Poker Tourney Rules

[jnh24]

My roomates will be running a poker tourney this wknd. I am looking for a site with rules. We've already found homepokertourney.com. Any others?

Secondly, a rules question concerning raises.
Player A raises to 100
Player B reraises to 200
Player C calls 200
Player D calls 200
Player A reraises all-in to 250.

Can B/C/D only call, or are they allowed to raise here?

[ericslagle]

It's you're lucky day. I received a copy of "The Professional Poker Dealer's Handbook" for Christmas and read the whole thing in 2 hours. It covers just this thing:
"A partial raise by an all-in player, which is less than half of the bet or raise, is not usually considered to be a raise for the purpose of determining when the raises have been capped. Also, a partial raise that is less than half of the original bet does not give the original better an option to reraise. He may only call. For him to be allowed to reraise, there must have been a raise of at least half of his original bet." pg. 114.
So, in short, since it was 200 to go and then 250 to go the 1st and 2nd raises were both 100 and the third was 50, which is 50% of the 2nd 100, allowing more reraising. But if it was a 100 bet, a call and a raise of 200, and then a call of 300 and a raise of 50, then no. And I don't know if NL vs. a structured game would change things.
I also have read a lot of rules from Card Player's web site.
The problem with poker rules is how they change from one place to another. My only suggestion is to use a dead blind and to not do a chip race, just round up when coloring up. It seems to make things easier and keeps people from getting confused and cranky. Plus in the grand sceme of things I would rather keep people happy and having a good time then try to explain moving buttons and chip races where someone could feel shorted. And a good poker tournament program helps too. I use DD Tournament Poker, like $20 at Best Buy and I've heard cheaper elsewhere. Runs on a Mac which is what I needed so I can't say how it compares to all the PC stuff out there.

[ericslagle]

I just realize how retarded I sounded saying, "I've also read a lot of rules..."
What I meant was, that's a good web site that you mention. Another is Card Player's.
It's late, long night at work, enjoying a martini...

[Stew]

[ QUOTE ]
It's you're lucky day. I received a copy of "The Professional Poker Dealer's Handbook" for Christmas and read the whole thing in 2 hours. It covers just this thing:
"A partial raise by an all-in player, which is less than half of the bet or raise, is not usually considered to be a raise for the purpose of determining when the raises have been capped. Also, a partial raise that is less than half of the original bet does not give the original better an option to reraise. He may only call. For him to be allowed to reraise, there must have been a raise of at least half of his original bet." pg. 114.
So, in short, since it was 200 to go and then 250 to go the 1st and 2nd raises were both 100 and the third was 50, which is 50% of the 2nd 100, allowing more reraising. But if it was a 100 bet, a call and a raise of 200, and then a call of 300 and a raise of 50, then no. And I don't know if NL vs. a structured game would change things.
I also have read a lot of rules from Card Player's web site.
The problem with poker rules is how they change from one place to another. My only suggestion is to use a dead blind and to not do a chip race, just round up when coloring up. It seems to make things easier and keeps people from getting confused and cranky. Plus in the grand sceme of things I would rather keep people happy and having a good time then try to explain moving buttons and chip races where someone could feel shorted. And a good poker tournament program helps too. I use DD Tournament Poker, like $20 at Best Buy and I've heard cheaper elsewhere. Runs on a Mac which is what I needed so I can't say how it compares to all the PC stuff out there.

[/ QUOTE ]

Eric, I realize your new and trying to help, but you may want to explain what you mean by a "dead blind". I think you are referring to a "dead button" and not blind. Anywho, I know a lot of people round up when coloring, but to be honest, we do the chip race thing in our monthly tournies and everyone loves it. They like the luck factor involved (of course you can't color someone out of a tourney).

Other than that in this scenario Player A's raise represents exactly 1/2 the minimum raise possible, thus re-opening the betting and re-raising would be allowed.

[ericslagle]

Yes, dead button, but I've also heard it referred to as dead blind.
I'll let Home Poker Tournament's web site explain it for me for anyone wondering what I meant:
Dead Button Rule
Small Blind is Eliminated

The player who was the big blind now posts the small blind and the player to his left posts the big blind. The button does not move and the player who was the button, will be the button once again.
Big Blind is Eliminated

The player to the left of the eliminated big blind now posts the big blind and there is no small blind for that hand. The button moves to the player who was the small blind. On the following hand, the button does not move and the two blinds are posted normally.
Dead Button vs. Moving Button

When the big or small blind busts out (is eliminated) from a tourney, the blinds must be slightly re-positioned to account for the eliminated player. The rules pertaining to this event are referred to as the Dead Button rule or the Moving Button rule. You must decide which one of these two rules you will use before you begin your tourney. Most live tourneys use the Dead Button rule. Be warned that using the Moving Button rule can create some funky scenarios for you to have to make a rules interpretation on ... be well prepared if you use the Moving Button rule.
Dead Button Rule

"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." (from Robert's Rules of Poker)

If the small blind busts out and is not replaced by a player from another table, the button moves to the now empty seat (the seat vacated by the eliminated small blind). The player who was the big blind now posts the small blind and the player to his left posts the big blind. Since the button is now located at an empty seat, the player who was the button will, in effect, be the button once again.
Moving Button Rule

"The button always moves forward to the next player and the blinds adjust accordingly. There may be more than one big blind." (from Robert's Rules of Poker)

Don't use the Moving Button rule unless you know what you are doing. I won't even explain it other than to provide these two tables. To understand the Moving Button rule, keep in mind that the button must move forward and players must post their normal blinds as if no player had busted out. The reason for having multiple big blinds is to keep the big blind followed by small blind pattern.


Here's an argument for how I do it from Poker Dealer's Handbook, " It gets even more complicated when two or more player's miss their blinds and return at the same time. It is our opinion (and apparently that of most cardroom managers in Nevada) that the slight gain in fairness is not worth the complications added by the advancing button rule." This is more appropriate for ring games, but since my group of guys play both ways, we do ring and tournaments the same.