Was it you that said, How long to the point of Know return?

In WA, I was told by a nitty ex-cardroom owner that players (i.e. without a badge) are never supposed to touch another player's chips. She did allow that you might live on the edge and help a poor guy pick up his chips if he drops three racks on the floor.

Even in a less nitty room, if I want to color up stacks of red and someone else wants to rebuy, they won't let me take the cash and then buy green. We have to have a chiprunner bring the green. Then I can make change for their red, but even that is apparently a bit on the margins.

Galapagos Islands of poker!

This takes us away from manners and into the realm of practicality. There are plenty of valid reasons that have nothing to with being rude or polite why a player should never handle another player's chips.

That being said, I've been known to reach into another player's stack to post his big blind while he's been working on a plate of food next to him. In that instance my neighbor usually thanks me for the assist. I've also seen and would approve of helping a player who physically struggles with handling chips (e.g. arthritis).

As for not making change, that's a bit extreme, but I'm guessing it has something to do with chip dumping, collusion, or possibly even money laundering if you want to be that paranoid.

Me, I'd go with "The people governing poker in this state don't actually know anything about poker" (there is plenty of evidence of this) -- Occam's razor -- but you could be right.

The question about rational arguments hints at the real reason it’s offensive to some. It triggers an entirely irrational and almost instantaneous rage in some people.

Think about a chimpanzee. No one ever taught him human manners or southern hospitality or service etiquette. But, if you were to point directly at him, he would most likely rip your finger off and smash you until you made faint gurgling noises. Why? Because he can. There is no “reason” and he’s not posting about it.

I have done this in the human world. In my college days, I was on a bus going from Wales to London. As we were in traffic I saw a drunk “yob” outside of a pub in a city, and he could see me. For fun I simply pointed at him, with a neutral expression on my face. I kept pointing as he got more and more enraged. As he started stumbling toward the bus my gf was panicking and telling me to stop. I did not. Just as he was getting close to us, our bus lurched forward and we left.

If you think about the people in the poker room, a non-trivial amount make very poor life decisions and have poor impulse control. This is very, very good for a game like poker, but very, very bad for interpersonal interactions, as evidenced by umpteen threads about choking, fighting, etc. You can see them hiding prison tats with long sleeves, screaming about child support into flip phones, rocking vulgar shirts and spray tans, looking around for any sign of offense, any reason to scream “come at me, bro.”

Do not point at these folks. Do not point near them. Do not expect a good reason why.

ironic don't you think?


It's all about class. When you're at the Olive Garden and ask "where is the men's room?" The server will point and say "it's over there". When you're at SW at Wynn and ask, they'll walk you to it. Tucking your napkin into the front of your shirt doesn't hurt anyone, but makes you look like a dip****.

Some of you are like school in the summer....

That's so badass dude.

Thanks! Game recognizes game. I still drink free just for recounting the tale.

I've always tried to be respectful and courteous to others throughout my life, which includes my day to day encounters with strangers. Please, thank you, excuse me, and always holding the door open for others no matter their age , sex, or ethnicity are just part of my every day routine. That said, seemingly everyone being "offended" by something is a big part of what's wrong with today's culture IMO. I'll just never understand it, but then again there's literally nothing that a person could say to me that would offend me, so I guess I'm just wired differently than many. People being offended because someone pointed with a single finger instead of using a full open hand?....ummm okay.

Too bad your "respect and courtesy" for others doesn't include "implying doubt by using scare quotes."

Whatever you say buddy. We'd all be much better if people had thicker skin and weren't offended or insulted by innocuous actions that anyone with any common sense would realize they don't carry any malice or intent.

The whole point of "respect and courtesy" is to understand what bothers people and not do that. Manners isn't a set of rules that grants you immunity from criticism, it's a guideline on how a certain set of people want to be treated (different cultures have different and often opposite ways of indicating respect - you keep your shoes on in some peoples' houses, you take them off in others', both are polite depending on what the host considers dirty).

You want to know the people who are truly respectful and truly courteous? The people who, upon hearing someone is offended, starts off with "I'm sorry" rather than "it's your fault."

I never said anything about blaming the person who was offended. We're talking about an innocuous hand gesture that while it may offend some people, it's a completely subconscious movement by others that don't believe there's any ill meaning behind it. That's the main point. No matter what you do in life, somebody, somewhere is going to take issue to it and deem it to be offensive.

If I do or say something accidentally that someone takes issue with, then by all means I'll apologize to them. A lot of people just need to have some common sense and realize that innocent and innocuous actions are just that, and just because they find it offensive it doesn't mean that it's perceived that way by others or done intentionally to upset them. It's gotten to the point though that people are expected to walk on egg shells so they don't risk offending someone, and that's completely ridiculous to me. Your bones aren't broken and your heart won't stop beating because you're offended, so move on and don't worry about it.

Obviously you're one of those who lack common sense..... and your rolleyes emoji is very offensive. You should be ashamed of yourself.

True story:

Two drunk friends in the back seat of my car arguing. After about 10 mins the following occurs:

Friend 1: points and friend two and makes an aggressive statement
Friend 2: "point at me again and I'll break your finger"
Friend 1: points at friend two while still arguing
Friend 2: grabs said finger, bends it back and breaks it.

I will go to my grave believing the above is the only correct response to someone pointing at you while arguing.

No, because I make no claims about being respectful and courteous to all.

I think the easiest way for you to resolve your hypocrisy is to do the same. If you don't understand why pointing is rude, that's fine. I don't understand it either, just like I don't understand why people get uppity when elbows are on the table or why people object to socks and sandles. But what I do understand is that when someone tells me they're offended, I appologize instead of telling them they shouldn't be.

This thread is such a honeypot, I love it.