blonde poker forum

All players in the Irish Open were given a flyer which contained the Rules to which the Tournanment would be played. What a great idea. You may not agree with his Rules - too bad, that's not the point - he clearly stated these WOULD be the Rules, like it or not.

I asked him why omitted the showdown Rule. He said it was obvious, if someone calls a bet on the end, the hands must be shown. "Surely that's obvious tikay?". Yup, it is, but you'd be suprrised how many don't see it that way.

Anyway, here are the Rules Liam gave us, & remember, it does not matter if you disagree with them, not one iota. As long as there are a known, clarified, set of Rules, that's all that matters. TD's & CardRoom Managers take note!

1) Seating assignment will be by random draw and is not transferable.

2) Each player will start with 10,000 chips.

3) Tables will start with 10 players, & as players are knocked out, they will revert to tables of 9.

4) There will be a randow draw for seats when it gets down to 2 tables. There will be a re-draw when it gets to the Final Table.

5) Players must keep their highest denomination chips visible at all times.

6) English must be spoken at all times during a hand.

7) Players must protect their cards at all times. If a dealer takes a hand by mistake, the hand is dead & there is no redress.

8) Players are not allowed to show their cards to others during a hand. If a player reveals their hand, it will be dead.

9) Players not involved in a hand may not discuss a pot in progress. If they do, they may get a PENALTY at the discretion of the tournament diector.

10) A new hand commences when the dealer does the first riffle.

11) A player must ber SITTING AT THE TABLE when the last card is dealt to take part in a hand.

12) Players wishing to use Mobile Phones must step away from the table.

13) Players may not ask for a change of deck.

14) Players must have respect for other players, the dealers, & the Tournament directors. Players may be subjected to 15 minute or 30 minutes away from the table at the discretion of the Tournament Director.

15) The minimum bet is the amount of the Big Blind.

16) The minimum raise is DOUBLE THE PREVIOUS BET.

17) When there is a race for odd chips, a player may only win one chip. A player may not be raced out of the tournament.

18) Players may not put chips in their pockets at any time. When moving tables,  players may get a chip tray to carry their chips, & they must go straight to their new table.

19) When a player is being moved from a table, they will be the next on the Big Bliind, and will go to the WORST POSITION ON THE NEW TABLE. Players can move to the Button, the small blind, or the big blind. A player who intentionally dodges his blinds when moving from a broken table may forfeit the blinds and incur a penalty.

20) If a player is taking too much time to make a decision, another player involved in the pot may ask for the clock. If this happens, the player has 60 seconds to make a decision, and afer the 60 seconds the hand will be dead.

The flyer also included all the structure details - levels 1 to 23, & stated it would be a "1 hour clock throughout".

Ignoring the correctness or otherwise of these Rules, or their completeness or not, I just think it makes sense to set out the Rules in advance. It's not rocket science, surely? If, heaven help you all, I ever ran a Tourney, that's what I'd do. "These are the Rules, now behave, & enjoy yourselves. Shuffle up & deal".

Hehe, it's easy from this side of the fence!

 ;tightend; :respect:

No rules stating the short stack has to be moved?  :dontask:

Behave.

Excellent idea  ;applause;

Just one question. How far in advance of the tournament commencing were these flyers handed out?

Nowhere does it say players must wear clothes at all times so I might go to this comp next year.  :D

Seriously though, good idea.  ;applause;

About 2 weeks, by Post & available in cardrooms.

Then they were handed to each player when they drew for seats, then Liam read them all out before the first hand was dealt.

Hopefully other cardrooms will follow suit.

 ;applause;

Sounds like a good idea to me except you need to add a rule to bottom

TD has the right to alter :)  hehe

Like all good ideas, it's SIMPLE. All the best ideas are.

I wonder if this will set a domestic precedent.

It seems such a simple resolution to the ambiguity that sometimes sorounds live tournement play.

I'd find something to moan about :D

sory but no where in the rules does it state if a straight beats a flush

come on lets not be having half measures here ;D

There does seem a need to have standard Rules of Tournament poker that are applicable to all UK tournaments.
I am not referring to structures and prize money but the sort of rules listed in this post. I would revise the wording on a few of them and I am sure there are a few to add on, but in principle it makes sense to have a laid down set of rules that applies to all tournaments.
One for debate on the 425 show, although I can't think of a case against this idea?
Perhaps we should debate them on a thread, agree amongst ourselves and then tell everyone that these are the rules they have to follow!
I would expect that casinos & card rooms would welcome having an agreed set of rules to follow and will stop some of the flack they get.

i think the point is that everyone is made well aware of the rules - which can only be a good thing. you might not agree with the rules, but thats just tough...

When I was playing some tournaments in tunica this year, the standard on this varied greatly - at the Grand, which is a WSOP venue, the card room manager stood with his microphone for fully five minutes and went thru a big list of rules, including F-bomb etc, before a hand was dealt. Yes it got tedious, but you were couldnt use the old ignorance excuse when there was any controversy.

Sams Town on the other hand seemed to have a more lax attitude towards the rules, but maybe thats because the cardroom manager was out drinking with us until 7am....

Playing poker in different venues is a bit like playing pool in a new pub for the first time. Lots of scope for misunderstandings, accidental or not.

