Tammy, I deal poker for a living. I've seen things that would make your (and my) stomach turn.
But first, a funny story.
At the Palms as well as many other poker rooms, players can eat at the table. They can either bring food from the food court or order "room service" and have the food delivered to them while they play. We even have at least one player who packs a brown bag lunch EVERY DAY.
Anywhoo, back to the story. An "older" gentleman with a hearing disability was eating a big messy burger while he was playing. A chunk of hamburger transferred from his finger to the cards as he mucked them. I jokingly said "Please don't get BURGER on my cards." The hearing impaired gentleman thought I said "Please don't get BOOGERS on my cards." He was indignant and adamant that he didn't get a booger on the cards. I told him I said BURGER but I couldn't stop laughing.
I've seen people lick their fingers while playing. I've seen people drop a chip in their drink and then proceed to pop the chip in their mouth to suck off the beverage as well as continue drinking the drink.
It all disgusts me.
I try to wash my hand as soon as I get a break from dealing. The chips are filthy. In a lot of cases the table felts and the cards are filthy.
YUCK
On the other hand, there are players who wipe down their section of rail/table with a antiseptic wipe before they start playing. In my opinion that's wasted time since they are still using filthy cards and chips, but who am I to say?