

• Act only when it is your turn, and say your action (“call”, “raise to 25”) before you move chips.
• Put a single chip in for a call. In most rooms one chip counts as a call even if you meant to raise.
• Keep your cards on the table and protect them with a chip.
• Tip the dealer a small amount when you win a pot in the US. In Europe a tip is appreciated but not expected.
• Phones are fine at most tables, but not while you are in a hand.

Rake and time charges

Casinos take a capped percentage of each pot, or charge per half hour at higher stakes. The venue page shows the structure where the casino publishes it. Ask the floor if it does not; it is a normal question.

Leaving

You can leave a cash game whenever you like. Colour up small chips at the table, then cash out at the cage. In most European countries winnings at a licensed casino are not reported to the tax authorities, but the rules differ and the country pages summarise them.