Allow me to preface by saying that if you are playing exclusively stud or draw, I don’t think a card protector should be used. They are best for flop games where the hole cards you start with are the hold cards you go to showdown with. If you are dealt a seventh street hole card or draw cards, you will need to remove your card protector from your cards and replace it during the hand, which will create additional layers of complexity in your required motions. If, however, you are playing a mix that includes both flop and other variants, I think a card protector is reasonable: its utility during the flop games will more than make up for its inconvenience during other games and it would be absurd to remove or introduce it every time the game changes.

Some players oppose card protectors because they either feel it will give them a recreational image or provide other players additional methods to spot tells.

Regarding the former, it is my belief that no player who cares about money should strive for an image that is anything other than that of a recreational player. If it is more important to you to be respected by “pros” than to generate the additional action that a recreational image might generate for you, then it seems you are playing less for money than for social validation, and I believe there are better past-times for that. Poker players seem generally more reluctant than the general population to offer compassion or respect to those they encounter. If your priority is social validation, I recommend conducting a search for local activities that include judgement free zones.

Regarding poker tells, it is something you can conceal if you are aware of it. If you favor a unexploitable approach to tells, you can practice placing the card protector on your cards the same way every time and if you prefer exploitative tell strategies, the card protector will provide you additional methods of exploitation.

Players use many objects to protect their cards, most commonly a poker chip that is in play. Although I participated in this practice personally for many years, I now see it as cheap and unsanitary. Poker chips are filthy pieces of plastic or clay that have been circulated for years among some of the grubbiest fingers you can imagine. I once witnessed a drunkard drop a rack of $2 chips in a urinal.

Anyone who has played poker long enough will develop the ability to roll a round disc over their knuckles and as I sat with my silver coin that I frequently roll over my own knuckles in a tournament the other day, I was struck by the unimpressive and unsanitary performance of another player performing the trick with a filthy tournament chip. Even if his technique was perfect, the performance would not have matched even a reasonably conducted performance with a 1oz silver coin.

A silver coin can be purchased in uncirculated condition and silver has anti-bacterial properties that make it a far more sanitary and impressive option than a poker chip. You may be surprised to learn that before the days of refrigeration, people placed silver coins in their milk jugs to prolong the shelf life of the milk. Even today, silver continues to be used in various medical applications for its anti-bacterial properties. Silver is also shiny and a unique color so it will never be mistaken for a poker chip. Furthermore, you will never forget the part of your stack that is being used as a card protector when you intend to declare yourself all-in through shoving your chips in the middle.

People use a variety of other objects for card protectors but many of these are awkward sizes that cannot be used for knuckle-rolls or other chip tricks, clutter the table, and are often more fragile than a silver coin that will maintain its form even if dropped on the floor or subjected to other abuses.

The 1oz coin size is ideal and there are countless mints that produce coins or rounds of the size, which allows individuals to select a coin or round that personally speaks to them. An ounce of silver is not so expensive that it would be a great tragedy if it is lost or stolen; I have seen some people use gold coins or bars as card protectors and it would be a great tragedy to lose something so precious. People should remain aware that casinos are magnets for some of the most desperate people in society and not leave obvious temptation within view. To demonstrate the depths to which some will sink, I once had a flip phone stolen by a woman off a table in a casino food court in full view of the security cameras. She was willing to risk barring and prosecution for the sake of a phone that might have been worth $25 at the time.

Yet, silver is still precious enough that it won’t look out of place, even in the grandest of cardrooms. I’ve seen two instances of an individual using a copper 1oz round as a card protector in the past month and both times, I was struck by not only the cheapness of the player, but their foolishness to invest in a coin that likely cost them a few dollars while only containing 25 cents or so of copper value. Plastic coins sold by poker vendors as card protectors are unlikely to contain any kind of groundbreaking poker witticism and will feel light and cheap in the player's hand. Chips from other casinos will likely be in the same circulated condition as the active chips in play and may be similar enough in color or design to be mistaken for such chips.

1oz silver coins, in every respect, seem optimal for the purpose of card protection.

Yes, by replacing one of the chips with specifically a one-ounce silver coin, you will no longer have to touch the unsanitary other chips on the table.

