Contracts And Poker: The Rules Of The Game

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During the broadcast of final table play at the $50,000 buy-in WSOP Poker Players Championship on PokerGO, after Chris Brewer was knocked out in fifth place, one of the announcers, amazed at the endurance of this no-limit hold’em specialist, reported that at the start of play “he was literally asking for the rules for some of the games.”

This raises an interesting question: During the play of a hand, are you allowed to ask what the rules of the game are?

It may seem odd to play a game when you are not sure of the rules, but this particular event is a mixed game event. The number of games played has fluctuated over the years. It started out as a H.O.R.S.E. (five-game) event, then went to eight games (except for one year in which 10 games were played), and this year was played for the first time with nine games. Can you name them? They are:

No-Limit Hold’em
Seven Card Stud
Omaha Eight-Or-Better
Razz
Pot-Limit Omaha
Limit Hold’em
Stud Eight-Or-Better
No-Limit 2-7 Lowball
2-7 Triple Draw

More importantly, do you feel secure that you know the rules for all of them? For example, in Stud, if you have a pair showing on fourth street, can you bet either the smaller or bigger limit?

To determine whether we may ask what the rules of the game are, we might start with one of the vaguer WSOP tournament rules, Rule 116 Table Talk/Disclosure, because it seems to me that asking a question about the rules might also give away information about the content of your hand.

“Participants may not: a. Disclose contents of live or folded hands.”

Incidentally, the Tournament Directors Association rule is similar but has a crucial difference – it states that players may not discuss [rather than disclose] the content of hands. It seems that the TDA rule is broader in its prohibition on what you can say.

For example, in stud, assume that on sixth street (with four cards up and two down) one player is showing four to a straight and another is showing four to a flush. The player with four to a straight asks, “Does a straight beat a flush?”

If the player has a straight, is that disclosing his hand? If he does not have a straight, is it permissible to say that? Is the question considered ‘discussing the hand?’

This example also illustrates why telling a player what the rules are might be controversial. If the other player has a flush, then she does not want the question to be answered.

Rather than risk disclosing the contents of his hand, can a player simply pull a copy of the rules out of his pocket during the play of a hand and look up the rule? The WSOP rule on point is Rule 64. Approved Electronic Devices. It states in Part c:
Participants are prohibited from using betting apps, gaming charts, or any poker information tool while involved in a hand.

Curiously, this prohibition falls under “approved electronic devices,” but I think here the rule of interpretation would be that the heading is just for convenience and was not intended to limit the form of information prohibited. So I think paper solver charts would be prohibited, as well as those accessed on a phone.

Also, it could be argued that the prohibition of “any information tool” was not intended to prohibit all sources of information but only tools that are similar to the first two that were enumerated – betting apps and gaming charts – and the rules of the game are not similar to those. But since the rules of the game are indeed “poker information,” it is possible that a Tournament Director could prohibit access under this rule.

However, the player who wanted to access the rules might have another out. The exception to this rule in 64.c.1. states:

1. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Participants may utilize the Bravo Poker Live registration app, WSOP.com, or Caesars Mobile Sports App while involved in a hand as use of these applications does not give an unfair advantage to the participant.

So, a player can use the WSOP.com app during the play of the hand.

It is a bit hard to locate, but on the app, I was able to find the rules of each game.
Follow this sequence:

Click on the menu at the top left
Click on anything
Click on the menu at the top right
Select WSOP LAS VEGAS
Select 2021 WSOP
Scroll to the end
Click on the pdf of 2021 WSOP Tournament Rules
Scroll down to Section IX Tournament Game Formats
Voila!

Under Stud, you will see the answer to the question posed at the beginning of this column:

“When an open pair is showing on Fourth Street, the second up card, a Participant does not have the option of betting either the lower or the upper limit.”

That’s right, it may come as news to some of you that in stud tournaments, they have eliminated the double bet for open pairs on fourth street. Instead, players must bet with the lower limit.

By the way, one caveat. Rule 64 provides that electronic devices are not permitted at the final table, so you may not be able to access the rules at that time. But if you get that far, as Chris Brewer did, hopefully you will have mastered the rules by then. ♠

Scott J. Burnham is Professor Emeritus at Gonzaga University School of Law in Spokane, Washington. He can be reached at [email protected].