GENERAL RULES
THE BUY-IN
1. When you enter a game, you must make a full buy-in for that
particular game. A full buy-in at limit poker is at least ten
times the maximum bet for the game being played, unless designated
otherwise.
2. You are allowed to make only one short buy-in for a game.
Adding to your stack is not considered a buy-in, and may be
done in any quantity between hands.
3. A player who is forced to transfer from a broken game or
must-move game to a game of the same limit may continue to play
the same amount of money, even if it is less than the minimum
buy-in. A player switching games voluntarily must have the proper
buy-in size for the new game.
MISDEALS
1. The following circumstances cause a misdeal, provided attention
is called to the error before two players have acted on their
hands. (If two players have acted in turn, the deal must be
played to conclusion, as explained in rule #2)
(a) The first or second card of the hand has been dealt faceup
or exposed through dealer error.
(b) Two or more cards have been exposed by the dealer.
(c) Two or more boxed cards (improperly faced cards) are found.
(d) Two or more extra cards have been dealt in the starting
hands of a game.
(e) An incorrect number of cards has been dealt to a player,
except the top card may be dealt if it goes
to the player in proper sequence.
(f) Any card has been dealt out of the proper sequence (except
an exposed card may be replaced by
the burncard).
(g) The button was out of position .
(h) The first card was dealt to the wrong position .
(i) Cards have been dealt to an empty seat or a player not entitled
to a hand.
(j) A player has been dealt out who is entitled to a hand. This
player must be present at the table or
have posted a blind or ante.
2. Once action occurs, a misdeal can no longer be declared.
The hand will be played to conclusion, and no money will be
returned to any player whose hand is fouled. In button game,
action is considered to occur when two players after the blind
have acted on their hands. In stud games, action is considered
to occur when two players after the forced bet have acted on
their hands.
DEAD HANDS
1. Your hand is declared dead if:
(a) You fold or announce that you are folding when facing a
bet or a raise .
(b) You throw your hand away in a forward motion causing another
player to act behind you (even if not
facing a bet ).
(c) In stud, when facing a bet , you pick your upcards off the
table, turn your upcards facedown, or mix
your upcards and downcards together.
(d) The hand does not contain the proper number of cards for
that particular game (except at stud a
hand missing the final card may be
ruled live, and at lowball and draw high a hand with too few
cards
before the draw is live).
(e) You act on a hand with a joker as a holecard in a game not
using a joker. (A player who acts on a
hand without looking at a card assumes
the liability of finding an improper card, as given in
Irregularities, rule #8.)
(f) You have the clock on you when facing a bet or raise and
exceed the specified time limit.
2. Cards thrown into the muck may be ruled dead. However, a
hand that is clearly identifiable may be retrieved at management’s
discretion if doing so is in the best interest of the game.
We will make an extra effort to rule a hand retrievable if it
was folded as a result of false information given to the player.
3. Cards thrown into another player’s hand are dead, whether
they are faceup or facedown.
IRREGULARITIES
1. In button games, if it is discovered that the button was
placed incorrectly on the previous hand, the button and blinds
will be corrected for the new hand in a manner that gives every
player one chance for each position on the round (if possible).
2. You must protect your own hand at all times. Your cards may
be protected with your hands, a chip, or other object placed
on top of them. If you fail to protect your hand, you will have
no redress if it becomes fouled or the dealer accidentally kills
it.
3. If a card with a different color back appears during a hand,
all action is void and all chips in the pot are returned to
the respective bettors. If a card with a different color back
is discovered in the stub, all action stands.
4. If two cards of the same rank and suit are found, all action
is void, and all chips in the pot are returned to the players
who wagered them (subject to next rule).
5. A player who knows the deck is defective has an obligation
to point this out. If such a player instead tries to win a pot
by taking aggressive action (trying for a freeroll ), the player
may lose the right to a refund, and the chips may be required
to stay in the pot for the next deal.
6. If there is extra money in the pot on a deal as a result
of forfeited money from the previous deal (as per rule #5),
or some similar reason, only a player dealt in on the previous
deal is entitled to a hand.
7. A card discovered faceup in the deck (boxed card) will be
treated as a meaningless scrap of paper. A card being treated
as a scrap of paper will be replaced by the next card below
it in the deck, except when the next card has already been dealt
facedown to another player and mixed in with other downcards.
In that case, the card that was faceup in the deck will be replaced
after all other cards are dealt for that round.
8. A joker that appears in a game where it is not used is treated
as a scrap of paper. Discovery of a joker does not cause a misdeal.
If the joker is discovered before a player acts on his or her
hand, it is replaced as in the previous rule. If the player
does not call attention to the joker before acting, then the
player has a dead hand.
