In my last column, I began discussing the rules for tournament play that have been developed by the Tournament Directors Association. There are 37 in all, 14 of which were developed more than a year ago and 23 of which were recently adopted. Let's continue on with the discussion of the original 14 rules and eventually get to the new ones. In the meantime, you can E-mail me at Jan@cardplayercruises.com if you would like me to E-mail you a complete copy of these rules for your own use.
The third rule of the original 14 deals with how side pots should be split. The rule states that each side pot will be split as a separate pot. This makes sense when you read it, but you may not realize that there are times when splitting a pot this way could present odd-chip situations in more than one pot, with one player getting more than one extra chip in each split. For example, if the river in Omaha eight-or-better gives each player a wheel for both the high and the low, the chips are not brought in and chopped as one pot. The correct method is to divide the high half and award it, with any odd chip going to the closest player left of the button, and then the low half, with any odd chip going to the closest player left of the button. This can result in a player with the same hand getting more chips than another player, but it's the correct way to do it and is how TDA cardrooms split pots now. Deal out some hands to try this out and see what I mean. It is easier to see than to explain.
The fourth original rule relates to clock procedures when time is called on a player who is taking "too much time" to act on his hand. When a player in a tournament thinks another player needs to "speed things up" a bit, he may ask for the clock. Then, the floorman gives the player one minute to make a decision on his hand. If the player still has not acted after one minute, he is given a 10-second countdown, after which his hand is killed if he has not acted.
The next rule seemed like it should have been easy to adopt in the first place, but last year there was a great deal of debate on whether tournaments should play with a dead or a forward-moving button. The dead button was agreed to and it became the norm, even for casinos that play with a traveling button in their live games.
Next up was penalties, and some of the things that could warrant them. Since some cardrooms have lots of novice players, and absolutes are pretty strict for folks who don't really know better, most of the "time out" options were worded so that a penalty may be given for various infractions, including things like soft-playing, exposing cards while there is still action pending, abuse, and so forth.
One rule that garnered a lot of discussion is that a player must be at the table to call time or to act on his hand. This gets a little sticky when the player who is in the big blind is not at the table in flop games. Of course, his blind is posted, but what happens when the action comes around to him to exercise his option to check or raise? Utilizing the TDA rules, his hand is dead right then, as he is not there to check. Checking is an action, and since action is required at this point, his hand is dead immediately after the small blind acts. Therefore, no longer may a player show up at the table at the river in a checked pot and be able to turn up his cards and win. In addition, you no longer have to worry about a player showing up during a hand, walking up behind you and seeing your cards, and having the chance to play his hand. This was another important reason why this rule was adopted – to prevent a player from having the opportunity to gather information from an unfair peek while there is still action pending. In stud, if the low-card bring-in player is not present, the bring-in is taken from his stack and his hand is dead, even if he returns. In some cardrooms, the hand continues to receive cards until there is action; in others, it does not. In either case, however, the hand is dead.
I'll discuss more TDA rules next time. Class dismissed.
Please contact me with any poker-related comments, questions, or column ideas, or just to say hi, at Jan@cardplayercruises.com.