home game ruling please. stringbet definition...

[hyde]

alcohol fueled debate.
player A states " I'm going to raise" and then starts stacking chips outside his pile, then announces an amount and puts in his his raise of the newly stacked chips.
Player B (leading the table in slcohol consumed) says player A must announce the amount of his raise at the time he states "I raise".. the claim is stating "I raise" and then watching for player reactions before announcing the amount of raise is a string bet.
Player B holds an opinion rather strongly unless proven wrong in writing, or beaten into submission.
while I recognize most of your opions as expert here.....does anyone know of a definitive source for a defintion?

thanks,
hyde

[Jack Bando]

Phil Gordon's "Poker The Real Deal" page 136

"You can also say raise..before pushing your chips forward, giving you free license to go back and forth to your stack at will before committing to an amount."

Or if you watch WPT/WSOP/Turning Stone/US Poker Championship they do this all the time. "I raise...(looks at chips for a while, plays with stacks) *insert number*."

Don't worry about dumb home players, I've had dumber. One genuis said "If both people have Ace Flush is chop, or 72 beats 79 on a 7662J board."

[raptor517]

yea, u can say raise and then sit there until they call the clock on you until you state the amount you would like to raise. home game rules never really work out that well.. holla

[spentrent]

In limit it's standard to either make one motion to the pot and live with your errors OR announce your action and fulfill your announcement.

In no-limit you can say raise and make two motions to the pot: the first to stack the amount of the call and the second to place your raise.

Note that you SHOULD NOT say "Okay cowboy, I see yer $20 and..." or "I call yer $20 and..."

The idea is that as soon as you announce your intent the player to your left could immediately say "Call." Of course you would say "but I was gonna raise" ...and general disarray ensues.

Solve all of these problems by taking 10 minutes before your session to explain the rules.

[spentrent]

Robert's Rules covers this (http://www.lasvegasvegas.com/poker/chapter13-14.php#14). See Rule #4 in this section:

4. At non-tournament play, a player who says "raise" is allowed to continue putting chips into the pot with more than one move; the wager is assumed complete when the player's hands come to rest outside the pot area. (This rule is used because no-limit play may require a large number of chips be put into the pot.) In tournament play, the TDA rules require that the player either use a verbal statement giving the amount of the raise or put the chips into the pot in a single motion, to avoid making a string-bet.

(If you were playing a tournament, Player B can feel like a champ.)

EDIT: Added the text of the rule.