A Home-Game Decision

I recently received an e-mail from Alan Hampton of Plano, Texas, asking about a decision in his regular home game (and also wanting to give a "Hey!" to the guys of Royal Troon). Home games are the backbone of poker, but many times those who are running the games aren't up to speed on correct decisions or procedures.



E-mail from Alan:



Everyone folded around to the small blind, who called. In the big blind, I had big suited cards and was preparing to go all in when the dealer prematurely dropped the first card.



Unsure of the rule, each player had varying opinions. The host suggested burning the card and allowing me (in the big blind) to raise. Others said the card stands (casino rules), and the big blind can raise assuming knowledge of the card. The card favored the small blind's hand, so he didn't care either way. The card was of no value to my hand, and I sided with the host's recommendation but accepted the majority opinion on allowing the card, opting to bypass the all in. After all three flop cards were dealt, I went all in and ended up losing to the small blind, who made a pair of nines. My flush may never have happened, but I think the dealer completely stole my betting edge.



Next time, I will be more comfortable if we know the actual rule. Were any of us right?



Note: In Alan's game, the dealer was dealing the flop cards one at a time, instead of the common flop, which is all three cards together. Although this is common in other countries, in the United States, I don't know of any poker room that has its dealers deal the flop one card at a time. Thus, I don't have any concrete rules on how this situation should be treated.



Many times, this happens to the big blind, because he is the last to act before the flop. Sometimes the dealer thinks the big blind said "check," or motioned to check. Sometimes the dealer just pauses, and when the big blind doesn't do anything, he takes that as a check. Many times in these situations, it is assumed that the big blind did not do enough to stop the dealer in a reasonable amount of time and the hand proceeds without the big blind having the option to raise.



In Alan's case, everyone agreed that the dealer continued on quickly, without giving the big blind any time to act or stop him from continuing.



I would have made a different decision than the one made in Alan's game. The one exposed flop card should be set aside by the dealer. At this point, the big blind is given an option to raise. When the action is complete, the dealer should take the next two cards on the deck (which would have been on the flop anyway) and put them on the board as two of the three flop cards. The dealer should then burn a card, and put the next card in the deck out on the flop (this would have been the turn card). Then, the flop betting can take place. The dealer would then burn another card and put the next card from the deck out as the turn card (this would have been the river card). Then, the turn betting can take place. Finally, the dealer should take the card that was put to the side (the prematurely exposed flop card), shuffle it into the remainder of the deck (without using the other mucked cards or burn cards), and then put out the river card (without burning another card). Doing this would leave four of the original five cards on the board, and give the exposed card a chance to reappear.



In Alan's case, the big blind was allowed to raise with the exposed card remaining in play. This was obviously a very bad decision, as the player was allowed to act with knowledge of one of the upcoming cards.



If you are running a home game and are unsure of the rules, do a quick search on the Internet. There are many sites that have rulebooks that you can print and use, including Bob Ciaffone's rules, which are widely used in the industry. The Tournament Directors Association rules are also a good place to start your home-game rulebook.



Michael O'Malley is the poker room manager for Partygaming.com and can be reached at [email protected]. His website is updated regularly at http://www.rzitup.com/.