Also, the guy who dropped a bunch of chips into a urinal... did he look like this?

Neither condoms nor face masks nor seat belts are one hundred percent effective, yet people still use them. It's about maximizing EV, not achieving perfection.

I was not expecting that length of post for that title.

I've never used a card protector, the idea of remembering to bring some tchotchke or coin with you to poker has always seemed incredibly lame. Or you just keep your pink haired troll doll, or tiny donkey statue in the car at all times?

Do you, but just know, I will think less of you...

I was expecting a picture of a cool old silver coin,maybe a Walking Liberty half dollar as a card protector not some giant article nobody is going to read.

I keep it in a plastic sleeve in my pouch along with cash, cards, and any stray chips I happen to possess. It's not a bother at all, I don't even notice it until it's time to use it, and occasionally remove it when I'm not playing but want something to fiddle with.

I use a King Charles coronation coin. Lucky King Chucky.

Gold coin imo, show how baller you are

Jewelry is better suited to the purpose as it is harder to swipe and maintains your baller status when you're walking around.

But if you insist on using a card protector to indicate baller status, seek a rhodium one. Just beware that many of the online sites that claim to have it in stock are scammers. It's not easy to find, and very expensive, but that's why only ballers own it. Gold is pedestrian by comparison.

Well like Pete above wasn't expecting a novel considering the title and we didn't even get a nice pic of a 1oz silver coin. Was half expecting possibly a pic of rare 1oz silver coin considering these forums. Pretty disappointing to get no pic at all.

Cheers!!!

I would not use a numismatic coin because it will lose value if you handle it. Such coins should be slabbed. That said, Lucky King Chucky, while not rare from a collectibility standpoint, was a limited mintage of 150,000 and will at least be novel to British residents who are not coin collectors, for it has the same portrait as all new UK coins will have, except with a crown. The 2023 coronation coins are the first UK coins to show a crowned king since Charles II in the seventeenth century.

My unprotected cards haven't been snatched by the dealer yet. If (when) that happens, I must start looking for a good silver dollar for protection. Must also start training the trick in the op.

A lot to do.

Is this super clever satire?
Can't tell.

That's what I use. I rotate back and forth between a 1921 Morgan sliver dollar, and an indian-head style 1 oz. silver round.

Is this a circulated Morgan dollar? That seems a little dirty unless you polished it or something and if you play in the US and use it, I'd be concerned that someone will point out it's legal tender and say it plays as cash in a cash game. The round seems like a better option but I guess cash doesn't play in most games these days, so maybe my concerns are overblown.

Yeah, cash doesn't play, it's chips only. It's a circulated Morgan so it pretty much has the silver value, nothing really numismatic, and I did clean and polish it before I started using it.

Fair enough, rock on then.

Used a card protector for the first time recently. Made a day 2 and thought using it would slow me down and ensure that I really thought through every decision.

Worked well til it didn't. Shipped in KK without thinking at all. Might have been a fold...

Used a commemorative Texas Ranger round. Capsule. Can't roll anything on my old gnarled knuckles.

Well at least you guys won the World Series. Wait for aces next time.

I had a friend of mine point something out to me once... You should always look for this at your local poker room.



We've all seen the new deck setups like the one photographed above. Astute friend of mine believes that the brand the cardroom was using (years ago) must have sat in a warehouse/shipping container for too long, and was exposed to heat.... or the elements. He told me to take special notice of the Ace of Spades on the top of any new setup.

So what happens is that the Ace of Spades or the top card on these setups tends to get bent by the heat/elements and this one card will not lay flat on the table.

So if someone is not using a rather large card protector, the Ace of Spades would never lay flat on the table. Ace of Spades is likely a card combination that most players will play, and it's very easy to exploit when you are absolutely certain that your opponent has the Ace of Spades.

I haven't seen this defect in years (I don't play as much as I used to) but this is most certainly a thing and this is why I use a large card protector to ensure both of my cards stay flat on the felt, even though I don't really like using them.

This seems a much better solution than asking for new setups at every available opportunity like some clowns.

Sometimes you need a smoke, and the game is so good you don't want to miss any hands. New setup, please. . . .

Or those insufferable "wash the deck" types.

I think that's the point