My only experience with live poker in a casino is watching it on tv. I've seen people make this move where they grab enough chips to equal the full amount of their bet + the raise, push it forward, and then pull their original bet back. Why doesn't this count as a string bet (string call?)?

In most situations, the raise is sufficiently larger than the original bet that the chips being moved forward + the chips already in front of the player together aren't enough for a raise, but what about this situation:

player 1 bets $5
player 2 raises to $10
player 1 grabs a $10 chip, moves it forward, and takes the original $5 chip back

How is it clear that the intention is to call rather than to min-reraise?

This is probably a dumb question but I'm anxious about making some kind of error in this department if I do ever play live in a casino.

If it's all in one movement then it should be quite obvious as to what the player's intention is. If you want to protect yourself, you can always just say call

Every floor I have had rule on this has said that if you pull chips back in the same motion it is fine. When I am playing outside of my normal room, though, to be safe, I always pull the chips in first before placing my call or raise.

I couldn't find anything explicit in the TDA that covers this, though.

Thanks guys.

As an aside, in your example, it would be a call no matter what. Even if you left the original $5 in, a single oversized chip would be a call.

oh good point.

@pizzy If player tosses in a 25 chip or even a 100 chip and DOES NOT announce Raise it is a Call Period.
So in your example of the 10 chip he called your raise and took his extra 5 back.

@pizzy one time ( when i was real tired ) some guy bet 10 I threw in a 25 chip the dealer says Call I said I meant to raise he said you never said raise. He was right.
This rule is STRICTLY enforced in EVERY room I have ever played in.
Hope that helped