a couple of notes here:
-you have played with the same group for 15 years. This is awesome, and I am sure everybody is cool with everybody. However, if you go anywhere else to play, what if they do it different? Or, what if somebody new comes in and they do it?
The game I have referenced is the game I've been involved with for the longest period of time. I have been in several other games of similar stakes and they have all been the same way to my knowledge. I honestly can't remember a time where someone silently puts in a larger chip and gets change back at the end of the action. I must live in some backwards poker area of the world compared to everyone else.
We have actually had some new guys come in as of late but these guys have been brand new to poker. They have played it the same way we always have as its more intuitive than an over sized chip being a call. It makes more sense to a new player that a chip going into the pot means that player bet whatever that chip happens to be valued, not something less. But also, we all verbalize our intention probably 95% of the time.
If someone showed up to our game that is adamant about a one chip call rule, I guess we'd likely make him declare what he's doing each time he throws out an oversized chip. If he says call, then someone is likely immediately making change for that big chip from their stack and then sending him back his change. I doubt we would change how we have been playing forever.
If I were to go somewhere else I would play how they play it as I have at least heard of the rule before.
-Also, awesome that you would make change. I can't tell you how many times I have watched somebody rebuy and get big denom chips that they REFUSE to break down to table play denoms....Example: we are playing 2/4 limit, guy rebuys and gets $25 chips. Would rather hold on to $25 chips INSTEAD of getting stacks of $1's from guy right next to him. Plays the rest of the night making change out of the pot (this actually happened). I guess people like big denom chips.
This makes no sense to me at all. It's pretty standard for us to make change so everyone has some of the smallest denoms in front of them to avoid all of the future change making. It's either make change now or make change later.
Also, the game I'm referencing is typically having an average of 20 quarters, 20 to 40 ones, and 0 to 5 fives in the stack. So most of the time we all have the chips in front of us to match the call needed.
-Yes, this can all be fixed by demanding that people verbalize their actions. BUT THEY DON'T, they just throw a chip out there and stare at everyone like "you KNOW what that means". No, we don't....so now we have to make a rule about what it means.
Verbalizing actions clears up everything and I guess we are lucky that we all do it for the most part.
