Don’t Splash the Pot
Among the many catch phrases made popular by the legendary poker online movie, ‘Rounders,’ comes from a scene between John Malkovich and Matt Damon, where the players are betting heads up against one another at a live table, not a casino online. Damon tosses his bet loosely out onto the table, instead of stacking it in piles in front of him as is the common traditional way to bet. Malkovich, the club owner, and a spicy attitude of the high order, casually orders, “Don’t splash the pot.”
In this scene, the act relates to the gunslinging between the two, but in reality it speaks to a matter of common courtesy among online poker players. If not an ‘enforced rule,’ it is at least one that in a live poker situation you would look better not having broken. Splashing the pot can also be a more utilitarian type of problem, in that if you splash the pot in a certain way it might be hard to tell what chips were thrown in by you and which were already in.
Though it is not always vital to stick to the traditions and etiquette of a poker table, most often, in doing so you set up a manner in your handling that others will want to reflect. Showboating and acting crazy might have a time and place, but in most situations, be good.
