Explanation of Splash the Pot
Players are required to keep their chip stacks in neat piles at all times. As such, it makes sense that such neat piles are preserved even when placing chips into the pot. An entire pile of chips can be placed into the pot and retrieved by the winner without losing its structure. This has two advantages
1. It’s easier to see how many chips are in the pot.
2. It saves time re-stacking the chips for the winner.
Failure to preserve structure when placing piles of chips into the pot is referred to as “splashing the pot”. A player might simply thrust his chip stack forward causing chips to fly in all directions. While this is still considered a legal bet, intentionally splashing the pot is considered a breach of etiquette since it slows down the action.
The concept of “splashing the pot” was mostly famously brought into the public eye in the movie Rounders where Teddy KGB is going out of his way to splash the pot in his final heads up confrontation with Mike McD. This is an excellent example of what not to do in a live game setting.
Example of Splashing the Pot used in a sentence -> It’s a good idea to try and avoid splashing the pot if we don’t want to upset the other players at the table.
How to Use Splash the Pot as Part of Your Poker Strategy
The strategy here is simple. Try and preserve chips in neat piles wherever possible. It might not increase our winrate directly, but it’s good etiquette, and we won’t find ourselves being ejected from a game for irritating the other players.
