Chopping?

Just wondering if you guys out there Chop when at a casino playing a limit game? I usually do it if the players to my left and right want to. But if i tell them its either every time or never. However i was thinkin about this and i feel that maybe i should chop. I may be leaving some money out there wheni can outplay most players. Also how do you feel about chopping when it gets shorthanded (6 or less)?

no matter the circumstance, i always chop the blinds. I had already talked it over with the guy on my left prior to our blinds and he said ok, so when it game around to it folding to my SB, I look at my cards and ask for a chop. He says yes and we flip for fun. He shows T5s and I show QQ and I offered the chop. I do it out of courtesy and avoiding the rake

in a casino, it's all about avoiding that damn rake. always chop at low limits. at high limit games where there's a time charge, there's more incentive to steal/defend those blinds.

I always view it as bad Karma not to chop.

I had AA and offered to chop with a guy in 1/2 nl, he didn't want to, we ended up getting all the chips working preflop.

it ended up KK vs AA, and I busted him. All because he was greedy after seeing KK.

just my 2 cents.

-CHEF

I've never been to a casino before, I just turned 18, and I am planning on going to TurningStone casino in NY soon. I was wondering if anyone could explain the meanings of "chop."

I thought chopping a pot was splitting the pot because both players had an identical 5 card hand.

Chopping is the practice where everybody folds around to the small blind. The small blind will usually look to the big blind to his left and say, "Chop?" Both players take back their chips (from the blinds) and the next hand begins. Obviously, if someone else calls first, you cannot chop.

Some poker rooms do not allow chopping, so be sure to know the rules. Additionally, chopping is usually not allowed in tournaments.

In a low limit hold'em game, this will almost never happen at a full ring game, since the chances that the first eight players to act will fold is almost zero, since they play so loosely. I've seen it happen several times in 1-2 No Limit games, though.

I guess I'm an ass. I have never chopped although I have had the opportunity to many times. Some people get pissed, but it is my choice to play my hand if I so choose. I play 1/2 and 2/5 NL and 2/6 or 5/10 LHE. In no limit the implied odds are worth enough to me at least complete my SB or see a flop when I'm in the BB. In low limit hold'em the players tend to be so bad why would I pass up the opportunity to play someone HU? If they don't want to play with me then they can fold. Although I am polite when I say I don't chop, people still tend to get irritated. They will often raise me out of spite regardless of their hand and/or take their hand too far and and up paying me off.

I have taken the time to try and improve my HU game. If you or other people have not, that is your own problem. Is poker not about exploiting an opponents weaknesses? So why does being HU in the blinds change that? Against the average player I feel that being HU in this situation is +EV for me. I have definately won more money playing HU in the blinds than I have lost due to the rake created from not chopping.

Offering to chop in the blinds with AA is ludicrous to me. Like you said, you didn't end up chopping and ended taking your opponents entire stack. You were willing to pass up an opportunity to make money. Hmm... Let me see if I can understand this logic... "Let me fold now and give up a few bucks in rake or play my hand and potentially win hundreds." Nope, I don't understand. Why do you even bother to play poker if you think like this? Is it also impolite to check-raise or slow play?

You're entitled to your opinion about it being "bad karma" not to chop. You can also continue to request a seat change to your lucky seat and make sure not to leave for the casino without wearing your lucky thong.

If that's what works for you. I prefer everyone gamb00l happy and not trying too hard, playing dogshit cards and paying me off just to see. People "gunning for me" are at some level trying to play good poker.

i'll always take the option to chop,if they dont want to chop thats alright.....it's going to be 100$ to play the hand if we are playing NL Laughing

you can't look at your hand and then offer a chop. you have to offer the chop without looking. otherwise when you do not offer a chop, it is obvious you have a good hand.

my friend chops every time without looking, even in the bb. i offered him a chop while on his right and he accepted. we flipped and he turned out to have AA. then i asked the dealer to run it out and he would have flopped a set and rivered QUAD ACES. hahahhaa. later the same night, he chopped again with KK and would have flopped a set. he still gets pissed whenever i bring it up. not that he minds chopping with AA/KK, but rabbit chasing afterwards was too much for him to bear.

ChezJ

I pretty much live at the Borgata Casino in Atantic City and my rule is simple, If it is a raked game I dont chop, If it is a timed game such as the 10/20 and 20/40 limit games i will to speed up the game.

i always thought it was the opposite... the rake makes it highly inefficient to play, so you should chop. the time charge relieves you of that pressure so you are free to attack/defend the blinds.

Ya, I always chop. I know some of the players in my game pretty well, and occassionally we'll agree to just check it down heads up. I know that it neither avoids the rake nor speeds up the game, but it does make it interesting.

Oh, I just read Fnord's B&M guide for online players, and the tipping suggestions are totally sensible.

I'm just cheap.

Still, when i see a player throw $4 at the dealer after picking up a $50 pot, I know that he's not too attached to his $, not counting bb's per hour, and I'll act accordingly.

Totally agree, however, that good service (resolved dispute, helped new players and kept the game moving) deserves an end-of-the-shift tip. End-of-shift is also more memorable.

i saw a dude chop KK in the BB at imperial palace the other day - someone offered a chop to my friend when he had AA in the big blind (he said no) - seems out of the people I have come into contact with its either chop everytime they can or never chop no matter how bad their cards

Ya, it's fun to show a premimum hand when you chop. It shows that you're a sport.

Oppose that to the douchebags who show their 6 2 when everyone folds around to them in the BB online.

Chopping to me is just a concession to game conditions - it's a matter of getting into the flow of the game. Basically, I chop in limit because most everyone else does. Most people would rather that everybody chopped for obvious reasons.
If I sat in a game where players didn't like chopping, then I wouldn't cry about it, I'd adjust.

I consider it justice when stubborn non-choppers get burned. (These are the same donks that raise A 10 o from the blind with 4-5 limpers. They're fixated on their own cards.) They want to get value regardless of the game conditions, so instead of chopping they raise and get killed by a hidden set or 2 pair. Very glad to say that I've been on the giving end of that.

Poker, just like all other sports in the world, has a thing called etiquette, a.k.a. sportsmanship. Now I've read all of your entries and though you are entitled to your own opinion about the implied odds, players reactions and all this other crap, it all boils down to just being a good "neighbor". The blinds in all games are considered to be "random" hands, and for this reason they are hardly ever thought of as being powerful. The players in the blind are not only forced to bet, but they are also in the worst position, therefore they are considered vulnerable. This is why alot of the time you'll see the player on the button raise before the blinds even have the option to "chop". Which to me, though I wouldn't do this in anything other than tournament play, is far more respectable than choosing not to chop when given the oppurtunity.
I've been a poker dealer for over 6 years now and I also play every chance I get. The simple fact is that the only time you should not chop is in a shorthanded game, or at a tournament table.
Three weeks ago, I played in a $2/5 no limit game at a friends house. I'm in the small blind and pick up 9-4 offsuit, everyone folds and it gets down to me and the BB. When he rejected my offer to chop, I felt forced to play this monster for all it was worth and teach him a lesson in poker etiquette. I raise it to $45 and he looks at me like I'm crazy before he calls. Flop comes 2,3,8 rainbow, first to bet, I bet the pot, $90. He thinks for a minute and then mucks his hand (which I later found out was pocket sixes) and asks me what I had, of course I told him the truth and that I felt like I had to protect my pocket aces in that position. Needless to say, by the end of the night, he didn't mind chopping.

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Chopping?