What Is The Ruling?

I’m sure you’ve made some New Year’s resolutions for 2014. One of mine is to be more organized. With that in mind, I’ve gathered up all the scraps of papers on my desk containing questions from readers and am going to start answering them in this column. Many of the questions I get are about TDA rules and procedures.

Question: While playing in a recent poker tournament, I saw the dealer misread a hand. As he was about to push the pot to the wrong player, I spoke up and pointed out the error. One of the players involved got angry and told me to “Stay out of it! You aren’t even in the hand.” Should I have spoken up like I did?

Answer: Absolutely. TDA rule No. 2, called Player Responsibilities, was added at the most recent TDA Summit and is worded as follows: “Players are expected to verify registration data and seat assignments, protect their hands, make their intentions clear, follow the action, act in turn, defend their right to act, keep cards visible, keep chips correctly stacked, remain at the table with a live hand, speak up if they see a mistake being made, transfer tables promptly, follow one player to a hand, know and comply with the rules, follow proper etiquette, and generally contribute to an orderly tournament.”

I think that it not only is a player’s right to speak up to prevent mistakes, but it is his responsibility. However, be sure that a player’s hand has been fully tabled before you assist the dealer in reading it. Rule No. 13 goes even further by stating: “Dealers cannot kill a hand that was tabled and was obviously the winning hand.”

Question: In a recent tournament, there was no betting on the river. No one wanted to turn up their hand. The dealer said I had to turn up my cards first since I was to the left of the button, Is this the right decision?

Answer: Yes, it was the correct decision. TDA rule No. 16 answers this question as follows: “The last aggressive player on the final betting round (final street) must table first. If there was no bet on the final street, then the player who would be first to act in a betting round must table first (meaning, first seat left of the button in flop games, high hand showing in stud, low hand showing in razz, etcetera).”

Question: If I enter a tournament late, do I get a full stack or one that has been blinded off?

Answer: TDA rule No. 7 clarifies this answer. It says: “Alternates, players registering late, and reentries will be sold full stacks.”

Question: One of the players at my table was constantly stalling and taking an unreasonable amount of time to make his decisions as we were approaching the bubble stage of the tournament. We kept calling the clock on him. The tournament director gave him a full minute to act on his hand each time. Is there anything else that could have been done to the player?

Answer: Yes. TDA rule No. 1 says “Floorpeople must consider the best interest of the game and fairness as top priorities in the decision-making process.” Someone who is stalling continually affects everyone at the table since they don’t get to play as many hands as the other tables. TDA rule No. 27 states that a tournament director has the right to reduce the amount of time a player has to act at his discretion. I once saw a tournament director tell a player that he would only be allowed 30 seconds to act on his hand the next time the clock was called on him.

Question: In a tournament, I didn’t have the correct change, so when faced with a $600 bet, I threw out a one thousand dollar chip and a $100 chip expecting change. The dealer said I had to raise to $1,200. I told him I just wanted to call and wanted a $500 chip as change. The tournament director was called and he backed the dealer and made me raise. I don’t think this was fair; I’ve seen other players do the same thing and not have to raise. What is the rule in this situation?

Answer: Assuming that you didn’t say “call” before the chips hit the felt, I support the tournament director’s decision. Here is the TDA rule: “Betting action should not be used to obtain change. Putting out more than the intended bet can confuse everyone at the table. All chips pushed out silently are at risk of being counted as part of the bet.”
I hope I have been able to answer some common tournament ruling questions. I will try to answer more poker questions in future columns.

Change of subject: I’ve been traveling nonstop lately, mostly on poker cruises. Card Player Cruises has been to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, New Caledonia, Aruba, Curacao, Costa Rica, and Panama in the past six weeks. There are lots more exotic locations scheduled for 2014. The itineraries can be found at www.cardplayercruises.com. Please join me for the vacation of a lifetime. The Heartland Poker Tour takes place January 12-19 and the Card Player Poker Tour will be held on our September 7-14 cruise. There are a wide variety of cash games and tournaments, seminars, parties, and fun on each of the Card Player Cruises trips. ♠

Linda has a WSOP bracelet and is a member of the Poker Hall of Fame. She teaches for WPT Boot Camp and hosts seminars, tournaments, and fundraisers around the country. Her Twitter name is FirstLadyPoker. To contact her, write to [email protected].