Poker Table Set Recalled After Player’s Finger Chopped Off

When thinking of the potential hazards associated with poker, the things that come to mind are occurrences such as suffering a bad beat or losing your bankroll. Physical harm to your body is seldom a worry when at the poker table; unless you’re stupid enough to interrupt octogenarian Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson’s nap, or you happen to get between arch-enemies Sam Grizzle and Phil “Poker Brat” Hellmuth Jr. when they start throwing punches. But after several serious injuries were reported in connection with a defective poker table set with chairs sold at discount chain department store Wal-Mart, the set has been recalled.

Fingers at Risk

In an announcement at http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2014/Walmart-Recalls-Card-Table-and-Chair-Sets, the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (USCPSC) on its website warned: “The chairs can collapse unexpectedly, posing a fall hazard and a risk of finger injury, including finger amputation.” The set, consisting of a folding metal poker table and four matching folding metal chairs, was manufactured by a Chinese company called Mainstays and retailed in the United States for about $50.

The USCPSC announcement goes on to declare: “this recall involves the Mainstays card table sets with a black padded metal folding table and four black padded metal folding chairs. ‘Made by: Dongguan Shin Din Metal & Plastic Products Co.’ or ‘Made by: Taiwan Shin Yeh Enterprises’ is printed on a white label on the bottom of the chairs. Wal-Mart has received 10 reports of injuries from collapsing chairs. Injury reports include one finger amputation, three fingertip amputations, sprained or fractured fingers and one report of a sore back. Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled card table and chair sets and return the entire set to Wal-Mart for a full refund.”

Faulty Foreign Products

According to the government website, Wal-Mart, which is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas and has thousands of stores nationwide and around the world, sold the product at its stores and online between May and November of 2013. The finger-amputating set is just the latest defective product to come out of China, which has a long history of exporting substandard merchandise to the rest of the world. The issue of defective or dangerous Chinese products first gained worldwide notoriety years ago. It was revealed that millions of children’s toys manufactured in China and exported to the USA and elsewhere were made with paint containing lead, a toxic substance. When some children put the toys in their mouths, they suffered lead poisoning and died. It’s said the difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. Apparently the Chinese can make neither kind of toy properly.