HARMON AVENUE POKER RULES

HARMON AVE. POKER RULES

In the interest of fairness and consistency the following rules will be adopted for the Harmon Ave. poker room. These rules have been agreed upon by all tournament directors who hold tournaments at Harmon Ave. These rules may be altered or added to as it may become necessary from time to time and therefore will be a permanent fixture on the Harmon Ave. page for your viewing and may be accessed during or away from tournament play. These rules are not meant to be heavy handed and penalties will be a last resort.

#3 Calling for clock procedure: Once a reasonable amount of time has passed and the clock is called, a player will be given 1 minute to act. If action has not been taken by the time the minute has expired, there will be a 10 second countdown, if the player has not acted by the time the countdown is over the hand will be dead. It is strongly recommended that the clock only be called if it is truly believed that a player is running down time for any other reason than to decide on the action to be taken in their hand.

#4 Dead button: Tournament play will use the dead button rule. Dead button is defined as a button that can not be advanced due to elimination of a player or the seating of a new player into a position between the small blind and the button. In a cash game a player coming into that same position may buy the button by putting out the big blind and also putting a small blind directly into the pot. The button will remain to the button buyers’ right. First round action will start to the button buyers left. The button buyer will receive the button on the following hand.

#5 Exposing your cards: In tournament play, exposing your hand with action pending in a purposeful manner to any player that was dealt cards in the hand in order to gain information by reaction will be considered angling, and in the interest of fairness due to the fact that these actions can affect everyone still in the tournament i.e. ( placement for cash or points) the hand will be considered dead. In cash game play, exposing your hand when the only remaining action in the hand is yours will be considered fair play as it does not directly affect other players at the table.

#6 Absent player: A player that is not in the poker room during the deal and can not be given a verbal indication that action is on them will be given a 10 second grace period by the dealer using the tournament clock. If the player does not enter the room before the 10 seconds has ended the hand will be dead. If the player enters the room before the 10 seconds has ended they can be told that action is on them and the play can resume. If the player has not yet arrived and is being blinded in then the hand will be considered dead when the last card is dealt regardless of whether the hand is in the blind.

#7 Revealing your hand: In tournament play, at the end of the last round of betting, the player who made the last aggressive betting action in the betting round must show first. If there was no bet in the final round, the player to the left of the button shows first and so on in clockwise direction. Once a player is all in and called and all action by the players in the hand is complete, all cards will be turned face up prior to any cards to still come by the dealer. A player may choose to muck his or her cards before required to expose his hand. Nevertheless, it is the right of all players in the hand on the final betting round to demand that the dealer expose the hand of the player who has chosen to muck his or her hand, rather than show-down the hand, but only if that players hand is easily identifiable. A player must show their cards when playing the board in order to share in the pot. If a player shows his or her cards to another player then he or she must show their cards to everyone if asked to do so by another player.

#8 Betting amount: If a player puts in a raise of 50% or more of the previous bet but less than the minimum raise, he or she will be required to make a full raise. The raise will be exactly the minimum raise allowed. An all-in bet of less than a full raise does not reopen the betting to a player who has already acted. Putting a single oversized chip into the pot pre-flop without announcing a raise will be considered a call. If a player puts in a single oversize chip after announcing raise but does not state the amount, the raise will be the denomination of the chip. To make a raise with a single oversize chip, a verbal declaration must be made before the chip hits the table surface. After the flop an initial bet of an oversize chip without comment will constitute the size of the bet. An initial bet must be at least the size of the big blind. A raise must be a minimum of twice the size of an initial bet. A re-raise must be a minimum of, the entire previous bet plus a minimum of the amount of the raise portion of the previous bet added.

#9 Placing a raise: A raise must be made by

(a.) Placing the full amount in the pot in one motion.

(b.) Verbally declaring the full amount prior to the placement of chips into the pot.(c.) Verbally declaring "raise" prior to the placement of the amount to call into the pot and then declaring the amount or completing the action with one additional motion. Any bet that does not conform to the above will be considered a (string bet) and will be considered to be a call or a raise of the minimum amount allowed under the circumstances.

#10 Protecting all players: Players are obligated to protect the other players in the tournament at all times. Therefore, whether in a hand or not, players may not,(a) Disclose contents of live or folded hands.(b) Advise or criticize play before action is completed.(c) Read a hand that hasn’t been tabled.(d) Take any action that may give information as to what you folded before the action is completed such as, rabbit hunting, whispering to another player, or having any animated reaction of any kind while the cards on the board are being revealed.(e) Fold out of turn, which includes folding to an announced raise before the amount is declared.

#11 Level increase: When time has elapsed in a round and a new round is announced, the new limits apply to the next hand. A hand begins with the placement of a blind.

#12 Chip visibility: Players must keep their highest denomination chips visible at all times.

#13 Cards speak: Verbal declaration as to the content of a players hand is not binding. A dealer cannot kill a winning hand that was turned face up and was obviously the winning hand. All players are encouraged to assist in reading tabled hands if it appears that an error is about to be made.

#14 Rabbit hunting: In cases where hands are concluded prior to the last card being dealt, the next card to be dealt will not be exposed.

#15 Misdeals: A misdeal will be declared when,

(a) Two cards are exposed during the deal.

(b) A card exposed is in the first two cards during the deal.

(c) Cards are dealt out of order and cannot be corrected because a player had looked at a hole card.

(d) A player has more than two hole cards and has looked at them.

#16 Mucked hand: If a dealer kills an unprotected hand or a player mucks his own hand with action still pending in the hand, the player will have no redress and will not be entitled to his or her money back. An exception would be made if that player made a raise and it had not been called yet, then the amount of the raise would be returned but all other chips in the pot would be forfeited.

#17 Soft play: Poker is an individual game. Players are encouraged to play for maximum value regardless of who their playing. Chip dumping and making a deal to let the cards run out without betting after betting a player out of the hand is also considered soft play.

#18 Acting out of turn: If a player acts out of turn and the action does not change by the time it gets to that player, then his or her actions are binding. Action only changes with a raise, not a call or a fold. If the action changes before it gets to the player who acted out of turn, then that player may change his or her action by calling, raising, or folding and may have their chips returned.

#19 Exposing the board out of turn: If the dealer exposes a card before action is complete on any round, then that card will be put aside and action will continue. Before the river card is reveled that card will be shuffled back into the deck and play will continue. An exception will be made if it is deemed that the card exposed was a burn card, and then it will be shown to all players and returned to the top of the deck.

#20 Interpretation of intent: Any ruling requiring intent of a players actions will be at the discretion of the tournament director after talking to the players at the table.

#21 Penalties: Penalties would be a last resort, only for a player who has multiple infractions and is thought to have a disregard for the rules. Penalties may range from being required to sit out a hand, sit out a round of the table, sit out a specific time period, being disqualified from a tournament, or being excluded from further participation at Harmon Ave. Issuance of penalties during and pertaining to tournament rules, are at the sole discretion of the tournament director. Issuance of penalties pertaining to abusive behavior, cheating etc. is at the sole discretion of the Harmon Ave. poker room director.