A friend of mine likes to protect his cards with the "finger cage" around them. This is a popular method, I'm sure you've seen it. I maintain that it makes the cards difficult to see from all angles, and that it's often a factor in players getting skipped. At the very least, it adds time to the scan of the table that players and dealers do in order to verify who's in the hand. He's of the opinion that I'm full of beans.

Discuss.

I have no idea what you are talking about.

This, but at low stakes games, and not always this clear:


In my opinion, it's worse at the low stakes, because many of the players leave their hands on the table even when they're not in a hand, so a quick glance at a hand in front of a stack means nothing.

I view poker as a visual game, and dealing especially relies on many visual cues. A rectangle with a circle means "live hand" and is very quickly processed without even really thinking about it. Anything else requires the brain to go, "Okay, wait, what's up here?"

I'm a good dealer, so I usually remember who's in a hand, but I'm also always on the lookout for things everybody can do to make the game more efficient, cleaner, and faster.

It can be done in a way that leaves the cards visible..... Unfortunately many people close up there hand (and some insist on lifting up the cards) making it hard to see them.

A female dealer I know says it's a guy thing, guys more likely to be protective of their cards, and it's generally not conscious thing, it's more subconciuos.

I think you're right Pfap. Imo, covering your cards is bad mechanics for a player usually. Sometimes action can skip you and bad things like premature exposure and oot bets can happen before you can stop the action and get it fixed. Sometime it happens so fast irreparable harm like mucking the board or something happens before you can say "Wait! I still have cards...!"

Obviously this doesnt mean you cant touch your cards, but its definitely in your best interest to least make sure they're visible enough for Dealer and your immediate neihbors

Its really not that hard to know who is in the hand. Someone with a huge mit might conceal their cards more than most, but it shouldn't make people act out of turn, but may slow the game down if the person looks like they may have cards and don't. But still you should know who is in and who isn't in the hand.

I'm sorry if it bothers people but this is the proper way to protect yourself if the cards are marked. If someone doesn't know I have a hand, its their fault for not paying attention.

Also it really isn't that hard to still see enough of the card to know its there.

I understand that as a dealer, this isn't really advice if other players are the ones not paying attention, but i'll be damned if you make me use a card protector or leave most of my top card exposed. Hopefully people just learn to pay attention or not have their hand in the same position if they don't have cards after the person to their left repeatedly asked them if they do.

The idea of marked cards is not something I had considered.

If you're that worried about marked cards, shouldn't you go all the way and cover the tops of your cards completely? Sure, it means you'll constantly get skipped when people don't know you're in the hand, but that's the other players' fault, right? And you'll get your hand killed when there's significant action after you, but at least no one will know what your top card was!

I hope there aren't many people who think like you, because it would make the game nearly unplayable.

I keep mine covered pretty good for various reasons. Getting skipped has never been a problem. If it's on me I act. If it was supposed to be on me and somebody else acts I let people know quickly and it gets fixed. It's not very difficult and prevents a number of other negative things you didn't bring up.

Personally I love people who don't pay attention sitting at my table, and if I can act in a way that encourages their inattention I will do so. To a point.

That being said, if you're "protecting" your cards in this manner and two inattentive people quick-fold out-of-turn after you, and then you realize it's your turn right as a third out-of-turn player bets, you may lose your right to act.

From RROP General Rules, Betting and Raising:
12. To retain the right to act, a player must stop the action by calling “time” (or an equivalent word). Failure to stop the action before three or more players have acted behind you may cause you to lose the right to act.

So in addition to just generally helping the game move more quickly, there are self-preservation reasons to not hide your cards in my opinion.

I tend to do a modified cage, where the cards are flat on the table and like 1/4 of the card is sticking outside of the cage and easily visible, but 2-3 of my fingers are "caged" over the cards. If that makes any sense. Mostly it's so I don't give off any hand tells, and also so I can fold quickly when I finally get a chance.

Cage is fine if you do it right.
Make sure there's a corner sticking out and/or make sure there are big enough gaps between the bars.

When not using a chip as a protector, I often leave about 1/2 the card exposed with my fingers holding them down.

If you are a 'finger cager' and pay attention, then you won't miss your action.

+1 to knowing who (and how many) are in the hand with you.

Keep in mind that many players are deliberately trying to cause the action to skip them. They are very happy to see what the next player is going to do. And even if multiple players act many floorpeople are reluctant to kill the hand of the apparently "innocent" player who was skipped.

However, trying to enforce a "no cage" rule is going to slow games to a crawl. As I think about it, there's usually one or more people doing this at every table. Even if they don't demand the floor and recount the time that a dealer in a hurry just picked up their cards before they could act, the dealer is going to have to remind them repeatedly not to do it. And if a whale at the table is doing it, the other players are going to be furious if finally decides he wants to play craps where nobody cares how he holds his chips and the dice.

Perfect world, it is a good idea. Poker isn't a perfect world.