November 19, 2008 by PurePoker.

Hi Guys,

been an avid reader of this blog for quite some time and thought I should post a couple of questions that I have run into over the last couple of months.

Guy in middle position declares All-In and places his remaining chips (about 10 pieces) on top of his cards and moves them towards the middle over the betting line. Guy on the Dealer button calls, Big-Blind calls as well, both have more chips. The bets are collected and the flop is layed out. While BB considers his options, suddenly the person all-in says: “Where are my cards?” The dealer realizes he has mucked the cards, because they layed on the wrong side of the betting line.
How would you rule?

Somebody on the table folds his cards so strongly, they fly into the cards of another player. The dealer cannot identify whoch cards where folded.
What is your ruling?

Somebody is playing aroung with his chips, holding a large amount in his hand. Suddenly he drops the chips in his hand and the fall into the stack of his neighbor. It is not possible to identify which chips belong to which player.
What should the TD do?

Thanks,
Denis
Pure Poker Lounge

Posted in Collusion, Cheating, Etc., Chip Counts of Pot & Opponents Stacks, Fouled Decks, Missing Cards, etc., Dealers Responsibilities, Errors, Partial Faults, Etc., Fouled Hands, All-In Bets; Re-Opening Betting, Side-Pots, Split Pots, Dealer Errors, Bad Flops, Etc., Etiquette, Behavior, Play Procedures & Penalties, Mucking, Dead Hands, Etc, Texas Holdem | Print | No Comments »

June 24, 2008 by coldtalk.

Recently we had a discussion about raises and all in situation. Main issue was if one player (A) bets 200 $ and next one (B) goes all in 290 $, does this opens the betting for third player (C) and could he raise A, or only to call 290. My opinion is that there is a option for a C to raise an A because he must have an option to raise, to call, or to fold, since he had not played anything. What would be the right decision? I am aware of minimum raises and all in situation but this is for me a bit illogically that if a player is on turn to play that he has not an all options.

Posted in All-In Bets; Re-Opening Betting, Side-Pots, Split Pots, Bets, Min Raise, StringBet, Fwd Motion, Act Out-Of-Turn, Texas Holdem | Print | 12 Comments »

May 26, 2008 by Rising300.

Ok, here is what happened:

I am called over, player A raises, player B grabs a stack of $25 chips, starts moving forward with chips to call this bet, and then really quickly Player C reraises, at this point, I’m sure he’s thinking “heck no” so he quickly pulls back his bet (which was about semi completed) and mucks his hand. I am called over.

The hand was mixed into the muck, so I said “well you made a motion to call, he is acting on behalf that he thinks you are calling, so I have to make you put in the $300″ However, I had him whisper his hand to me, and i looked in the muck, and found them to be the bottom two cards.

I don’t like to dig in the muck, but our rule says “if there is a misunderstanding, i can dig in the muck and retrieve a hand”. Player B kinda was the culprit here as he started to call, but didn’t drop say the last batch of greens, and then when player C reacts on it, he quickly takes it back.

I got lucky in this situation as his hand, the 8,5 of clubs were the bottom two cards in the muck. Did I open up a can of worms on this ruling? The dealer told me that he started to cut out chips, wasn’t quiet done and then quickly retracted.

Posted in Chip Counts of Pot & Opponents Stacks, Gross Misunderstandings, Underbets, etc, Bets, Min Raise, StringBet, Fwd Motion, Act Out-Of-Turn, Texas Holdem | Print | 3 Comments »

May 24, 2008 by coldtalk.

This has happened in cash game.Player A is all in on the flop and there is a two calls from B nad C.On turn B bets 100 euro and C raise 100.B calls and on the river B bets 100 again,C raise 400 and B fold.The flop is :A,2,4 turn is 5 and river is 8.When B folds C throw his cards in front of him but over the line and and one cards hit the burn cards but on the top of the burn cards,not mixed.After that player A asks for a fold and in moment dealer is telling the C that there is an another player in game and C says that he has not seen the player A cards because he did cover his cards with the money wanted to change in chips.First card that is in front of him C turns an it is a 3 and then the dealer turns the other card which is an 7.Still A wants to be declared as a fold and he refuse to open his cards.Inspector has decided after a video check and after a long talking and trying to split the main pot between two of the them,and A still insisting on fold and C waiting for a decision that is a fold and gave the pot to player A.Player C says that he has not seen his cards and that he has no reason to fold.

My opinion is that I will not give the pot to player A and ask for him to show the cards and if it is a winning hand than it is ok.I would like you an opinion of what would be a good decision.

Posted in Fouled Hands, Incorrect Pot Awards, Collusion, Cheating, Etc., Exposed Cards, Hand Discussion, Etc., Table Layouts, Betting Lines, Etc., Chaos: Sloppy Mgmt of Tables & Tournament, Showdowns & Pot Awarding, Bets, Min Raise, StringBet, Fwd Motion, Act Out-Of-Turn, Dealer Errors, Bad Flops, Etc., Etiquette, Behavior, Play Procedures & Penalties, Mucking, Dead Hands, Etc, Texas Holdem | Print | 2 Comments »

May 4, 2008 by Rising300.

Ok, so I hear a few Las Vegas rooms adopting a new practice on how to handle 4 card flops, and I kinda like it. We may do it here too in our big strip room.

