Floor Call Needed! HELP!

Let me start off by saying that I deal in a Midwest poker room. We spread a pot limit game once a week, and every player is almost always a regular. Most of these players have played together in home games for quite some time and like as little dealer participation as possible.


I announce the number of players before each flop clearly so everyone can hear me. After the action gets headsup, I try not to "impose" and call the action (raises, etc.) in a somewhat quieter voice. This seems to be the way they like it. They are all good about following the action. If it is obvious that someone may have missed something, I will announce it a little louder.


I had the following situation come up the other day:


Omaha Hi, headsup on the river, and the board showed A2345 rainbow. The first player bet $500, the second player (who was NOT a regular, but knew the guys) said something that I could not understand (he is foreign...) but sounded like raise. Indeed, he pushed in his whole stack, $625 total, a raise of $125.


As soon as I visually confirmed his intention to raise, I announced, "Raise, all in," in my somewhat quieter voice.


The first player flipped his cards face up in front of him. At this point, I did not know what action this player intended to take. You see, in our room it is common to show a hand in this situation to get a reaction from the opponent. Or perhaps he was showing his hand before he folded. Or perhaps he could be taking a "shot" at the other player, attempting to get him to expose his hand so he could see it before calling or mucking. And lastly, maybe he legitimately did not realize that there had been a raise.


In any case, I did not interfere with the play at this point and made no attempt to read the hand. I did not want to ask the player his intentions at this point so as not to interupt his thinking.


There was a BRIEF pause and the other player TURNED HIS CARDS FACE UP. Again, this is somewhat common practice among the players in our room...showing someone his hand to say, "Yes, I had you beat!" out of courtesy.


After another pause, I asked the first player if he was calling, at which point he said he did not know there was a raise. I immediately realized this as a problem and called the floor over.


Let me stop here and give my opinions about the two players in question in relation to what I just said. The first player is a VERY nice guy (no hidden motives). The $125 means nothing to him money-wise. He plays for sport and is independently wealthy. He was NOT taking a shot.


The second player is continually rude, obnoxious, and attempts taking shots OFTEN. The rest of the table does not appreciate him in the game, even though he is the biggest action player in the game.


Back to the situation...While the floor was making the way to the table, the second player was very angry that the first had not called the bet.


AT THIS POINT in the hand, what options should the floor rule that each player have, and what should the floor rule?


Also, what should I do differently as dealer during this hand?


ThanX!

This is what the floor ruled in this case:


I probably should have added this to the main body, but player one's hand was a six-high straight, while player two's hand was a seven-high straight. Thus, if the first person person had not seen the other player's hand, he would have called.


Another omission from the original post (boy, I'm BLOWING this one! Oh, well...) is that MOST of the players at the table heard me announce the raise. The player in seat ten and player one were apparently the only ones that hadn't, so I believe I did say it loud enough. Again, I did not want to be overly intrusive in this game.


The floorperson ruled that player one MUST MATCH PLAYER TWO'S RAISE. They forced player one to put in $125 additional. There was a minor disagreement with this ruling (everyone realized it was futile to argue...), and player one was upset and left.


My question is, can they force this player to call the raise??? I know in my own mind that they cannot. Perhaps I am wrong? But this really bothered me, as player two should have watched for player one to call. Additionally, though this cannot be entered as "evidence" in this situation, I am of the opinion that player two REALIZED that player one had not yet placed the money out to call and ASSUMED that he was going to call.


This is not all! As the other players were discussing this hand with the floorperson (during the next hand), the floorperson said that THIS WAS THE DEALER'S FAULT. She said if she were dealing, she would have immediately covered up player two's exposed hand and informed him that he had not been called.


I believe that not only was I OK for NOT doing this, I would be violating a very important rule of poker: ONE PLAYER PER HAND. If I did this, I would obviously be HELPING him play his hand. He voluntarily exposed his hand, and I cannot cover it up to prevent player one from seeing it. Is this correct or am I way off base?

I am not a dealer or anything, but here is my opinion FWIW.


First off, it is every players responsibilty to keep thier hand concealed. If first player shows hand before other player calls, it his own fault regardless of any unheard announcements of raise etc.


If you announced the raise at an acceptable volume, you are not at fault in any way. If a dealer went to cover up a hand that a plyer had tabled, he/she would hear about it from me. This is completely wrong.


It was probably an angle, but there is little that you can do, other than warn the offender and tell him his hand will be dead in the future if he does it again. But in this case, the player showed his hand. It is his fault, period.


Adam.

The floor made a huge error. They allow card showing, then structure it so that any time the raiser wants a call and the opponent shows, he just lays down his hand and takes the money. The casino owes that player his $125.

Actually, I am certain this was NOT an angle.


I have known the first player for some years and have never seen him out of line. I often played against him before becoming a dealer.

I have argued about this call as well as the fact that she said I should have covered player two's hand with other dealers.


They are split down the middle about both instances. Many say they would cover player two's hand.

The floorperson is an idiot. It wasn't player 1's fault that player 2 exposed his hand before it was called. And it isn't your responsability to protect players from themselves in a PL game.


Both players should have followed the action. Both didn't know what was going on. These are exactly the kinds of players you want in the game.


The only thing I think you might have done differently is when 1 turned his hand up, you could have said "it's $125 to call."

Your floorperson is an idiot. It's never a dealer's responsibility to protect a player's hand. Ever. And if she had never told you about this stupid guideline, she's just covering her ass. She needs to spend a few weeks in Vegas to learn how this business is done.


Further, whether or not Player 1 was shooting an angle, intentionally exposing a hand should be grounds for disqualification in a big-bet game. It's unethical no matter what you're trying to do...whether you're softplaying or shooting an angle.

I do not know much about big bet games.


So in your opinion, even if it is headsup, a player should not be allowed to expose his hand?

The way I've heard of the rule being constructed is that if the game is spread heads-up (that is, you deal only to two players), then it's OK to show one card. You're not injuring the interests of other players when engaging in this kind of tomfoolery, so no problem.


But the specter of softplaying or angle-shooting is much more toxic in any other situation, so yes, even at a point in the hand where it's heads-up, the exposed hand should be ruled dead.


Now, everyone here seems to know each other, so I doubt much harm is being done here. But what happens if you get a few visitors? Then you could be creating a really unfair situation. And I think it undermines the game. And what happens to your players when they go to Vegas or London and pull a stunt like this in a pot limit game? Lose interest in a big pot and possibly get thrown out on their ear, that's what would happen!


For the sake of everyone in the game and for the game itself, pot-limit and no-limit games should have a no-expose rule. Hell, limit games should have this rule.


I'd also like to disclaim that I have big-bet experience only in tournaments and home games. However, the same rules are established in both cases, and I think they're really good rules.