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.

Props to TRG Readers: Getting some good questions about questionable behavior from Card Player readers, so this month’s props go to you. Keep those emails coming!

Verbal Declarations Are Binding (Except When They’re Not)

Dear The Rules Guy,

I’m a regular tournament player, and think of myself as a courteous and polite one. And yet, I recently found myself in two situations that made me question my actions. Both occurred in tournaments, at the same poker room, where dealers and floor guys, though very nice, are known to be less experienced and knowledgeable of rules. Your opinion would be highly appreciated.

Situation No. 1: I made a decent size raise on the big blind (BB) with five limpers. Everyone folded except the small blind (SB). I completely missed the flop. SB checked and I bet. SB put in an amount exactly 1.5 times my bet and, after his chips were in the pot, he said, “I call.” Dealer pushed back his excess chips and announced a call. I stopped him and asked if 1.5 times should constitute a raise. He said the player said, “I call.” The player also said he just wanted to call. I called the floor, told him that the player said, “I call” clearly after his chips had already landed inside the betting area, and asked him to enforce a raise, which he did. Then I re-raised and the player folded. This was the only way I could win the pot. Did I act like a d-bag by insisting on a raise? My opponent clearly thought I did.

Situation No. 2: I was dealt a ripped card which was an ace. I put it under the other card and played the hand as normal. After the hand was over, I showed the dealer the ripped card. He saw it and thanked me. Apparently, for whatever reason, the dealer shuffled the card back into the deck and dealt the next hand. I was now big blind, and the under-the-gun (UTG) player raises big. After two players call and action comes to me, I see the exact same rip on one of UTG’s cards. I’m holding K-Q suited, a hand I’d call with had I not known he was holding at least one ace. Now, I have a piece of information that gives me an unfair advantage over the two callers and even the raiser. I decided that everybody at the table is entitled to the same amount of information, so I went ahead and told the table what I knew. We called the floor, and he ruled that significant action had taken place so the hand would continue. I folded. Flop came A-7-7. Action checked on flop and turn. UTG made a small bet on the river, and the other two folded. The very unhappy UTG showed A-A for a full house. He repeatedly complained that I cost him a lot of chips by sharing the information. What do you think? Is there a rule covering this situation?

— Gentleman Jim

Dear Gentleman Jim:

Your prose sounds like that of someone entitled to the sobriquet “gentleman” so almost by definition, you’re not a d-bag.

There is zero ambiguity about the first situation. Your opponent made a raise. The Rules Guy believes he meant to call, but actions really do speak louder than words. Nearly everyone knows the rule “verbal declarations are binding,” but the “player’s first action is binding action, whether it be a verbal declaration, a commitment of chips towards the pot, or a commonly accepted hand signal for checking or raising” (Rules of Poker, Krieger and Bykofsky). He committed enough chips to constitute a raise, and you are perfectly within your rights to call it a raise.

It was his mistake, and you pounced on it. He has nothing to complain about except his own negligence. Note that if he said, “I call,” and then put 1.5x into the pot, it would have been a call. But he raised, and them’s the breaks.

The second situation is not, frankly, your finest hour, for this reason: In the hand in question, you were playing with a “fouled deck.” Cards that are marked, inadvertently or not, foul the deck (as do identical cards, like A A, or the wrong number of cards). You should have spoken up immediately. If there’s no action, it’s just a misdeal, or your hand could be taken out of play. By pointing out the problem, you’re protecting yourself. If another player had marked the card on purpose or simply noticed it, that player could use the information against you.

The dealer made a regrettable error by not immediately replacing the fouled deck. (Shouldn’t the dealer be switching decks between hands?) Frankly, TRG is not entirely sure of your responsibility during the second hand, when it’s obvious the marked card is still in play. You could have mucked your cards and simply let the hand play out. And while it’s playing out, find a floor person and tell him or her what’s going on so that they get that deck out of play. TRG also doesn’t believe Mr. Pocket Aces should have been too upset – the strength of his hand killed his action almost as much as your declaration.

The only rule here is that the deck is fouled; perhaps you could have called “time” and say you know one of the cards is marked and let the dealer and floor resolve it (which is also not going to sit well with Mr. Pocket Aces). But them’s the breaks.
(The Rules Guy would love to hear from readers if they’ve encountered analogous situations and how they were handled.)

A Game Of Alert, Continuous Observation

Dear The Rules Guy:

In a tournament recently, at the beginning, there was a hand where a player won the blinds. We were onto the next hand when the winner of the previous hand realized the blinds had been posted wrong. Should he get the full amount?

— JJ in Joplin

Dear Triple J:

No, no, no, no, no! No way, no how.

It’s every player’s responsibility to ensure the pot is right, but the second the hand is mucked and the pot is pushed, that hand is done. Yes, the dealer should have noticed if the blinds are short – more importantly, one of the players at the table should have noticed that the blinds are short. Poker doesn’t have professional referees or judges watching every hand for procedural errors. What we do have is a table of players, each with a vested interest in making sure the cards are right, the blinds are right, the bets are right, the pot is right, the winning hand is right. This is a collective responsibility. Any player can say, “Hey, the blinds aren’t right.” But once the cards are mucked and the pot is pushed, it’s over. Done. Finito.

Note: If you’re ever unsure of anything, hang on to your cards. They function as your receipt. When you give them up, you give up your right to a clarification or a correction. ♠