9. If you play a hand without looking at all of your cards,
you assume the liability of having an irregular card or an improper
joker.
10. One or more cards missing from the deck does not invalidate
the results of a hand.
11. Before the first round of betting, if a dealer deals one
additional card, it is returned to the deck and used as the
burncard.
12. Procedure for an exposed card varies with the poker form,
and is given in the section for each game. A card that is flashed
by a dealer is treated as an exposed card. A card that is flashed
by a player will play. To obtain a ruling on whether a card
was exposed and should be replaced, a player should announce
that the card was flashed or exposed before looking at it. A
downcard dealt off the table is an exposed card.
13. If a card is exposed due to dealer error, a player does
not have an option to take or reject the card. The situation
will be governed by the rules for the particular game being
played.
14. If you drop a card on the floor out of your hand, you must
still play that card.
15. If the dealer fails to burn a card or burns more than one
card, the error should be corrected if discovered before betting
action has started for that round. Once action has been taken
on a boardcard, the card must stand. Whether the error is able
to be corrected or not, subsequent cards dealt should be those
that would have come if no error had occurred. For example,
if two cards were burned, one of the cards should be put back
on the deck and used for the burncard on the next round. On
the last round, if there was no betting because a player was
all-in, the error should be corrected if discovered before the
pot has been awarded, provided the deck stub, boardcards, and
burncards are all sufficiently intact to determine the proper
replacement card.
16. If the dealer prematurely deals any cards before the betting
is complete, those cards will not play, even if a player who
has not acted decides to fold.
17. If the deck stub gets fouled for some reason, such as the
dealer believing the deal is over and dropping the deck, the
deal must still be played out, and the deck reconstituted in
as fair a way as possible.
BETTING AND RAISING
1. check-raise is permitted in all games, except in certain
forms of lowball.
2. In no-limit and pot-limit games, unlimited raising is allowed.
3. In limit poker, for a pot involving three or more players
who are not all-in, these limits on raises apply:
(a) A game with three or more betting rounds allows a maximum
of a bet and three raises.
(b) A game with two betting rounds (such as lowball or draw)
allows a maximum of a bet and four
raises.
4. Unlimited raising is allowed in heads-up play. This applies
any time the action becomes heads-up before the raising has
been capped Once the raising is capped on a betting round, it
cannot be uncapped by a subsequent fold that leaves two players
heads-up.
5. In limit play, an all-in wager of less than half a bet does
not reopen the betting for any player who has already acted
and is in the pot for all previous bets. A player facing less
than half a bet may fold , call, or complete the wager. An all-in
wager of a half a bet or more is treated as a full bet , and
a player may fold , call, or make a full raise . (An example
of a full raise is on a $20 betting round, raising a $15 all-in
bet to $35).
6. Any wager must be at least the size of the previous bet or
raise in that round, unless a player is going all-in.
7. The smallest chip that may be wagered in a game is the smallest
chip used in the antes, blinds, rake, or collection. (Certain
games may use a special rule that does not allow chips used
only in house revenue to play.) Smaller chips than this do not
play even in quantity, so a player wanting action on such chips
must change them up between deals. If betting is in dollar units
or greater, a fr action of a dollar does not play. A player
going all-in must put all chips that play into the pot.
8. A verbal statement denotes your action and is binding. If
in turn you verbally declare a fold, check, bet, call, or raise,
you are forced to take that action.
9. Rapping the table with your hand is a pass .
10. Deliberately acting out of turn will not be tolerated. A
player who checks out of turn may not bet or raise on the next
turn to act. An action or verbal declaration out of turn may
be ruled binding if there is no bet , call, or raise by an intervening
player acting after the infraction has been committed.
11. To retain the right to act, a player must stop the action
by calling “time” (or an equivalent word). Failure
to stop the action before three or more players have acted behind
you may cause you to lose the right to act. You cannot forfeit
your right to act if any player in front of you has not acted,
only if you fail to act when it legally becomes your turn. Therefore,
if you wait for someone whose turn comes before you, and three
or more players act behind you, this still does not hinder your
right to act.
12. In limit poker, if you make a forward motion with chips
and thus cause another player to act, you may be forced to complete
your action.
13. A player who bets or calls by releasing chips into the pot
is bound by that action and must make the amount of the wager
correct. (This also applies right before the showdown when putting
chips into the pot causes the opponent to show the winning hand
before the full amount needed to call has been put into the
pot.) However, if you are unaware that the pot has been raised,
you may withdraw that money and reconsider your action, provided
that no one else has acted after you.
