Single Chip Call?

Phoenix Wright

Phoenix Wright

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My only poker experience so far has been cardschat freerolls and friendly homegames with small stacks of chips. However, I've watched high stakes games (on tv or YouTube) where a player tosses a single chip into the center to indicate a call.

In my small homegames, we just count out the exact amount to bet and online doesn't do this for obvious reasons. Just curious what the rules are for calling with a single chip. Is there any advantage to doing so? (maybe concealing potential tells versus counting the chips out)

Does ANY single chip qualify for a call, or must it be of a large enough denomination to cover the bet you are calling? If the bet is 100 and you toss in a single 500 chip to call, do you get 400 back at the end of the hand or does the dealer give you back the "change" before the next step of the hand?

Just wondering how calling with a single chip works in live games...
 
Evan Jarvis

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Phoenix Wright said:
My only poker experience so far has been cardschat freerolls and friendly homegames with small stacks of chips. However, I've watched high stakes games (on tv or YouTube) where a player tosses a single chip into the center to indicate a call.

In my small homegames, we just count out the exact amount to bet and online doesn't do this for obvious reasons. Just curious what the rules are for calling with a single chip. Is there any advantage to doing so? (maybe concealing potential tells versus counting the chips out)

Does ANY single chip qualify for a call, or must it be of a large enough denomination to cover the bet you are calling? If the bet is 100 and you toss in a single 500 chip to call, do you get 400 back at the end of the hand or does the dealer give you back the "change" before the next step of the hand?

Just wondering how calling with a single chip works in live games...
Click to expand...


When you are playing a live game putting in any chip counts as a call :dancing2:

So be careful with doing forward chip motion if you didn't want to call a big bet.

If you put in 100, then you are committed to calling the rest of it, whereas if you put in a bigger chip the dealer will break it down to smaller chips and give you your change right away.

When in doubt ask the dealer as some casinos have different rules, but generally this is the rule, that any chip being placed in the pot commits you to calling the rest of the bet.
 
Phoenix Wright

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Thanks for the response; I appreciate it. I've also just recently learned about some of your poker content Evan; you have a refined speaking style - I can tell you have been teaching poker for a long time :)
 
Collin Moshman

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Evan is completely right that a single chip counts as a call.

The way around this (if you want) is by verbalizing. For example, if someone raises pre-flop to $250 with two black chips and two green chips and you put out a yellow $1k chip that's a call. But if you say "raise" and then toss out the chip, then you've 3-bet to $1k.
 
Phoenix Wright

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Collin Moshman said:
Evan is completely right that a single chip counts as a call.

The way around this (if you want) is by verbalizing. For example, if someone raises pre-flop to $250 with two black chips and two green chips and you put out a yellow $1k chip that's a call. But if you say "raise" and then toss out the chip, then you've 3-bet to $1k.
Click to expand...

Good addition; I always verbalize my plays just for clarification.

I understand lots of players not verbalizing for fear of giving off tells, but for me I feel like this is balanced by less chance of forced into a play I didn't want. Plus, I always verbalize in the same manner for EVERY hand, so there is less chance to give away meaningful information if that is my "normal." :)
 
Einer777

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since I think they gave you the answer that depends on the casino rules how that type of call is handled
 
Highsolation

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I think it's always good to verbalize your actions in order be very clear about what you are doing, that way if your action is not based on what you said, dealer will let you know that you should've done this or that, and you just adapt to the casino rules.
 
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