Quote:
Originally Posted by Bats
My closest casino has a rigorously enforced betting line. If you move chips across the line in your hand, they're committed to the pot. Given all the ambiguous actions I read about here, I'm glad they have the line and enforce it.
I couldn't disagree more vehemently. So in this room, for example, if you're facing a bet, you can push out several stacks of chips, stop just short of the betting line, look for a reaction, and then have your full range of actions (including folding) available, right? How is allowing that good for the game?
(By the way if you want to try that move, save it for a big and marginal decision, hopefully against someone who's not a regular at that room and thus would more likely fall for it. Indeed, what is the point of poker, if not to reward rules lawyers for outlawyering their naive opponents?)
Worse, since this is a house rule not shared by many games AND OFTEN NOT BY OTHER GAMES IN THE SAME ROOM (at least in WA), it's easy for a naive player to cut out chips off a stack in a way that would be perfectly acceptable in another room or another game in the same room and end up betting, say, 5x the pot. It's wise to train oneself to cut chips in a method that's OK in any room, way way behind the line and even with the chip stack, requiring no forward motion.
(But such naive players should be punished for their inattention to tracking each game's rules at each casino. Indeed, what is the point of poker, if not to reward rules lawyers for outlawyering their naive opponents?)