Card protectors

[Dooms78]

For a long time I used a chip from my stack. Eventually I decided it was too small and too light. I bought a protector off the internet that has a picture of a pair of Aces on it, and it works for me.

I compare it to being a pitcher in baseball. It's all about repetition. There are about 20 steps to delivering each pitch and if you have to THINK about each step on each pitch it becomes mentally draining. But when you do it enough it becomes a habit. You get into a rhythm.

It's the same for my card protector. When I want to play a hand I have a routine I always go through. I put the protector on the hand, I look at my chip stack, etc. It forces me to really think about the bet in front of me and what I want to do next. In short, it slows me down and keeps me from doing something on impulse.

It got to the point in one session that one time I put the protector on my hand another player said "uh oh" because he knew I was going to play. So maybe it affects my table image, too.