March 30, 2008 by dc_rocker.

Hello TDs,

I was talking to a friend who is also a TD about strange situations that have or may come to happen during tourneys and we came across a possible tough scenario:

Imagine that sometime well into the tournament, when players have already built large chipstacks, an uncontrolled guy takes on a pretty bad beat, flips out and hits the table so hard that all of the chipstacks fall or get mixed together.

I mean, imagine a situation where all of the chips on a table fall on the ground (for example a large guy’s shoelaces are untied and he falls over the table).

There’s just been a dealer push, the new dealer has no idea of all those player’s stacks and there’s no such thing as a live Cardplayer coverage to keep track of chipcounts. Also,the tournament is not being held on a casino with cameras everywhere.

How would you handle the situation? =)
Best regards,

D.C.

Brazilian Series of Poker

Posted in Chaos: Sloppy Mgmt of Tables & Tournament, Money & Chips | Print | 2 Comments »

March 27, 2008 by spike.

I sometimes see the following betting stile without no betting line on the table.
Someone hold large amount of chips and putting small amout of money like (500-1000 blinds) 1000 side by side continuously in front of him and make 5000 ( he still have amount of chips on his hand) and finally it is allowed as raise.

The situation is ;

1) He does not say anything.

2) There are no betting line so that who knows he is counting his chips in his personal area or betting.

3) during putting small amount of chips side by side, he may possibly see other players’ reaction and can change the betting amount.

In this situation, his betting way is stringbet or not? Please let us some hint or answer.

Thanks,

Posted in Bets, Min Raise, StringBet, Fwd Motion, Act Out-Of-Turn | Print | 4 Comments »

March 26, 2008 by frenchflush.

Hello pros (& Mike)!

Here are 2 cases of late request for rights … I know thoses situation allready had been traited but can’t we find a final & clear solution to manage it?

1) During any betting round of no limit hold’em: A bets 100 - B just think about what to do - C (forgetting B) calls - D  calls - E calls - then B finally react and ask for his right to play … I KNOW: the rule says that if 3 players or more acted after you, you loose your rights to act … but here what does it means?  DOES B CAN’T EVEN CALL? Is he definitively OUT OF THE HAND? (in fact what means EXACTLY the word “act”  here?).

2) During any betting round of no limit hold’em: A raises 500 - B folds - C folds -D folds - E is still in the hand but his cards are on the table behind his chips and the dealer don’t see it and declare A winner of the pot … so A throws his cards face down and the dealer mix it with the muck and start pushing the chips to A … before any chip of the pot was mixed to A stack, E react, says he still have a hand and calls for his rights! I KNOW: the cards of E should have been more visible … but do you definitively kill his hand for that or choose any average solution (like a split?)?

 TY

Posted in Substantial Action, Fouled Hands, Chaos: Sloppy Mgmt of Tables & Tournament, Mucking, Dead Hands, Etc, Bets, Min Raise, StringBet, Fwd Motion, Act Out-Of-Turn | Print | 5 Comments »

March 26, 2008 by Deadman.

Hello all,

I have seen a number of posts that ask questions about best methods to handle late arrivals and managing prize pools in regards to on-time attendance, and no-shows. Sometimes these questions are regarding official casino and card room policies, but many times these pertain to home run or private run tournaments (bar leagues, etc). My expertise (if I could call it that) lies in the latter.

As someone who has run home games of one sort or another for 15 years and has been running a successful and consistent monthly tournament for over 4 years (without missing a single month), I thought I would offer a standard we came up with for this that has been wildly successful over the last year or so. It has also relieved a lot of headaches from the lack of method or less developed methods we had used in the past.

1. Although we do have an RSVP list, we do not use a pre-registration method that collects entry fees prior. In the home / private game world, this is not always a trusted method by the players who certainly prefer to pay fees on the day of the game.

2. We switched from a punishment method affecting late arrivals, to a reward method affecting on-time players. This has proven to be a huge success and rarely do we have stragglers anymore (details to follow).

3. We did our best to make most all situations “black-and-white”. This is important in home / private game play where newcomers, guests, and others may feel slighted by special treatment of the regulars, “inner circle”, etc (whether it exists or not).

4. For late arrivals entered, we draw a seat, place chips at the table and blind them as the rounds come. This guarantees everyone is aware of the “place” in the game, their entry in the prize pool, and the accuracy of their chip loss for late arrival.

