Private Salon Etiquette

I've dealt to royalty, founders and one very famous pianist who could not sit still. The players who thrive in the salon share habits that have nothing to do with how much they bring.

Before You Sit

1. State your limits early. Tell your host your session budget and stop time — the salon respects a boundary stated, never one discovered.
2. Let the table finish. Joining mid-shoe is allowed; the room appreciates a player who waits for the cut card anyway.
3. Phone stays pocketed. Photography is prohibited floor-wide, and a phone at the table reads as distraction, not status.

At the Table

4. Learn the hand signals. Cards are dealt face-up for a reason — your hands communicate: tap for hit, wave for stand. Words are for ordering drinks.
5. Handle chips once. Stack, bet, leave them. The fiddling that seems harmless reads as table anxiety to everyone watching.
6. Tip the dealer. A chip on the layout after a good run is the oldest courtesy in the building — it buys nothing but respect, which turns out to be worth more.
7. Never teach mid-hand. Advice to strangers is the one sin the salon doesn't forgive. Ask your host; leave other players alone.

Leaving Well

8. Colour up before you rise. Cash out at the table, not in your pocket.
9. Leave on the note you chose. The players the room remembers are the ones who departed on schedule, up or down.
10. Thank the dealer by name. We remember. So does the host.

Etiquette isn't about looking rich. It's about making eleven people at a table glad you sat down.

New to all of it? The masterclass teaches every rule on this list with practice chips and zero stakes — the fastest ninety minutes in the building.