When you make a bet, you should always place, lay, toss or throw the chips out in front of you so that it is clear what exactly your bet is. Never make your bet near or into the pot already on the table. Tossing your chips into the pot is called: “Splashing the Pot”. If you splash the pot you will be politely warned by the dealer not to do so. There are good reasons for such a rule.

If you are betting multiple chips often players will over- or under- bet the exact bet. Players miscount or misread the denomination of the chip. If the chips are right out in front of you the dealer will easily see and correct the bet. But if you splash the pot the exact bet is lost in the pot and can only be determined by stopping the hand and ‘counting down’ the entire pot. Counting down a pot takes time away from the game, annoys the other players and in most card rooms is subject to a penalty if you do it more than once.

So the rule is simple: the dealer and only the dealer actually puts chips into the pot, The dealer will “pull in” all the bets based on house rules, which will be clear the very first hand you play. The pot and the correct size of the pot is the dealer’s responsibility and players should help the dealer keep the game moving by not splashing the pot.

One more thing about a splashed pot, anyone who does it will immediately be recognized as an inexperienced player and that is information you do not want to be giving to your opponents.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #22

This entry was posted on Friday, October 26th, 2007 at 12:26 am and is filed under Poker Basics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.