1. The only place in this set of rules that an alternative
is mentioned other than in this section is in the method
of button and blind placement. That rule (the first rule
in “Section 4 – Button and Blind Use”)
is repeated below for convenience.
“Each round all participating players must get
an opportunity for the button, and meet the total amount
of the blind obligations. Either of the following methods
of button and blind placement may be designated to do
this:
(a) Moving button – The button always moves forward
to the next player and the blinds adjust accordingly.
There may be more than one big blind .
(b) Dead button – The big blind is posted by the
player due for it, and the small blind and button are
positioned accordingly, even if this means the small blind
or the button is placed in front of an empty seat, giving
the same player the privilege of last action on consecutive
hands.”
Poker tradition has a lot to do with the fact that both
of these methods are in widespread use, but neither method
is superior in all situations. The moving button makes
sure no player gets the advantage of last action twice
on a round (a big advantage at no-limit or pot-limit play).
On the other hand, a player may get to post a blind when
on the button, which is more advantageous than posting
in front of the button. The moving button creates a situation
where two big blind s may be posted on a deal, which speeds
up the action. At tournament play this speed-up can be
undesirable, as when dealing is being done hand-for-hand
to balance the pace of play between two remaining tables.
A cardroom may either decide for the sake of simplicity
to use only one method, or decide to tailor the method
to the game and situation.
2. The rules given for rectifying a hold’em situation
where the dealer has dealt the flop or another boardcard
before all the betting action on a round are inferior,
because the dealer is told to not burn a card on a redeal.
Since the “no burn” rule is so common, there
was no choice but to use it here. But at some point it
would be good for poker for some major cardrooms to get
together and agree to use the better rule, or a gaming
commission to require the better rule be used. Here is
the rules in question (the third rule and fourth rule
in “Section 5 – Hold’em”).
“If the cards are prematurely flopped before the
betting is complete, or if the flop contains too many
cards, the boardcards are mixed with the remainder of
the deck. The burncard remains on the table. After shuffling,
the dealer cuts the deck and deals a new flop without
burning a card.”
“If the dealer turns the fourth card on the board
before the betting round is complete, the card is taken
out of play for that round, even if subsequent players
elect to fold . The betting is then completed. The dealer
burns and turns what would have been the fifth card in
the fourth card’s place. After this round of betting,
the dealer reshuffles the deck, including the card that
was taken out of play, but not including the burncards
or discards. The dealer then cuts the deck and turns the
final card without burning a card. (If the fifth card
is turned up prematurely, the deck is reshuffled and dealt
in the same manner.)”
The portion of this rule saying the dealer does not burn
a card on the redeal is misguided. It is much harder for
the dealer to control the card to be dealt if a burn is
required. The applicable sentence in the rule should read,
“The dealer then cuts the deck, burns a card, and
turns the final card.”
3. Rule seven in “Section 4 – Button and
Blind Use” says, “A new player cannot be dealt
in between the big blind and the button. Blinds may not
be made up between the big blind and the button. You must
wait until the button passes.” This rule is standard
practice, but allowing a new player or player making up
blinds to come in between the blinds is better (if dealers
are trained how to handle the resulting situations), because
it gets players eager to join or rejoin the game into
action faster.
4. Most poker rule sets say you have a dead hand at the
showdown if you do not have the proper number of cards
for that game. At stud, this rule is too strict. An inexperienced
player sometimes does not pay sufficient attention to
the final card when holding a big hand like a flush or
full house (where improvement is neither likely to happen
nor be needed), and fails to protect that card. If the
dealer erroneously puts that final card into the muck
after the player fails to take it in, the rules should
give the decision-maker an option to rule such a hand
live. Rule 18 in “Section 8 – Seven-card Stud”
reads as below:
“A hand with more than seven cards is dead. A hand
with less than seven cards at the showdown is dead, except
any player missing a seventh card may have the hand ruled
live.”
5. This rulebook requires all cash to be changed into
chips. In some cardrooms this can be a bit impractical
for various reasons. If the cardroom chooses to allow
cash, only $100 bills should be permitted.
6. Most poker rulebooks follow the usual California practice
in multihanded pots at limit poker of allowing a bet and
six raises for lowball and draw high. The number of allowable
raises for those games is given in this rulebook as a
bet and four raises because this cuts down on the effect
of collusion between players, and more raises than four
are hardly ever needed to define the strength of two hands
when another player is calling.
7. Lowball has historically had less stringent demands
on the order of cards or acceptability of exposed cards
than in most other poker forms. This rulebook follows
the modern trend at lowball regarding misdeals of requiring
the cards to be dealt facedown and in proper order.
8. At ace-to-five limit lowball, an exposed card rule
used less often, but probably a superior rule, is to not
let a player take an exposed six or seven (the rule for
no-limit ace-to-five lowball). If a player gets to keep
only a card that might make a perfect hand, having a card
exposed is less advantageous, and the opponent must reckon
with the possibility of a perfect hand.
9. At lowball and draw high, some rule sets allow a player
to draw five consecutive cards. The rule used here disallowing
this makes cheating more difficult. Our rule #10 in lowball
and rule #5 in draw high says, “A player may draw
up to four consecutive cards. If a player wishes to draw
five new cards, four are dealt right away, and the fifth
card after everyone else has drawn cards. If the last
player wishes to draw five new cards, four are dealt right
away, and a card is burned before the player receives
a fifth card.”
