In a cash NL game held yesterday, I was the dealer. Unfortunately, I made a mistake. The player to act first placed a bet right after the flop. I remember he had a caller then. A player was in the hand, however his cards were concealed behind his hand and it was an honest mistake, I forgot he was still in the hand. Turn card came and I flipped it over before he made a move. Just few seconds after, he announced that he was going to call and therefore the hand continued.

Any comments about what happened? Base on the rules, was everything acceptable?

Thanks!

Landon Woffer
Landon,

If I were there, I would have let it go with the way it happened. In a casino, it is the call of the floor person. Some may let it go at his word and others may require that you pull back the turn and burn and turn a new turn. Then you take the old turn card, put it back in the deck, shuffle it, and then burn and turn the river.

In a recent game by which my friend was in, something happened. At preflop, there was betting. Then flop came and after that two players remained, player A and player B. Player A went all in. While player B without any doubt, immediately flipped his cards and afterwards said “I flopped a straight”. I was not there actually so I am not certain if the cards that were flipped touched the muck pile or not. Well, I think they didn’t. There’s just one thing I am certain of, player B had turned his cards over however never call, go all in or fold.

Do you think what player B did is already a call or else a fold? Any idea?

Thanks!

Jeffrey Anderson
Jeffrey,

Most will assume this to be a call. The dealer should have asked if he was calling. That would have solved it right there. If this happened in a casino, the dealer would ask his intentions and then move on. If there was a debate, then the floor would be called, but the fact he flipped his cards up and declared his hand would have been ruled an intention to call the bet.

I played holdem with some family members just this evening. I admit most of us are just newbies.

At near mid part, three were left for the pot including me. With a small pot, I went all-in. Two other players had more chips than me, later, they called my bet. Flop then came. However, two cards were not revealed.

Do you think the two other players should have continued to bid on the turn and river card, actually right after I called all-in? Or else with the other two players, the two cards may have just been flipped with no more side bidding? Any idea?

Thanks!

Regards,
Darrel Koester
Darrel,

Your two opponents have the option to bet or not to bet after they call your all in bet. They must still at least check it down on the flop, turn, and river.

In a recent tournament, a situation came up. I remember then that after the flop, I went all-in. Later, I had one caller for it. Well, it was the first hand of the tournament therefore both of us were all-in. I was then the dealer and when the time to flipped my two cards came, we were quite surprised as one of them hit one of the community cards. By the way both my cards were face up then.

So now, do you think that meant a dead hand and so the other guy actually won? Well some players said that I lost automatically while there are some who said that it was another way around as my cards were face up actually. What do you think?

Thanks!

Regards,
Lynette Bower
Lynette,

There should never be a rule killing your hand if your card touches the flop. This is a silly rule and there is really no good reason for it.

For sake of argument, let’s say the rule is in place. Since you are all in and the cards are already face up, then it does not matter if the community cards touch your cards. The dealer should just push your hand off to the side while they deal the cards. This should not be an issue.

I played a tourney game just the other day with my brother-in law. I considered it a friendly game like actually.

Before we started playing, we both agreed that if anyone of us called and showed the hand and any card touched the flop, it will call for mucking the cards and disqualification. Maybe we have already think of such instance to happen and so it actually did.

We played with four other players. With the last card, player 1 hit a straight and laid them on the flop. Player 2 found his straight nice but eventually he said loudly that player 1′s straight will lose to his pair as he mucked the cards. Do you think our rule makes sense?

Thanks!

Best regards,
Allie McDough
Allie,

That’s a bad rule. Why does it matter if your hand touches the flop? There is no reason that I can think of for the rule. It sounds like a rule that is made up to angle shoot in case someone’s hand hits the board. And that is what happened here. Someone tried to win with a pair.

Get rid of that rule.

Let’s assume that in a standard game, I have pocket Aces. Eventually, I placed a wager that I feel just right for me to have callers. Then four players call my bet and quite as expected no one raised.

I’m wondering, what if the player to my right makes the last in the series of calls, can I bet one more time? Or else the betting finally ended the instance flop was expected? Honestly, I would like to continue making small wagers inexactly to keep milking chips from my opponents at the table. But I believe that the betting has finally ended because there was no raise at some point.

Now, in the event there are no raises right after an initial bet was pushed through, can the initial bettor begin another betting round? In case yes, is there a limit with regards to the number of times this can happen? Any idea?

Thanks for your time spent on reading this. More power!

Simon Lloyd
Simon,

Once you bet or raise, you may not act again during that betting round unless someone raises you.

Thanks a lot!

Regards,
Miller
Miller,

What should have happened is that the player be allowed to complete the action on the flop and then the turn betting occurred. There was no reason to give everyone back their money.

In the tournament I was into last night, the hand was dealt to the river by which both players went all-in and a player was eliminated. Quite bothering, right after the hands were flipped and the pot was awarded, some of us at the table noticed that there was an extra card flopped that was stuck behind another card. Personally, I believe it was not a misdeal as it was seen right after everything was finished. Am I right?

Thanks in advance!

Truly,
David Abrams
David,

It depends on whether the extra card was in a players hand or on the board. If it was in the player’s hand, then it was a misdeal.

If the extra card was on the flop, then depending on where the extra card occurred, the board may have to be redealt. If the extra card was on the flop, then the entire board will need to be redealt. If the all-in was before the flop, this does not affect betting. If it was after, then all betting after the flop is nullified and the flop, turn, and river must be replayed. If the extra card was on the turn, then the extra card must be taken out from under the turn card, and the river replayed. If the extra card was on the river, no action is necessary. In the event that any street must be replayed, the next should be shuffled once and cut once before the street or streets are replayed.

I played poker Monday night. There was a not so common hand that had 4 players after the flop, player 1, 2, 3, and 4. If I can remember it right, player 1 was the first to act. Eventually, player 2 bet out of turn and then went all in and so then moved his chips into the pot without hesitations. Player 1 then followed player 2 and so also went all in and then moved his chips of course into the pot.

Eventually, two players have acted out of turn as the action should have been to player C with the hand of player 2 intended to be checked.

Our rules went as follows:

1. Player 2 acted out of turn.
2. Then there was still an action right after his bet although player 1 now acted out of turn.
3. The bet of player 2 was binding due to player 1′s action.
4. Because of the incident, players 3 and 4 can play their hand.

What’s your thoughts?

Thanks!

Regards,
Browner
Browner,

This is how it should have went.

1. Player 2 acted out of turn. Player receives a warning for acting out of turn.
   
2. Player 1 has an option to either check or bet. If the player checks, then player 2’s bet is binding. If player 1 bets, then player 2 has the option of taking his bet back and acting accordingly.
   
3. When player 1 bet, player 2 had the option of taking his bet back and folding, calling the all-in of player 1, or reraising if he had more chips.
   
4. Play continues as normal to player 3 and 4.

I clearly understand that when you are playing head to head the button is the little blind and the other player is the big blind. Am I right? But I’m wondering now as to who should play first and why. Any idea?

Thanks in advance and great site!

Best,
McCullough
McCullough,

The button is indeed the small blind and is also the first to act. Heads-up preflop is the only time that the button is the first to act. On the flop and afterwards, the button becomes last to act again.