Tiger: Thanks, Mike. This call was made by Tom "TK" Kraus, a floorman at the Tropicana poker room in Atlantic City. TK is a very popular and respected floorman, and is considered by many to be among the best in the business. The Internet poker newsgroup rec.gambling.poker meets at the Tropicana in March of each year, and the members of ATLARGE always request that TK be the one to act as the director of their private stud and no-limit hold'em tourneys.

TK and I got together for a cup of coffee recently. He's played poker and hosted games his entire life, and joined the Tropicana when Will Espin opened the new poker room in July 1996. Dealer, dual rate, and now a floorman, TK told me his way of learning the facts when he is called to a table:

"The first thing I do is station myself behind the dealer. Then, I ask the dealer to tell me what happened."

I interrupted. "Tom? Suppose that the dealer didn't see the error, or has some problem with communication skills?"

"I'll go to the players who are not in the hand. They have no interest in the pot, and are most likely to give me a fair and unbiased version of the facts. Finally, I'll ask the players involved if there's anything that they disagree with, and then I'll make a decision.

"This ruling came up in a seven-card stud tournament, when the limits were $200-$400, the ante was $25, and the bring-in was $50. Player A was the low card and brought it in for $50. Player B raised all in for a total of $125. Player C wanted to raise. I was called to the table and had to decide how much Player C could bet. $200? $325? $400?"

Discussion: Let's start with the well-known rule that an all-in raise of less than half a bet isn't considered a raise. Players who act after that may either call or complete the raise. If there is no completion or other raise, when it gets back to the original bettor, the betting is not reopened. The original bettor may only call.

Compare that to its counterpart rule: An all-in raise of more than half a bet is considered a raise, and does reopen the betting. Under the Tropicana's rule, players acting after that may call or raise a full bet, but may not complete the partial raise.

In this situation, Player B's bet of $125 is more than half of $200. The key is whether it is an all-in "raise" of more than half a bet. TK pointed out some of the factors he considered in reaching the fairest resolution. First, Player B was entitled to action on all of his chips. Next, the players acting after Player C had the reasonable expectation that it would cost only $200 to call the first action after the bring-in. To permit Player C to bet more than $200 would penalize the rest of the players by making them act on more than one bet. Finally, and most importantly, TK ruled that Player C was not allowed to raise, because there had not yet been a completion of the first bet! Player C was only permitted to complete the first bet of $200. TK noted that, under this analysis, the ruling would have been the same if Player B's all-in bet after the bring-in was $75, $125, or $195. Under no circumstances would Player C be permitted to both complete the initial bet and raise to $400.

There was one more issue. I asked, "TK? I understand this ruling in the context of a tournament, where the value of each chip is crucial. You want to protect Player B and the rest of the players who act after Player C. But, what would you do in a ring game?"

"Tiger, my friend, I was waiting for you to ask that. You see, this simply could not happen in a ring game! Under the Tropicana's rules, in order for a player to receive a hand in stud, he must have at least enough chips to constitute one small bet. In a money game with limits of $200-$400, Player B had a total of only $150, and he would not have been dealt in the hand."