An Ode to the Poker Chip and
PokerWorld

How Do You Stack Up? An Ode to the Poker Chip

I miss the poker chip.

Don’t get me wrong. I love online poker.

No more half-hour drives to the cardroom, no more choking down second-hand smoke, no more waiting to get on a table. You can’t beat the convenience of playing online, and where else can I play at any given time with players from Brooklyn to Bangkok?

Even if I only have twenty minutes of free time in my day, I can get a few hands in playing on the web – and I can play on more than one table at a time! You can’t beat that.

But I still miss the poker chip.

There’s something to be said for rolling a poker chip between your fingers, stacking and re-stacking them, intimidating your opponent with the sheer size of your stack. I’ll leave it to Freud to judge the psychological ramifications of the latter, but to me, the simple, tactile sensation of the poker chip is an intrinsic part of the game.

Apparently I’m not the only one that feels this way. There are literally dozens of sites on the Internet dedicated to poker chip minutiae: from the history of the poker chip, to collector sites, to guys who make sculptures out of chips. I’ve even come across sites discussing the relative merits of chip skills amongst the pros. For what it’s worth, Chris Ferguson seems to be the acknowledged master of manipulating poker paraphernalia. While the ‘Jesus’ of poker may not be able to walk on water, he can supposedly slice a pickle in half by throwing a card? A deck of cards and a bag of groceries and this guy will mix you a mean salad!

So, what is it with the poker chip? What is it that prompts poker players around the world to perform sleight of hand worthy of Harry Potter with this innocuous disc? What is it that prompts us to construct poker chip structures rivaling the Parthenon?

Nervous energy? That’s definitely a part of it. When the slightest tell can mean the difference between winning or losing a jammed pot in a live game, you’re better off palming a poker chip than sweating bullets. But if that’s all there is to it, then why do I miss the feel of a couple poker chips in my hand when I’m playing online? I certainly don’t need to worry about tells or nervous energy in the comfort of my own home.

I guess the bottom line is that our brain likes to play tricks on us.

They say when a person loses a limb; they can still feel the sensation of the missing appendage long after. People who gave up smoking twenty years ago tell me they still feel like lighting up after a particularly satisfying meal. I’ve even been known to put my car keys in the fridge on occasion ; ) Who can explain the mysteries lurking in our grey matter?

That’s the simplest explanation I can come up with for missing the feel of an insignificant poker chip in my hand, especially when I’m on a real good roll and that should be the last thing on my mind.

Oh sure, I could stack some chips beside my laptop while I troll out some bait for the fish, but there is a semblance of reason still lurking in the old cranium – something that tells me that’s more than a little weird. So, I palm the mouse - a poor substitute - and focus on the sizeable stack on the monitor in front of me, and grin at the fact that winning a seat to the WSOP has never been easier, and I know – without a doubt – that poker has never been more accessible, and that’s a good thing indeed.

But I still miss the chips.

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