poker table

A poker table is a table specifically designed for playing card games, usually poker. It is often covered with baize which is a type of felt, or speed cloth, a teflon-coated fabric that helps the cards slide easily across the surface. It is either an actual table or a fold-out tabletop surface. Those used in professional televised poker feature "pocketcams" which can view a players pocket, or hole cards. Such tables are usually fairly oval-shaped, with the players sitting around a curve of the table with a dealer facing them in an indented area of the table made specifically for the dealer. In amateur poker, tables are often round or octagonal, using a rotating dealer position. The edge of the table is usually padded and raised slightly for the players to rest their arms, and this section is called the "rail." There is often a layer of wood between the rail and the playing surface; this is called the "race track" and often features cup holders as well. The center of the table often features an image, usually the name or logo of the casino or house where the game is being played.In poker, dead money is the amount of money in the pot other than the equal amounts bet by active remaining players in that pot. Examples of dead money include money contributed to the pot by players who have folded, a dead blind posted by a player returning to a game after missing blinds, or an odd chip left in the pot from a previous deal. For example, 8 players each ante $1, one player opens for $2, and gets two callers, making the pot total $14. Three players are now in the pot having contributed $3 each, for $9 "live" money; the remaining $5 (representing the antes of the players who folded) is dead money.
The amount of dead money in a pot affects the pot odds of plays or rules of thumb that are based on the number of players. For example, a common rule of thumb used by many Omaha players is that one should raise with a nut low hand on the last round only if there are four players in the pot, and just call if there are only three. But if there is considerable dead money in the pot, this changes the odds to favor raising even with only three players.
The term "dead money" is also used in a derogatory sense to refer to money put in the pot by players who are still legally eligible to win it, but who are unlikely to do so because they are unskilled. This can also be applied to the player himself: Let's invite John every week; he's dead money. The term "dead money" also applies in tournaments, when a player enters who has virtually no chance of winning.