5. No one is seated without entry into the prize pool (late arrival details to follow). This eliminates the situation of holding a seat for a player, only to find they are a no-show and the prize pool is down one entry fee.

So, how do we do it? Below is our standard rules that have so far managed to accomplish the goals and results above. I hope they are helpful and provide some new ideas to those out there that run regular games and tournaments.

—————–

All players who have ARRIVED (not valid for Call-ins), signed in, PAID their entry fee, and drawn their seating card by 4:45pm will start with $3,000 of no-value tournament chips  (a 25% “on-time bonus” of $600 as a reward for punctuality), and the tournament will start as promptly as possible at or after 5:00pm. 

CALL-IN LATE ARRIVAL PROCEDURE:

In order to be a guaranteed entry and have a seat in the tournament, you must be in attendance and have received your chips.  For anyone running late, we have set up the following CALL-IN procedure.  This will be the CLOSEST and ONLY way that you may have a seat, without being in attendance by the time of the first hand. The first hand will be dealt as close to the 5:00pm start time as tournament directors determine feasible.  If a player has not yet arrived, but wishes to be entered and seated in the tournament, he/she must understand and agree to the following: 

1.  Player must have someone in attendance that is willing and able to cover his/her entrance fee in cash.  This can be any individual, but the entrance fee will not be covered by the “house”.  Player is accepting the responsibility of payment of debt to the individual that covered his/her entrance, regardless of any circumstance or whether the player ever made it to the tournament at all, or in time to play a hand.  This is to be handled between the player and said individual as a personal debt.  The “house” accepts no responsibility or liability to this debt. 

2.  Player must call in to make arrangements at least 10 minutes prior to first hand being dealt. 

3.  Player must be willing to be blinded and folded appropriately until his/her arrival. 

4.  The “house” reserves the right to decline seating for players not in attendance for any number of reasons (e.g. it would require adding another table to the game, already have too many call-in entries, tournament has enough players, etc.). 

5.  Entry and Seating Stipulations:

Being on the reservation list does not guarantee a call-in seat.  Reserved seats are “up for grabs” and are no longer reserved for any player not in attendance by 4:45pm.

Players in attendance (reserved or otherwise) will be seated with priority over call-ins.

A call-in seat is not guaranteed.  Player may lose the seat, for any number of reasons, prior to the first hand being dealt.  Player will not owe any entrance fee in this circumstance and cash will be returned to the individual that covered any such fee. 

6.  Once the first hand is dealt, all call-in seats are guaranteed for life of chip stack and/or tournament. 

Please do note that these rules and the tournament starting time may be STRICTLY followed.  We can offer no breaks for friends, as most of us are friends.

——————

 I hope someone finds this helpful. Questions or comments are welcome.

-Deadman

Posted in Late Registration, Missing Players Etc, Start Chips, Blind Raising Structure, Tourney Timing, Registration, Buy-Ins, & Awards, Tournament Directors, Event Structure & Management, Seating & Moving Players | Print | No Comments »

March 24, 2008 by hobbit56.

We are thinking of eliminating the small blind in a 2-4 no limit game as a way to possibly increase our business. I work in a Tribal Casino with little local traffic. Has anyone tried this before and what might I expect the ramifications to be.

Posted in Bets, Min Raise, StringBet, Fwd Motion, Act Out-Of-Turn | Print | 3 Comments »

March 23, 2008 by gmsupertech.

New to game.   In heads up play is the dealer always the small blind and acts first?

Posted in Heads Up Play | Print | 3 Comments »

March 22, 2008 by kball40.

Heads up play on the river player B goes all-in and keeps his hand face down. Without acting, player A releases his hand inside the betting perimiter face up and announces his hand. Payer B then turns his hand face up and says player A’s hand is dead because he didn’t call the bet. After the fact, it is established that Player A has a straight and player B has two pair. Should player A have a right to act on his hand or should the hand be mucked?

Posted in All-In Bets; Re-Opening Betting, Side-Pots, Split Pots, Fouled Hands, Exposed Cards, Hand Discussion, Etc., Official Rules & Guidelines, General, Chaos: Sloppy Mgmt of Tables & Tournament, Mucking, Dead Hands, Etc, Showdowns & Pot Awarding, Etiquette, Behavior, Play Procedures & Penalties | Print | 1 Comment »

March 20, 2008 by frenchflush.

Hello,

Even if a great defender of the unification of the world poker rules, I’m a bad student in some points!

