The Rules Guy: How To Conduct Yourself at the Poker Table

Most players learn poker’s explicit rules pretty quickly: the “one-chip rule,” for example, or “verbal declarations are binding.” But not everyone seems to have digested the game’s vast book of unwritten rules, admonitions like “don’t berate other players (particularly bad ones)” or “say ‘nice hand’ even when you mean something entirely different.”

Enter “The Rules Guy.” TRG believes that civility and sportsmanship are never wrong, and that bad behavior (even when you’re simply trying to get an edge) is bad for the game. What’s wrong? What’s right? What’s an angle? Got a question about how to behave at the poker table (or a comment about a column)? Email TRG at [email protected].

Dear The Rules Guy,

In a $1-3 no-limit hold’em cash game at the Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore, the under-the-gun (UTG) player, who had accumulated twice the maximum buy-in of $300, raised to $10. It folded to me in middle position. I was short-stacked with $90 and raised to $30. The player to my immediate left, who had about $200 behind, made it $75. It then folded to the button, who had $80 and went all-in. The blinds folded and action returned to the initial raiser – who became confused.

He asked the dealer if he called, “What would they be able to do?” [meaning me and the player on my left]. The dealer said, “I can’t tell you what their options are. I can only tell you what you can do.” It appeared that the UTG player wanted to call, but was unsure about how much additional action a call might expose him to.

The player protested: “But I’m asking a question about the rules. You can’t tell me what the rules are?” The dealer repeated: “I can’t tell you what they are able to do.” Not receiving an answer, the UTG player mucked his cards.

Does it make sense that the dealer can’t answer the UTG player’s rules question during play of a hand? Suppose the UTG player articulated his question more precisely, such as “Can that player on my left move all-in against me if the button’s all-in bet is more than a call but less than a minimum raise?” Would a dealer be able to answer this more precise rules question?

Also, I remained completely silent, as did the two other players in the hand, during this exchange. This seems appropriate to me given there is four-way action and none of us should be influencing a decision that could affect the others.

Thanks,

— Joe in Baltimore

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Dear Joe in Baltimore:

Before The Rules Guy delves into the specifics, let’s start with the absolutely key takeaway of this question for every poker player:

If you don’t know the rules, someday you’re going to make a mistake that could lead you to lose a big bet, or stack off, or kiss your tournament goodbye.

The middle of the hand is not the time to be trying to understand the rules of poker, as this scenario demonstrates.

Let’s break down the action:

• UTG player raises to $10; that is, he raises the $3 big blind by $7 for a total bet of $10.
• Joe, you make it $30 (a raise of $20).
• Next player makes it $75, a raise of $45.
• Button moves in for $80 – not a raise because it does not exceed the $45 raise of the other player.
• Blinds fold and UTG/villain is stuck in a morass of indecision.

TRG is sure you’re right that (a) he wants to call $70 (the bet is $80 from the button minus the $10 he initially bet) but (b) he’s afraid that you or the guy on your left will reraise. What he clearly doesn’t know — and which the dealer clearly cannot tell him — is that you can’t reraise nor can the player to your left.

Of course you can “raise” all-in for $90 total, but you can’t raise in a way that reopens the betting: You started with $90 so you have $60 behind. In order to reopen the betting, you’d need to raise in the amount of “the largest bet or raise of the current round” (as it’s stated in most rules books), but you’d only have $10 behind after calling the $50—not nearly enough for a full raise. Since you can’t raise, the guy to your left can’t reopen the betting because he can’t raise himself.

Bottom line: If UTG calls, the maximum he’d potentially have to call in this round would be the $10 you’d shove if you were planning to stay in the hand. (If you fold, then the player on your left would call the additional $5 and the action is complete.)

This lengthy analysis shows why the dealer cannot tell him what your options were. No one would sit idly by if another player said, “Look, dude, Seat 6 can’t raise and Seat 7 can’t raise unless you raise, so just call the bet.”

The UTG player isn’t asking a rules question; he’s asking a strategy question. No one would or should tolerate strategy input during a hand from a dealer or anyone else. By all means help a player with procedural issues. A newbie might well ask “Can I just call?” and anyone including the dealer can say yes (though TRG suggests making it even generic: “Your options are call, raise, or fold”). (A common scenario: someone reraises all in, and the original bettor “has” to call because of pot odds. No one should say “you have to call, bro”; he might fold if left to his own devices, but it must always be his decision.)

It’s the player’s responsibility to either understand the consequences or his or her actions or accept the consequences if he or she fails to anticipate them. For anyone else to opine on what could happen would be to violate poker’s cardinal rule: One player per hand.

By framing the issue differently, the answer is even more clear. Let’s say the UTG player wants to call, thinks the betting is closed, but you actually have $160 behind, not $60. He says call and puts out $80, then you raise all in, and the three-bettor shoves all in with his last $125. The UTG protests, saying, “I didn’t know he could raise.” No player on earth would suggest he be able to take back his $70 call. He has to be prepared for that eventuality, and if he feels he can’t call a reraise, he has to fold.

Now let’s say the UTG player is honestly unsure of the rules here, which seems reasonable. He could ask for counts of your stack and the guy to your left so that at least he’s cognizant of what his liability is.

Dealers must be utterly impartial when it comes to procedural matters. The dealer can say what a player’s options are, which are some subset of these four things: bet, call, raise, or fold. The dealer can count a bet or a stack when asked, but would never volunteer such information. Nor can the dealer say something, “It’s just $25 more to call.”

Kudos, by the way, to you and your fellow players for staying quiet during this hand. It’s fine for players to weigh in on procedural issues and point out mistakes (one issue that seems contentious but shouldn’t be is pointing out the best tabled hand). Let the dealer run the game, and let each player make his or her own mistakes.

Note that TRG isn’t suggesting punishing newbies; we should all welcome beginning players. But we don’t need to teach them strategy. Let them learn it on their own. ♠