Rules

Don’t freak out.

These rules only exist in the event that we might have a dispute. You don’t have to memorize these or bring along a copy. After more than a decade, these rules have served us well and a well-worn copy is always with the Tournament Director, affectionately referred to as “Shaved Dog Management”.

Texas Hold ‘em general rules

In hold 'em, players receive two down cards as their personal hand (hole cards), after which there is a round of betting. Three board cards are turned simultaneously (called the “flop”) and another round of betting occurs. The next two board cards are turned one at a time, with a round of betting after each card. The board cards are community cards, and a player may use any five card combination from among the board and personal cards. A player may even use all of the board cards and no personal cards to form a hand (play the board). A dealer button is used. The structure is to use two blinds, big and small.

OBJECT: The best five card poker hand, out of the available seven cards, wins the pot.

1. Player to the left of the dealer must place the “small blind” bet into the pot. Player two seats to the left of the dealer must place the “big blind” bet into the pot. This big blind represents the first bet. 

2. Each player is dealt two cards face-down (hole cards)

3. 1st betting round

4. After “burning” one card, the dealer deals three board cards face up. (the flop)

5. 2nd betting round

6. After “burning” one card, the dealer places a fourth board card face up. (the turn)

7. 3rd betting round

8. After “burning” one card, the dealer places a fifth, and last, board card face up. (the river)

9. a final betting round

10. Showdown (Every remaining player shows hand with bettor showing first)

An example for clarity on blinds: In the initial round and a $1/$2 blind structure, the first player to the dealer’s left (who would normally be the first to bet after the cards are dealt) makes a blind bet of $1, and the next player in turn posts a big blind of $2. After the cards are dealt, play continues with the next player in turn (third from the dealer), who acts just as if the $1 had been an opening bet and the $2 had been a raise, so he must either call $2, re-raise, or fold. When the betting returns to the player who blinded $1, he acts just as if that had been the opening bet; he must equal the bet facing him (toward which he may count his $1), fold, or re-raise.

An additional privilege is given to the player who posted the big blind to compensate for the fact that he is forced to bet. If there have been no raises by the time his first turn to bet voluntarily comes (that is, the bet amount facing him is just the $2 he originally put in), then he is given the right to raise at that point, even though his right-hand opponent’s call would normally have closed the betting round under other circumstances. This “extra” right to raise (called a live blind) occurs only once: if his raise is now called by every player, the first betting round closes as usual.

ADDITIONAL RULES FOR TEXAS HOLD ‘EM

Misdeals

1. If the first hole card dealt is exposed, a misdeal results. The dealer will retrieve the card, reshuffle, and recut the cards. If any other hole card is exposed due to a dealer error, the deal continues. The exposed card may not be kept. After completing the hand, the dealer replaces the card with the top card on the deck, and the exposed card is then used for the burn card. If more than one hole card is exposed, this is a misdeal and there must be a re-deal.

2. If the flop contains too many cards, it must be re-dealt. (This applies even if it were possible to know which card was the extra one.)

3. If the flop needs to be re-dealt because the cards were prematurely flopped before the betting was complete, or the flop contained too many cards, the board cards are mixed with the remainder of the deck. The burn card remains on the table. After shuffling, the dealer cuts the deck and deals a new flop without burning a card.

4. If the dealer turns the fourth card on the board before the betting round is complete, the card is taken out of play for that round, even if subsequent players elect to fold. The betting is then completed. The dealer burns and turns what would have been the fifth card in the fourth card’s place. After this round of betting, the dealer reshuffles the deck, including the card that was taken out of play, but not including the burn cards or discards. The dealer then cuts the deck and turns the final card without burning a card. If the fifth card is turned up prematurely, the deck is reshuffled and dealt in the same manner.

5. If the dealer mistakenly deals the first player an extra card (after all players have received their starting hands), the card will be returned to the deck and used for the burn card. If the dealer mistakenly deals more than one extra card, it is a misdeal.

Betting and Folding

6. You must declare that you are playing the board before you throw your cards away; otherwise you relinquish all claim to the pot.

