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live game - hidden chips?


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I was playing a hand at Bellagio 2/5 no limit game. I was completely card-dead for a while, so I had this very tight table image.I finally get AQs in late position and open for a raise, I get called by this guy in about 4th position. I recognized him from the last time I was there, and he seemed to have a slighly larger stack than normal, but not outrageous. Flop is rags, I bet out, about pot-sized, hoping to take it with my tight image, and partially thinking I might have the best hand. He calls, and I put him on a draw. Again, turn is nothing, he checks, and I move in, putting him on a stright draw, as there is no flush draw on the board. He calls. River is nothing, and I wait for him to claim the pot, but he is just holding his cards waiting for me to show.Turns out he called all these bets and raises with 87o, and called an all-in bet with only a pair of sevens, 4th high on the board! Never had a straight draw either - he was just looking me up!Now, I know my play was questionable moving in on the turn, but my read was right - he was not strong. What irked me was that his stack was much larger than I thought - it turns out he had QUITE A FEW black chips hidden under his stack of reds, behind a front row of all reds. Had I known his stack was that large, I might not have bluffed him, knowing he had won enough to afford to 'look me up'!My question is this - Are you allowed to hide chips at the table like that?

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It isn't necessarily allowed or not allowed, as in there isn't a rule saying you need to display your chips a certain way. Just ask him for a count to see how much he has on the table.

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If he has the chips on the table, then they are not considered hidden. If you cannot see them behind his stack it is no fault of his. You can ask him how much he has but he is in no way obligated to show you any big denomination chips that you can't see.

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I'm pretty sure its not a rule that you must display them for the best view of others but I do recall that in a tournament this year or right after one a tournament director commented on how there was frequent "barber poling", which is when the chips of varying denominations are mixed in with each other so that an easy chip count is not possible. I believe that in this tournament players were frequently asked not to do this as it was unethical but I don't believe it to be illegal. Its not exactly top class poker but having some higher chips behind smaller ones isnt the worst thing that could be going on either. Just ask for the count next time. Sorry bout the loss though.

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