When ruling a tournament I use to make a speech to the players BEFORE IT STARTS to explain them what will be the SPECIAL RULES of the event. I really hate having too much spécial rules and love to stick to the TDA & RRs … but some home rules make it SO EASIER FOR EVERYBODY (staff & players) to work and unjoy the tournament.

Here is one I do:

The RRs says: (section 2 - house policies) in decision making:

3. The proper time to draw attention to a mistake is when it occurs or is first noticed. Any delay may affect the ruling.

5. A ruling may be made regarding a pot if it has been requested before the next deal starts (or before the game either ends or changes to another table). Otherwise, the result of a deal must stand. The first riffle of the shuffle marks the start for a deal.

6. If a pot has been incorrectly awarded and mingled with chips that were not in the pot, and the time limit for a ruling request given in the previous rule has been observed, management may determine how much was in the pot by reconstructing the betting, and then transfer that amount to the proper player.  

 WE CHANGE THAT TO THIS HOUSE TOURNAMENT RULE: A ruling may be made regarding a pot if it has been requested before the pot is AWARDED! So management NEVER have to determine how much was in the pot by reconstructing the betting, and NEVER have to transfer that amount to the proper player!

The raisons:

1) The time between the moment the pot is awarded and the moment the dealer starts shuffling the card is so little that this house rule do not affect the right of the player wanting to request for a ruling (he do not have anymore something like 15 seconds to react but only 13!).

2) So many time no one at the table was able to reconstruct the pot correctly (no the dealers, not the players) … going to big losses of time & complicated situations!

3) This home rule go in the same spirit than the rule about the delay to bet (betting & raising 12): “failure to stop the action before three or more players have acted behind you may cause you to lose the right to act” : PLAYERS HAVE RIGHTS BUT THEY MUST USE IT IN A LIMITED TIME!

Believe me: this rule changed the life of all my dealers & floor managers: THEY LOVE IT AND LOVE ME FOR USING IT!

Another close spirit house rule: Once all the chips of a betting round had been pushed in the CENTER POT by the dealer: the pot is definitively declared COMPLETED and no one can claim for a missing bet (even if obvious) if all the players still in the hand pretend to have paid their part (unless a gentleman declare he forgot to pay)!

THOSES ARE ONLY HOUSE RULES AND DO NOT PRETEND TO BE SOMETHING ELSE!

PS: about the time limit to act this exemple:

After the flop A is missed By B who open-bet with C, D and E calling him … ok A can’t “act” anymore … meaning he can’t even call and is out right?

TY for you help & opinion

GG

Posted in House Rules Different from Standard, Official Rules & Guidelines, General, Incorrect Pot Awards, Showdowns & Pot Awarding | Print | 2 Comments »

March 19, 2008 by lnufnu.

Is a player allowed to expose his/her hole cards with action still pending?  Should a player do this, what happens to his/her cards?  Are they dead?

Posted in Exposed Cards, Hand Discussion, Etc., Fouled Hands, Official Rules & Guidelines, General, Mucking, Dead Hands, Etc, Etiquette, Behavior, Play Procedures & Penalties | Print | 1 Comment »

March 19, 2008 by weazel.

I just spent 13 months deployed overseas, and there was a ton of Hold Em played.  The only problem with the rules came up when there was a discussion about button and blind procedures when one or both of the blinds are eliminated on a hand.  For example: if player A is on the button, B is SB and C is BB, and D is to the left of BB, and players B and C are eliminated on this one hand.  On the next hand, from what I understand, A would retain the button and D would be the BB, with no SB.  The next hand, A would retain the button once more, D would be the SB, and the player to his left would be BB.  After this hand, the button would move to D, and the button and blinds would continue as normal.  This is based on the idea that nobody will miss the big blind.

The opposing viewpoint provided by one of my friends said that the button will not be held by a player more than one hand in a row, due to him having the advantage of position more than one time in a row.  His method was to move the button to D, have D pay big blind along with the player to his left, and other players pay blinds for the next couple of hands until the blinds were caught up due to B and C leaving and creating that void to start this whole mess.

If anybody can point us in the right direction, please do so.  If this is specifically addressed in any rule books that you know about, please let me know.  The next buy in is riding on the resolution of this issue.  Thanks for any help anybody can provide.

wzl

Posted in Official Rules & Guidelines, General, Buttons & Blinds, Texas Holdem | Print | 1 Comment »