The ol' hidden high denomination chip trick

[bav]

I've seen it twice in two weeks... In a Wynn tournament a week ago someone very carefully stuck his lone high denomination chip in the middle, near the bottom, of his stack of small chips of similar color before going all-in. Then tonight in a NL cash game someone announces "all-in" and shoves two stacks in... 8 red chips and 4 blue chips for $44... only wait, no, that's not 4 blue chips, it's three blues with a lone black carefully hidden on the bottom for $143. When I saw the guy shove it in I thought "he's hiding the black so he must have the nuts" and yes, he had exactly that--that's gotta be THE most surefire tell of them all. The poor guy who called that all-in tried to convince the floor he should only be liable for $44 but the floor would have none of that. And of course the guy who profited from this was offended--OFFENDED, I tell you--that the other guy accused him of intentionally hiding the black. The ass can't even admit "yeah, I hid it and you fell for it, sucker".

Seems wrong to let folks profit from such angles. It's sooo obvious to the rest of us watching what's happening, but these guys are praying on the n00bs and the inattentive. I sat quietly tonight and let this one happen. I'm not at all sure of etiquette here, but me sticking my nose in the middle and saying "hey, look out, he's hiding a black under there" doesn't seem quite right, either. And of course the dealer isn't supposed to announce the bet size unless asked. So it pretty much seems to fall to the buyer to beware.

Not sure my point. Actually one point might be that I wish NL games would prohibit unusually high denomination chips from being in play... Nobody expects a $100 chip at NL1/2 with a $200 buyin cap, and nobody expects a $500 chip at NL2/5 with a $500 buyin cap. Just be careful out there.