If a dealer flops out 4 cards, instead of shuffling everything back in and many times getting the nowhere near the same flop, let’s take those 4 cards, give them a good scramble, take the top three, and plop them down as a flop. Then, that last card the dealer has will simply be an exposed burn card. This way there is a good chance that at least 2 of the 3 cards that would have originally come out do come back, and maybe even that would be the original flop.

It makes sense, let’s say a guy has AK, another pair of 9s, flop is all rags, but 4 cards, and then everything is shuffled back in, and AK all the sudden pairs on the “new” flop. I just think this method is more fair.

Opinions?

Posted in Fouled Hands, Gross Misunderstandings, Underbets, etc, Limit, No-Limit, Pot Limit, Dealer Errors, Bad Flops, Etc., Misdeals, Texas Holdem | Print | 4 Comments »

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 »

January 1, 2008 by nestg.

So I was dealing a tournament and the button was in the 2 seat. The table was 10 handed and two seats were blind stacks. Both seats were paid for but neither player was in their seats. Player “A” was the small bind of 100 and was in the 3 seat. Player “B” was in the large blind and in seat 4. The rule in our poker room is that if a player is no “At his/her seat by the time the last card is dealt to the dealer button, they’re hand is dead.” In this situation everyone, including the button, folded to the dead blinds. I know this seems silly but it actually happened.

 Confused I called the floor as I was unaware of what to do since there was no eligable perosn to win the pot. I was unsure whether to push the pot to the dead big blind or refund both blinds as a “chop” like in a cash game. The floor ruled that the person on the button, despite the lack of paying attention was the last person to have a live hand and therefore should be awarded the pot. So the person who was on the button, who also did not have a hand, was awarded the 300 chip pot.

Online I have seen this happen and in this case Player B would be awarded the pot. Since they were in the big blind. Imagine if there were ante’s involved or it was later in the tournament.

How would this be ruled on in other poker rooms? Does any of the TDA rules cover this? Has anyone else ever seen this happen?

Thanks!

Posted in Showdowns & Pot Awarding, Incorrect Pot Awards, Buttons & Blinds, Mucking, Dead Hands, Etc, Money & Chips, Texas Holdem | Print | 2 Comments »

December 30, 2007 by Mayhem_VI.

  I’ve run a couple H.O.R.S.E. Tourneys and participated in a couple of live games.  The issue always comes up regarding the placement of the button, and I have a simple solution.  Keep moving the button through the Razz, Stud and Stud/8 games and keep dealing to the left of the button.  After the last hand of Stud/8, the button gets moved, and the two players to the immediate left post the small and big blinds respectively.  It doesn’t matter who got knocked out of the tournament, who got moved to another table, or who left (or came into) the live game.

  Now, every time I’ve made this suggestion, it gets rejected immediately, and I don’t know why.   Finally, Roland Waters at the Wildhorse PRU suggested that I come here.  I think I’m getting him convinced, but he says when he brings it up with others in the TDA (again) they shake their head and change the subject.  As a system, it has worked like a charm in my tournaments and after watching closely and getting feedback from my players, I still don’t see a downside.  Personally, I like a button in Stud tournaments anyway as it takes away any advantage/disadvantge to the players sitting on either side of the dealer (I, myself, have a pathological hatred for the seat to the dealers right, and this system clears that right up). 

  Anyway, I would like some feedback on this.  And do me a favor please.  At least give it a try or a simulation before you tell me how full of crap I am.  Thanx.

Posted in Lowball & Razz, Start Chips, Blind Raising Structure, Tourney Timing, Official Rules & Guidelines, General, H.O.R.S.E. Variations, Buttons & Blinds, Tournament Directors, Event Structure & Management, Omaha, Other Games, 5 and 7-Card Stud, Texas Holdem | Print | 3 Comments »

December 28, 2007 by farrell.

I was dealing a NL hold’em tournament and accidentally burned two cards and turned over the flop.

what should be the ruling?  how should the rest of the hand be played?

thanks for your help!

farrell

Posted in Official Rules & Guidelines, General, Dealer Errors, Bad Flops, Etc., Texas Holdem | Print | 3 Comments »

December 19, 2007 by wiredaces14.

I ran into an interesting situation at a table of a Pot-Limit Omaha game that I was looking for clarification on.  In a Pot Limit game, as a dealer I know to calculate any “pot” verbal as a pot size raise.  NOW, I had a player state “I bet the pot”, meaning that he did not intend to raise the pot size, but rather bet the size of the current pot.

 Scenario:  $1-$2 Pot Limit.  $24 in pot Pre-Flop.  After the flop, Player A Bets $16 and Player B states “I bet the pot”, but when I announced his raise as a total of $72 ($24+16bet+16call= raise of 56).  In this case the player’s intention was to bet the current amount of the pot (which would be $40).

Is this a legal bet??  As a dealer this creates some grey area to the pot size bet, and I have never run into this issue before, and didn’t think this was even a legal bet.  IMO if a player intends to raise any amount other than a full pot size raise, it is their responsibility to calculate their intended raise and give a numerical value.  What is next? I bet 3/4 of the pot plus 2? 

As a dealer I know verbals to be binding.  If a player states fold, they surrender their hand, If they state call they must meet the current bet, and if a player states the word “pot” they must make a full pot-size raise.

 Responses Appreciated.

Posted in Limit, No-Limit, Pot Limit, Bets, Min Raise, StringBet, Fwd Motion, Act Out-Of-Turn, Texas Holdem | Print | 2 Comments »