Tips for Avoiding Coronavirus in Live Poker Rooms
The Wuhan Coronavirus has the entire poker world on edge due to the number of players that travel the globe frequently. Due to the close contact that live poker entails, many are concerned for their health and ultimately their lives over this latest epidemic.
Some casinos, such as South Korea’s Jeju Landing Casino have canceled events while other casinos have shut down to wait out the epidemic. While many Americans don’t have to worry about the Coronavirus, for now, it doesn’t hurt to take precautions for your personal safety. Today, we will give you some tips to help you avoid the Coronavirus until this epidemic passes.
Take All Common Flu Precautions
Instead of giving you a list of things you already know, we are going to tell you to take your standard precautions as you would to avoid the flu. This includes washing your hands regularly, covering your mouth when you cough, avoiding people that appear ill, and more.
We urge you to ramp up your protective measures during this outbreak. Consider either washing your hands more frequently or use protective gloves to help prevent the spread of germs. While it may be a bit of a hassle to take the extra precautions, it is wise during this dangerous time.
Avoid International Poker Events
This is the wrong time to play at live poker events internationally, especially in areas near Asia. The odds of running across those exposed to the Coronavirus are greatly increased as you travel, and at this point, it is not worth it.
Some international poker events have already been canceled to protect players, but some casinos are not taking these extra precautions. There will be plenty of tournaments in the future, so, for now, you should just play locally.
Don’t Eat or Drink at Casinos
One extra step you can take to avoid any potential exposure is to avoid eating and drinking at the casino. You never know who will be around your food or your server, so you don’t want to take the risk.
A sick person that goes into a restaurant can contaminate booths, spread the disease to workers, or even food in buffet-style restaurants. The casino buffet is a potential breeding ground for this type of virus. It is not worth risking your life for a cheap meal.
Play Home Games
Another option you can take to help ensure that you can play live poker but avoid the pitfalls of live casinos is to play home games. If you have some buddies that regularly play at home, why not stick with that game until this epidemic passes.
Smaller home games are great options because people tend to know everyone in the game. If someone is sick, they either don’t come or you know what they have. You can also institute a rule that if you or any of your household is sick, skip the game for the week.
Take a Break From Live Poker
Is poker really worth the risk to your life posed by the coronavirus? No, it’s not. As such, why not just take a break. This could be a good time to spend some time working on your game at a poker training site or maybe you can read a poker book to improve your game.
If you’re in an area that allows online poker, you can play some online poker instead of risking your health in a live casino. Give this epidemic time to run its course and then return to the casino. Casinos are not going out of business and they will happily welcome you back when you return. Who knows, a break from poker may help you come back refreshed and ready to grind out some winning sessions.