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).
[See Section 16 - “Explanations,” discussion
#4, for more information on the stud portion of this rule.]
(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 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.
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. [See
“Section 16 - Explanations,” discussion #6,
for more information on this rule.]
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. At pot-limit or
no-limit betting, if there is a gross misunderstanding
concerning the amount of the wager, see Section 14, Rule
8.
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.
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. (For more information on miscalling a hand see “Section
11 - Lowball,” Rule 15 and Rule 16.)
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 has been called, 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 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.
