[belloc]

Here's a question about playing out of turn.

I'm at my local tiny cardroom playing 4/8 holdem with the regulars on a Monday afternoon. Mostly retired old guys and other people that don't have jobs with daytime hours. I pick up A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] T [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] in the BB, and I raise after five limpers, all call.

Flop comes Ace high with one spade, I bet out, and get two callers. Turn comes K [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], I bet out again, one player folds, and the button (a really nice, polite young-ish guy, maybe 25 or so) calls time.

He looks me over, and says, "I know you have a made hand, and just so you know, I'm calling trying to hit a gutshot." The only gutshot out there is broadway, so he's holding QJ, JT, or QT (if he's telling the truth, which I'm 90% sure he is).

The river card is Q [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], perfect. As soon as it falls, I decide I'm betting, praying that he's holding JT and will raise me. But before I bet, he announces "check".

I say with a smile, "Well, you're not checking, because I bet." Then he thinks for a second and says, "Okay, then I raise." As I'm getting my chips for the 3-bet, the dealer tells him, "Sir, you cannot raise after checking out of turn."

I stop the show, because this decision is costing me two big bets here, and maybe more (if he reraises...and there's no cap). The dealer and several of the other regulars explain that this rule is to prevent the angle shot of inducing a bet by checking out of turn. I think about it, then tell everyone that I understand, and take the pot down with my nut flush, but a little bitter that I lost out on a few more bets.

This is a very friendly club with only a couple of tables, everyone is on a first name basis, and it really wasn't worth fighting over $16 bucks and possibly ruining my reputation there as a nice guy.

Is this standard? Should I have done something different?

EDIT: one detail of the hand corrected.