Having standard rules, especially published well in advance of the tourney, makes so much sense.

I'm sure Teacake will like rule 20, after the dealer tried to put the clock on him during a hand:

"If a player is taking too much time to make a decision, another player involved in the pot may ask for the clock. If this happens, the player has 60 seconds to make a decision, and afer the 60 seconds the hand will be dead."

Exactly!

Liam insisted on reading every rule out, line by line, word by word. So there were no excuses. And there were no disputes.

Make up whatever Rules you wish (for starters..) but make sure the players know them.

I despair at times - it really is THAT simple!

Agreed. I had the clock put on me on Sunday by a player not involved in the hand, on the grouds that I was deliberately running down the Clock. I was average stack, he was chip leader.....

But as there were no "agreed" Rules, I had no argument. Neither did he, for that matter, but you get the drift & it makes the case.

Surely this makes the game very loud ?

And on a more serious note - this is ambiguous at best.

So if I bet 10 you have to raise by at least 20 (a minimum of 30 to go ?)

And the next player has to raise by a minimum of 60 ? or 40 ?

odd rules....

 :D

Yeah that was quite funny, he tried put me on 20 seconds & I'd only dwelt for about 30 secs tops, plus it was still the first level  :o
TBF the guy was only trying to help out & wasn't a proper dealer.

The clarity or ambiguity of the Rules is not really my point - I just wanna KNOW the Rules before I play!

irrespective of what they are?

i know that you have the freedom of choice regarding tourement selection, but is there are part of the game about which you feel so strongly that you would be detered from entering a tournament because it was ommitted/included?

that goes to anyone, is there a particular area of live tournement play that you insist on having clarified before you enter.

Blind structure!

This is chicken & egg. If the rules, structure & clock are not to my satisfaction, I don't have to enter the comp! But that's far better than finding out halfway through that things are not what I expected.

We need to start SOMEWHERE, & a clearly laid out set of Rules is a good place to start, even if the Rules are naff.

Ive never experianced a memorialised set of rules for live play.

It just seems so simple.

As to whether or not it is adopted by other tds remains to be seen.

I wonder if the power of blonde can make this poker precedent, not the encumpassing rules neccesarily, just the principal.

You always know when something is a good idea when you look at it and think "now why did we not think of that before?"....!

I think maybe we should keep the momentum going by chatting about it on 425 when we record later today. And I agree, the content of the Rules is less important than actually having the Rules. First things first, & one thing will lead to the other. Get a set of pre-printed Rules, then, over time, get them modified.

this is an excellent idea, well done Liam. - However, I can't believe we are all so happy / amazed and delighted this was done!! - surely this should be expected before you get to any event or play any game.  For example when i enter a Notts Union or English Union Golf Event i get the terms, rules and conditions of entry through the post immediately as does everyone who enters the competition - to not have this would just be ridiculous - it is is 100% expected! - Anyone outside the game of poker looking in will just be laughing at us that we are all so happy at such a simple thing - but i suppose for a game in its popular infancy its a start.

on a side note rule 13 is my favourite - why would anyone ever want a deck change unless it was damaged? - only supersticious losers ask for deck changes. IMO

This is one of my biggest pet peeves at the table.  It has happened on to me 3 times now and as far as I can see it is simply a time wasting exercise.  If the dealer wants to change the deck fine, but when a player asks for it I think it should be refused.  By the time the dealer has had the new deck and shuffled it you have usually lost around 2-3 minutes, which is very annoying if you are shortstacked and want to see as many hands as possible at the lower blind levels.

I think the next time it happens I am going to object to see what happens.

In every Casino cardroom in the country, there is a set of rules laid out on the wall somewhere. This is stipulated by guideline 3, whether people read it or not these are the rules that THAT particular cardroom go by (I can honestly say that in 17 years of running comps, I have yet to see anyone study them). When the Broadway opened, a 6 page consice rule was incased in a frame and hung up for display, however there is a bible that the supervisors and players can refer to, but it is 47 pages long.

My personal gripe is the difference from cardroom to cardroom, as it is not pheasable for all players to read this epic before play at each casino. A unified set of rules would be so much more comprehensible to players, and everyone would know where they stand before play. Task in hand, watch this space.

at a recent tourney i saw a player ask for a copy which he duly received.  He then picked them up on several points as the card room applied different rules during the actual tourney  :blonde:

He then wrote a strongly worded letter to the BBC, outlining his fury at noticing that several of the hats being worn in a costume drama hadn't been invented in the period in which the program was set.  :D

I take the piss, but the man did have a very valid point.

Unfortunately this is the case, the basics are usually generic and as such get changed occasionally without being ammended on displayed rules?? I have been guilty of this offense myself, so I am just as bad as the rest :) Although I put up a sign with ammendments on and refer to the rule that has been changed.

At a tournament I played at recently an old guy (on holiday) asked me what the soft play rule was all about. I explained & said it wasn't likely.

Of course he was at the table when the guy whose blind I'd had a pop at showed me his cards after the river because he thought I was going to bet... he'd better cards than me & I'd to fold. Clearly soft play, cue complaints...

I don't mind people asking for a deck change. They are usually fish and i would rather they did that than concentrate on getting better!

good point, well made.