Etiquette, Bias and "Rules bending"

I would let it go if the phone is upside down on the rail and isn't being used in a hand.

When I was playing in Prague there was a woman who was watching her phone while she was playing hands. So I did go up to a Floor and ask them to verify it was OK. Turns out she was streaming a movie or something. The Floor OK'd it.

There have been other times where I saw a person was playing chess, sudoku, online poker cash or tournaments on their phone where I didn't complain because it had nothing to do with our table and they were also clearly not going to give their full attention to the tournament I was playing.

It is only if I suspected they were doing something that helped their play in my game that I would complain to a Floor.

As for dealers making mistakes because they are talking with players I wouldn't complain about that. I always protect my hand/action when I am playing anyway.

i'm not so much worried about what they do on their phones ... it's just unfair that the rules are treated very strict when it's "non-dutch" players and way more relaxed the other way round. feels unfair and unnecessary.

and: i just observe it and deal with it (out of necessity; i make good money in that game), but there's whales and other people who get very annoyed (one guy even left the game super pissed off "you'll never see me back here, f... this casino" etc.)

This is the key point here. I would talk to the head of the room to tell them they are losing non-Dutch players because the dealers are favoring Dutch players over these rules. I doubt it would have much of an effect though.

There are two issues here:

One is the rules are tight and not being enforced.

The second is that they are being unevenly enforced.

It seems you don't care that the rules are not being enforced because you are not worried about being cheated. That may or not be important, but that is for the individual to decide.

The bigger issue for you is the uneven enforcement. In your case, I would become a dick. If I was a German player getting called out on my phone being on the rail, I would make sure to call out every instance of other players having their phones on the table. Every time I saw it I would ask the dealer if it is legal to have a phone on the table/rail and then gesture to the offender. Call it out and force the casino to enforce their own rule.

Is it fair that you have to do the extra work? Absolutely not. However it is also life. Life is sometimes unfair. You are playing in thus game because it is juicy, so your choices are to either quit or enforce the rules yourself.

I have played in games that were ridiculously juicy, but we're poorly run. People regularly and consistently played out of turn, players regularly talked about their hand despite multiple players on the pot. Dealers didn't enforce it because the floor behind them didn't care enough to enforce it.

The only choice is to enforce it yourself or stop playing. There isn't a right answer other than to remember that if the floor is willing to overlook small rules violations, they probably be willing to overlook bigger violations in the right circumstances.

Just as a side note, it shouldn't matter if their phones are face down on the rail. The reason for the rule is because cameras and computing power has become phenomenal. So just knowing a few other players hole cards comfers a huge advantage.

There have been documented groups that cheat by having cameras low on the rail looking at what cards sloppy dealers give to players. Obviously the higher the game the more lucrative the game it for the scammers.

Putting a phone face down doesn't stop this for 99% of phones. Most phones have cameras on both sides of the phone. It does not matter if they are face up or face down.

understand your point, but that's just not me