The Poker Card Guard - Why do you need one?

The reason is two fold. The main reason people use card guards or card protectors is so their hand will not be declared "dead" while they're still in a hand. You see, poker involves money and where there's money there are cheaters. Casinos and card rooms, as well as players in home games need a way to protect themselves from cheats so they came up with a simple rule, if another player's cards touch your cards and you don't have something on top of your cards then your cards are folded too. You see, a good cheat could fold his hand to his partner at the table and then suddenly, well a King 2 and a King 3 just turned into pocket kings and the 2 and 3 go into the muck. Under the rule of "if another players cards touch yours" both the king 2 and king 3 would go into the muck avoiding this. Not to say everyone is a cheat but this is why you need one. If your cards are being protected by your poker chip or your poker novelty card cover then the dealer can clearly see whose cards are whose and thus you don't wind up out of a pot you should be in.

The other reason poker card guards have become popular is because they make really cool poker novelty products. You can walk into your local card room and start a conversation with someone about how great their cover is. It's like sunglasses and belt buckles. They're cool to own.