7. The first round of betting starts with a forced bet by the person to the left of the big blind. The remaining rounds of betting starts with the person to the left of the button.

8. The player with the forced bet has the option of opening for the big blind or a larger bet.

9. There is a three-raise limit per betting round.

10. If you are not present at the table when it is your turn to act on your hand, you forfeit your ante/blind and your forced bet, if any. If you have not returned to the table in time to act, the hand will be killed when the betting reaches your seat.

11. If your hands are not on your hole cards, it could be accidentally mucked (moved to discard pile) by the dealer or considered a fold by other players. Keeping your hands on your hole cards or a chip resting on top of your hole cards is considered “hands on” and is considered active.

12. If a hand is folded when there is no wager, that seat will continue to receive cards until the hand is killed as a result of a bet.

13. If the wrong person opens the bet, the action will be corrected to the true position if the next player has not yet acted. The incorrect bettor takes back the wager and the true position must bet. If the next hand has acted after the incorrect wager, the wager stands, action continues from there, and the true position has no obligations.

14. A card dealt off the table must play and it is treated as an exposed card.

15. Traditionally, in all games, the dealer announces the open bettor, the high hand, all raises, and all pairs. Dealers do not announce possible straights or flushes (except for specified low-stakes games).

Burn Rules

16. Burn Rule: In order to reduce the chances of players getting advance information about cards to come, the top card(s) on the deck is traditionally discarded before the flop, turn and river. These cards are the burn cards. In general, any time a card is discarded from the top of the deck it’s called a burn card. If the dealer burns too many cards for one round or fails to burn a card, the cards will be corrected, if at all possible, to their proper positions.

17. If the dealer burns and deals one or more cards before a round of betting have been completed, the card(s) must be eliminated from play. After the betting for that round is completed, an additional card for each remaining player still active in the hand is also eliminated from play (to later deal the same cards to the players who would have received them without the error). After that round of betting has concluded, the dealer burns a card and play resumes. The removed cards are held off to the side in the event the dealer runs out of cards.

18. A player who calls a bet even though beaten by an opponent’s up-cards is not entitled to a refund. (The player is receiving information about an opponent’s hand that is not available for free.)

- Rules provided by Bob Ciaffone via ROBERT’S RULES OF POKER and are modified slightly by Shaved Dog Resort management.

Tournament General Rules

By participating in any tournament, you agree to abide by the rules and behave in a courteous manner. A violator may be verbally warned, suspended from play for a specified length of time, or disqualified from the tournament. Chips from a disqualified participant will be removed from play and voided.

1. Initial seating is determined by random draw from a deck of cards. Shaved Dog Resort management will dictate which cards fall to which tables, depending on the amount of attendees, table count and number of players per table.

2. A change of seat is not allowed after play starts, except as assigned by Shaved Dog Management to ensure expedient play.

3. The appropriate starting amount of chips will be placed on the table for each paid entrant at the beginning of the event, whether the person is present or not. Absent players will be dealt in, and all chips necessary for antes and blinds will be put into the pot.

4. If a paid entrant is absent at the start of an event, at some point an effort will be made to locate and contact the player. If the player requests the chips be left in place until arrival, the request will be honored if prepaid in advance. If the player is unable to be contacted, the chips may be removed from play at the discretion of Shaved Dog Management anytime after a new betting level is begun or a half-hour has elapsed, whichever occurs first.

5. A starting stack of chips may be placed in a seat to accommodate late entrants (so all antes and blinds have been appropriately paid). An unsold seat will have such a stack removed at a time left to the discretion of the Shaved Dog Management.

6. Limits and blinds are raised at regularly scheduled intervals. Shaved Dog Management will use the following blinds and will announce a new level at their discretion to manage tournament progress and expected completion time.

7. If there is a signal designating the end of a betting level, the new limits/blinds apply on the next deal. (A deal begins with the first riffle of the shuffle.)

