I use a card protector that my wife bought for me. Before that I used a piece of Jade. Long ago, I used a rare Michael Jordan card in a card protector....somebody at my table bought it from me for $100, which I promptly lost with the rest of my stack....seems like a good idea to use a card protector that somebody else might want to buy....next time, I'm going to use my 96 piece new set of Nortake china, so that somebody will buy that from me....Craig's List isn't working for that....trouble is, the set is in 3 large boxes, each weighing about 25 lbs....that might annoy the other players at the table...LOL