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 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 can be designated to do this:
2. The rules given for rectifying a hold'em situation in which the dealer has dealt the flop or another boardcard before all the betting action on a round are inferior, because the dealer is told not to 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 are the rules in question (the third rules and fourth rule in 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 manipulate 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 Buttons and Blind says, "A new player cannot be dealt in between the big blind and the button. Blinds can 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. For 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 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 Seven-card Stud reads: "A hand with more than seven cards is dead. A hand with fewer 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 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 can 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."
10. In tournament play, there are two ways the hand of an absent player can be treated. Our rule #11 in - Tournaments, is: "If you are not present when it becomes your turn to act, your hand is dead. This includes situations in which a live blind is not present to act, since an absent player cannot exercise the option to raise." This speeds up play, and also prevents a player from facing situations like thinking he is moving all-in heads-up against a short stack and an absent player comes back to the table to enter the pot. The alternative is: "If a player is absent, the hand shall not be killed until that seat faces a wager. An absent player's hand is dead at the showdown." This rule gives the absent player the maximum amount of time to return and be able to play the hand.
-K
. Both blinds call. There is $120 in the pot and three players. The flop is: K
-9-2, giving you top pair. The small blind bets; the big blind folds. What do you do?