14. String raises are not allowed. To protect your right to
raise , you should either declare your intention verbally or
place the proper amount of chips into the pot. Putting a full
bet plus a half-bet or more into the pot is considered to be
the same as announcing a raise , and the raise must be completed.
(This does not apply in the use of a single chip of greater
value.)
15. If you put a single chip in the pot that is larger than
the bet , but do not announce a raise , you are assumed to have
only called. Example: In a $3-$6 game, when a player bets $6
and the next player puts a $25 chip in the pot without saying
anything, that player has merely called the $6 bet .
16. All wagers and calls of an improperly low amount must be
brought up to proper size if the error is discovered before
the betting round has been completed. This includes actions
such as betting a lower amount than the minimum bring-in (other
than going all-in) and betting the lower limit on an upper limit
betting round. If a wager is supposed to be made in a rounded
off amount, is not, and must be corrected, it shall be changed
to the proper amount nearest in size. No one who has acted may
change a call to a raise because the wager size has been changed.
17. If the dealer prematurely deals any cards before the
betting is complete, those cards will not play, even if a
player who has not acted decides to fold.
THE SHOWDOWN
1. A player must show all cards in the hand face-up on the
table to win any part of the pot.
2. cards speak (cards read for themselves). The dealer assists
in reading hands, but players are responsible for holding
onto their cards until the winner is declared. Although verbal
declarations as to the contents of a hand are not binding,
deliberately miscalling a hand with the intent of causing
another player to discard a winning hand is unethical and
may result in forfeiture of the pot.
3. Any player, dealer, or floorperson who sees an incorrect
amount of chips put into the pot, or an error about to be
made in awarding a pot, has an ethical obligation to point
out the error. Please help us keep mistakes of this nature
to a minimum.
4. All losing hands will be killed by the dealer before a
pot is awarded.
5. Any player who has been dealt in may request to see any
hand that was eligible to participate in the showdown, even
if the opponent's hand or the winning hand has been mucked.
However, this is a privilege that may be revoked if abused.
If a player other than the pot winner asks to see a hand that
has been folded, that hand is dead. If the winning player
asks to see a losing player’s hand, both hands are live,
and the best hand wins.
6. Show one, show all. Players are entitled to receive equal
access to information about the contents of another player’s
hand. After a deal, if cards are shown to another player,
every player at the table has a right to see those cards.
During a deal, cards that were shown to an active player who
might have a further wagering decision on that betting round
must immediately be shown to all the other players. If the
player who saw the cards is not involved in the deal, or cannot
use the information in wagering, the information should be
withheld until the betting is over, so it does not affect
the normal outcome of the deal. Cards shown to a person who
has no more wagering decisions on that betting round, but
might use the information on a later betting round, should
be shown to the other players at the conclusion of that betting
round. If only a portion of the hand has been shown, there
is no requirement to show any of the unseen cards. The shown
cards are treated as given in the preceding part of this rule.
7. If there is a side pot, the winner of that pot should be
decided before the main pot is awarded. If there are multiple
side pots, they are decided and awarded by having the pot
with the players starting the deal with the greatest number
of chips settled first, and so forth.
8. If everyone checks (or is all-in) on the final betting
round, the player who acted first is the first to show the
hand. If there is wagering on the final betting round, the
last player to take aggressive action by a bet or raise is
the first to show the hand. In order to speed up the game,
a player holding a probable winner is encouraged to show the
hand without delay. If there is a side pot , players involved
in the side pot should show their hands before anyone who
is all-in for only the main pot.
TIES
1. The ranking of suits from highest to lowest is spades,
hearts, diamonds, clubs. Suits never break a tie for winning
a pot. Suits are used to break a tie between cards of the
same rank (no redeal or redraw).
2. Dealing a card to each player is used to determine things
like who moves to another table. If the cards are dealt, the
order is clockwise starting with the first player on the dealer’s
left (the button position is irrelevant). Drawing a card is
used to determine things like who gets the button in a new
game, or seating order coming from a broken game.
3. An odd chip will be broken down to the smallest unit used
in the game.
4. No player may receive more than one odd chip.
5. If two or more hands tie, an odd chip will be awarded as
follows:
(a) In a button game, the first hand clockwise from the button
gets the odd chip.
(b) In a stud game, the odd chip will be given to the highest
card by suit in all high games, and to the
lowest card by suit in all low games.
(When making this determination, all cards are used, not just
the five cards that constitute
the player's hand.)
(c) In high-low split games, the high hand receives the odd
chip in a split between the high and the low
hands. The odd chip between tied
high hands is awarded as in a high game of that poker form,
and
the odd chip between tied low hands
is awarded as in a low game of that poker form.
(d) All side pots and the main pot will be split as separate
pots, not mixed together.
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