CoffeeHousing
Written May 21, 2008 by Jack Jones
There have been some questions about whether it is acceptable to talk about or try to mislead the other players at the table when playing a poker hand. Mark Pilarski weighs in on what his thoughts are on this topic.
If you are personally involved in the hand, and you are intending to mislead or manipulate the other players then it’s not called table-talk, but coffeehousing. Some people think this is just part of the game while there are a good share of other people out there who think this practice is rude and unnecessary.
Table talk on the other hand is still a discussion at the table regarding the hand currently underway by players no longer involved in the pot, especially any talk that might affect play. The most common example of table talk is announcing what cards a player has just folded. For example, if the flop shows trips (J-J-J), and a player who had already folded sees the flop and screams out “blankity blank,” they have done a disservice to anyone at the table who thought they might like to bluff having caught quads (four-of-a-kind). Better yet, uncalled-for squeals might even bring out a six-shooter from some pissed-off player.
