Grand Prix last night, early doors.
We've reached the river of a pot where I raised pre, check called the flop, checked the turn which got checked back and we're at the river.
I picked up 2x1000 and 2x100 chips and moved my hand forward to make a bet of 2200. As I did so a single 100 chip fell from my hands whilst the other three stuck to my fingers. My intention was obvious (yes I know it's better to announce and most of the time I do) but my opponent instantly asked the dealer to rule this as a string bet.
I called for a ruling but since the dealer, youngish, inexperienced, nowhere near the level of a Craig/Scotty/Adrian said that she thought it was a string bet the ruling was that a bet of 100 stood.
Villain was totally open about his motives 'I'll shoot every angle I can' and in truth he called 100 where he would most definitely have folded 2200 so I made an extra 100 chips.
I understand the need to avoid players gaining some sort of advantage by somehow managing to increase a raise because their opponent looks like they are calling, but neither of the two cases mentioned fall into that category. Isn't the overriding rule of poker the requirement to act in a way that is equitable? My bet would have stood under the GUKPT rules and I could have shown just the pair of Jacks after my opponent folded, rather than the set I had to table at showdown and leave the nob in seat one and his even nobbier mate in seat two wondering if folding a pair of queens was right.
Much much later in the night, about two hands from the end a young Danish player on my table stacked all of his chips into one pile and pushed them forward over the line in response to a 3bet. But as he pushed, two 25,000 chips became stuck on the cloth and were left just behind the betting line. His opponent put up the standard cry and again, despite the intentions being totally clear, the ruling went with the 'angle-shooter' and against the player. The dealer in this instance was looking elsewhere when the player was making his bet.
From GUKPT rules as published online at
http://www.grosvenorukpokertour.com/About/GUKPT-Rules/9. String betting is not permitted. A string bet is defined as going back for more chips or using your bet to unfairly gain an advantage.
Roberts Rules says
14. String raises are not allowed. To protect your right to raise, you should either declare your intention verbally or place the proper amount of chips into the pot. Putting a full bet plus a half-bet or more into the pot is considered to be the same as announcing a raise, and the raise must be completed. (This does not apply in the use of a single chip of greater value.)
DTD Rules simply say that 'Dealers will be responsible for calling string raises' without defining them.
as a small aside, it was extremely satisfying to hit that Royal Flush to eliminate seat one, and the set of threes that eliminated seat two later on
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