8. The lowest denomination of chip in play will be removed from the table when it is no longer needed in the blind or ante structure. All lower-denomination chips that are of sufficient quantity for a new chip will be changed up directly. The method for removal of odd chips is to deal one card to a player for each odd chip possessed. Cards are dealt clockwise starting with the 1-seat, with each player receiving all cards before any cards are dealt to the next player. The player with the highest card by suit gets enough odd chips to exchange for one new chip, the second-highest card gets to exchange for the next chip, and so forth, until all the lower-denomination chips are exchanged. If an odd number of lower-denomination chips are left after this process, the player with the highest card remaining will receive a new chip if he has half or more of the quantity of lower-denomination chips needed, otherwise nothing.

9. An absent player is always dealt a hand, and will be put up for blinds, antes, and the forced bet if low.

10. A player must be present at the table to stop the action by calling “time.”

11. If you are not present when it becomes your turn to act, your hand is dead. This includes situations in which a live blind is not present to act, since an absent player cannot exercise the option to raise.

12. As players are eliminated, tables are broken in a pre-set order, with players from the broken tables assigned to empty seats at other tables at Shaved Dog Management discretion.

13. The number of players at each table will be kept reasonably balanced by the transfer of a player as needed. With more than six tables, table size will be kept within two players. With six tables or less, table size will be kept within one player.

14. In all events, there is a redraw for seating when the field is reduced to three tables, two tables, and one table. (Redrawing at three tables is not mandatory in small tournaments with only four or five starting tables.)

15. A player who declares all in and loses the pot, then discovers that one or more chips were hidden, is not entitled to benefit from this. That player is eliminated from the tournament if the opponent had sufficient chips to cover the hidden ones (A re-buy is okay if allowable by the rules of that event). If another deal has not yet started, Shaved Dog Management may rule the chips belong to the opponent who won that pot, if that obviously would have happened with the chips out in plain view. If the next deal has started, the discovered chips are removed from the tournament.

16. If a player lacks sufficient chips for a blind or a forced bet, the player is entitled to get action on whatever amount of money remains. A player who posts a short blind and wins does not need to make up the blind.

17. All players must leave their seat immediately after being eliminated from an event, unless they are acting as dealer for the table. This allows Shaved Dog Management to manage table counts. Eliminated players can observe continued play, but not by sitting at the table. Players eliminated and acting as dealer must alert Shaved Dog Management of the role in order to manage table counts.

18. Showing cards from a live hand during the action injures the rights of other players still competing in an event, who wish to see contestants eliminated. A player may not show any cards during a deal (unless the event is down to the final table). If a player deliberately shows a card, that hand may be ruled dead and the player penalized.

19. Inappropriate behavior like throwing cards that go off the table may be punished with a penalty such as being dealt out for a length of time. A severe infraction such as abusive or disruptive behavior may be punished by eviction from the tournament.

20. The deck can be changed on request; but is at the discretion of the tournament director.

21. In all tournament games using a dealer button, the starting position of the button is determined by dealing for the high card.

22. The dealer button remains in position until the appropriate blinds are taken. Players must post all blinds every round. Because of this, the button may stay in front of the same player for two consecutive hands.

23. New players are dealt in immediately unless they sit down in the small blind or button position. In these two cases, they must wait until the button passes.

24. In heads-up play with two blinds, the small blind is on the button.

25. Re-buys are not permitted. After the initial buy in chips are lost in play, the player is eliminated.

26. All hands will be turned face-up whenever a player is all-in and betting action is complete.

27. If two (or more) players go broke during the same hand, the player starting the hand with the larger amount of money finishes in the higher tournament place for point and cash awards.

28. Shaved Dog Management is not required to rule on any private deals, side bets, or redistribution of the prize pool among finalists.

29. Private agreements by remaining players in an event regarding distribution of the prize pool are not condoned. (However, if such an agreement is made, Shaved Dog Management has the option of ensuring that it is carried out by paying those amounts.) Any private agreement that excludes one or more active competitors is improper by definition.

30. A tournament event is expected to be played until completion. A private agreement that removes all prize money from being at stake in the competition is unethical.

31. Management retains the right to cancel any event, or alter it in a manner fair to the players.

-- Rules provided by Bob Ciaffone via ROBERT’S RULES OF POKER and are modified slightly by Shaved Dog Resort management