[bav]

In touristy games something like "you can post a blind UTG now, but you'll have to pay it again the very next hand, or you can wait one hand" is fine. And options for someone sitting down between the SB and button are sometimes voluminous and spelling out every option for a new player who knows none of the rules would take 30 seconds. It makes the game go faster if the dealer just tells a new player what the obvious correct decision is rather than spell out the rules about when he'll have to post and where he can come in, and then wait 10 seconds while the guy mulls it over.

Folks who get worked up over this strike me as people trying to take advantage of newbies' lack of knowledge of the rules (and sometimes the rules specific to the room). I don't mind fleecing the new guys 'cause they suck at poker, but taking their money 'cause they are unfamiliar with rules you can only really learn through experience isn't very sporting.

Obviously dealers can't give advice about how to play a hand. But advice based on the room's particular rules about when to take a hand as you're just sitting down? Advise away.