[Rick Nebiolo]

Best thing is to get in the habit of doing it right for all situations and locations. Keep your chips close to the rail, your cards protected several inches in front, and do your cutting in a triangle starting behind your cards and between your chips (essentially inside your elbows).

That said, the fact that you wrote "But the thing is, I did this same thing for 2 hrs before that hand and no one said anything." shows that the dealers aren't really doing a good job. Assuming they see this they should warn you (between hands) to cut chips in back of your cards as noted above. I also think a floor might make a decision in your favor if you were clearly able to show that you had established this precedent for the previous two hours.

This is also the kind of rule/procedure that should be on a sign on the wall or mentioned in some sort of "player guide" handouts, especially since things are are different in LA. All sorts of sloppy cutting off chips in front of your cards but not pushed forward is tolerated. It gets to the point were players use "a little" forward motion as an angle. I try to do things the traditional way and look like I'm from another planet.

The betting line has some advantages but from what I've heard leads to a new class of angles I'll leave to others to discuss. As an aside, the betting lines you see in most LA clubs is not used as a betting line; rather it is there to encourage players to push their bets forward so the typical 5' 1" tall 90 lb. female dealer can reach them without going on disability before the age of 40. Still, not pushing bets or discards were the dealer can easily reach them is one of the best way (censored] can be abusive without calling much attention to themselves.

~ Rick