To be or not to be: Rulings

I was stood at the side of the table when the deal was brokered to Paul who declined it saying “lets play on for a bit” He had said to me that he would do a deal 5 handed as it would only mean each player putting in an extra £80 each to make the extra seat up. He did not disclose this vocally as he felt it would add undue pressure onto the short stack Steve Kirk as the 6th one out at this point would be getting zilch.

Steve Kirk then discussed with the players (Paul King excluded) that the next one out would receive £330 off the 4 remaining players. The other 4 players agreed to this. They then asked Paul what he thought about this, Paul said “I’ve already said that I’m not interested in doing any deal at the moment – you can do what you like, talk to me when there’s 5 left” not realizing the implication this deal would have on him.

I immediately said to Steve Kirk and another player that this was collusion and shouldn’t be allowed as Paul King was now at a disadvantage in as much that he was the only one at the table who could leave empty handed.

The short stacks started attacking every hand in what had now become a shove fest.

Big Ian was called over (within 10 minutes of the deal being done), the situation was discussed and his response was that Grosvenor do not recognise deals. I explained that a deal had been constructed after a player had said “no” and that the deal constructed now placed one individual in an unfair situation.

He reiterated that Grosvenor do not recognise deals.

Grosvenor have a policy of all final tables being dealer dealt and they should be supervised, if it had been supervised properly once Paul had said “No” that should have been the end of the matter regardless of whether Grosvenor recognise deals or not. Paul had been placed in an unfair situation, as the table had not been supervised. If it had been supervised they could not have let this deal happen.

Imo, When Ian had been informed of what had happened, He should have suspended play and awarded the top 4 seats with 5th in place taking the £660 or award cl a seat with the 5 in the deal to play the sat out.

Paul eventually pushed back at the constant “all-ins” from the short stacks and suffered 2 outdraws which saw him go from chip leader to 5th in chips. The other 5, seeing that Paul was aggrieved with the constant pushing then offered to cut him into the deal!!!.

Grosvenor ask for trouble when they have different house rules up and down the country, what goes in Walsall isnt allowed in Brighton i.e phones at the table, players are only looking for consistency, first card/last card, showdowns. It would be easy enough to print off a set of rules and put these on the tables so new players coming into casino's for live play have an idea of the rules and etiquette required of them, They do this in Riley's snooker halls!!!