2007 World Series of Poker

Event 55 - $10,000 World Championship No Limit Holdem
Event Info

2007 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
88
Prize
$8,250,000
Event Info
Buy-in
$10,000
Prize Pool
$59,784,954
Entries
6,358
Level Info
Level
36
Blinds
400,000 / 800,000
Ante
100,000

The Problem With Chip Colors

What is this player's chip count?
What is this player's chip count?
If you glance at the photo on the right, you'll notice two different chip colors -- dark orange and a lighter color.

If you look more closely, you'll notice that there are actually *three* different chip colors, as one of the lightly-colored chips has dark orange highlights, and the other has green highlights.

Now imagine that you're not this close to the chips, but staring at them from across the table with hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money on the line. To be sure, you'll have to ask your opponent how many chips he or she has, or the exact size of the bet, but doing so could potentially reveal information about your hand.

We don't know why such similar colors were chosen, but they are not popular -- with the players, with ESPN, or with the members of media who have to count them and post updates (that's us). If the stacks are dirty (you might notice a single green-tinted chip at the bottom of the top stack of light orange), it gets even tougher.

The stack pictured here belongs to Steven Garfinkle. When asked about the chips, he said, "I'm a little shade blind, so it's killing me. I have to actually read the numbers on the chips, or if they're too far away, I have to ask."

Earlier today, Huckleberry Seed was talking to someone at his table, and he felt that the chip colors were something that should have been fixed before the Main Event -- the problem was noticed early in the Series. "How hard can it be to make new chips?" he asked.

Oh, in case you're wondering ...

The dark orange chips with black highlights on the bottom are worth 5,000 each. The light peach with dark orange highlights on the top left are worth 25,000 each. The light pink with green highlights on the top right are worth 50,000 each.

Tags: ChipsWSOP