You're the Decision-Maker

It's time again to get back to the basics of decision-making. E-mails arrive in my inbox regularly from players asking about particular decisions and wanting to know what the "correct" ruling should be. I don't claim to know all of the answers, but I enjoy the brainteasers. "Willy" sent me an e-mail recently to describe two situations that happened in his local cardroom. Here they are:

Situation No. 1: The game is hold'em. On the river, player No. 1, who has been betting the whole way, bets again. Players No. 2 and No. 3 fold, and the dealer announces, "Winner," as he starts pushing the pot to player No. 1. Then, three things happen all at once: Player No. 1 mucks as player No. 4 says, "What about me?" and the dealer scoops player No. 1's hand into the muck.

As the floorman, what ruling would you make?

The most important thing to do before making this decision is to get the correct information. Ask the dealer for a rundown of what exactly happened, including at what point player No. 4 announced that he still had a hand. In the situation Willy described, it appears that player No. 4 announced he still had a hand before he had a chance to notice what was happening. Had the dealer pushed the pot to player No. 1 and started to scramble the cards (starting a new hand), player No. 1 should be awarded the pot. In this situation, I would rule that player No. 4 would be entitled to the pot, as he was the only player left with a live hand. It is a player's responsibility to hold on to his cards until he has the pot, and also to be aware of the action and how many players are involved in the hand. Player No. 1 bet, and he should have waited for all of the three other players to act. With that said, you don't want to allow someone to shoot an angle. If the player who still had a hand waited intentionally, hid his cards, or in any way tried to deceive player No. 1 into mucking his hand, I would rule that player's hand dead and award the pot to player No. 1.

Situation No. 2: The game is Omaha high. Preflop, everyone folds to the button, who starts to make a bet. He has exactly the correct amount of chips in his hand to call, is about to call, has his hand in position to drop the chips, and then looks over and realizes that it's a good time to steal, and goes back to his stack, grabs more chips, and says, "Raise."

Would you allow this player to raise?

This is a situation in which the rules of a specific cardroom would take precedence. Some cardrooms have a rule that states if a player makes a forward motion with chips and crosses some imaginary line, he can bet with only that amount of chips – a call, in this case. There are also rules in place that state a player may bet only those chips that he brings out in front of him. I don't like those rules, and I advocate that as long as the player doesn't release the chips onto the table, he can do whatever he wants. Why shouldn't a player be allowed to make a raise after everyone folds? The rules that are in place to prevent a player from going back to his stack are there so that a player cannot gauge what is going to happen behind him. If everyone folds to the player on the button and he looks over to see that the player in the big blind looks like he is going to raise, he might bring those chips in his hand back and fold. If each and every player waited until it was his turn to act before starting his action, these types of rules would not even have to be discussed. Of course, that isn't going to happen. There will always be players who act out of turn and give away important information. Therefore, I prefer a rule that allows a player to make his decision based on the chips he actually drops onto the table, not what he holds in his hand.

Editor's note: Michael O'Malley can usually be found playing online at partypoker.com as Rzitup. To learn more about him, go to www.rzitup.com.