Yep, figured you'd need some time to plan.

You're welcome!

A regular in our game last night had 2 instances which he claimed were questionable...

1st - in SB, without raises (limped/folded around) tossed a single oversized chip without comment. Dealer gave BB their option and SB said he raised. Your call?


2nd - 3 way action on the river. 1st to act shoves tiny (6 BB), 2nd calls, 3rd tosses in a single oversized chip (20BB) without comment. 2nd tosses him back his chance, and 3rd says it was a raise, and that 2nd knew what he meant and was just trying to not have to call the extra on a technicality. Your ruling?

Unfortunately, both these problems are so easily avoided by players just stating their intentions. Good luck trying to get that to happen. I would instate a house rule to cover how you want to handle it, but in the games I play, it would be a call unless "raise" is stated....if you intended to raise, open your mouth and say it. Simple when common sense is applied.

+1 - call for both cases.

Side question - why is a player in the hand even making a ruling?

They're both calls for me, all day every day. Same for the OP, I'm also in the "technically it's a call but it's a home game so ask"
That said, if someone snap acts behind them then it has to stay a call and a lesson learned for the intended raiser. Really if they're going to be asked their intentions it needs to be immediately.

1st - I was 'dealer' and told sb that he knows a single oversized chip (SOC) meant a call. He thought that because he had a sb chip in there, that it wasn't a SOC. Since he expressed his intention, and it's a friendly game, the raise stood, without complaint, and the rest of the shorthanded table called along.

2nd - I was player 2. He agreed that technically I was right, but I must have known his intention was to raise. Another player out of the hand and I gave him a hard time. I allowed the raise, and despite wanting to shove (I had strong hands both hi and low), I knew he was really strong one way. I called, he showed the nuts hi, and I got the 'raise' back for low. Bummer losing the low to the all-in player.

Ultimately, it's a friendly game. He understands the rules, and there were no attempts to shoot angles or take advantage of anyone. Nobody acted after his action, so only a miniscule amount of information could have been gained.

Agreed, snap-acting after the action would change the decision.

New players to our game, would have an explanation and likely changed decision.

At the Bellagio in Las Vegas, this is an all-in.

It's an all-in. "If you put a single chip in the pot that is larger than the bet, but do not announce a raise, you are assumed to have only called." (RRoP Betting and Raising, rule 15) Two chips is not "a single chip in the pot". Verbals take precedence over differing physical actions, but absent a verbal, the SOC rule, or some other explicit rule applying, "a player who bets or calls by releasing chips into the pot is bound by that action" (RRoP Betting and Raising, rule 13).

There is no "dual undersized chips" rule in RRoP.

That said, TDA rule #1 says "Floor people are to consider the best interest of the game and fairness as top priorities in the decision-making process. Unusual circumstances can on occasion dictate that decisions in the interest of fairness take priority over the technical rules. The floorperson’s decision is final."

So if the house decided to ask the player their intent, that is fine too, but they are not obligated to do so.

Immediately after posting, I was looking at the latest TDA rules, 2011 TDA Rules Version 2.0, which have rule 39:

39: Multiple Chip Betting
When facing a bet, unless a raise is first declared, multiple same-denomination chips is a call if removing one chip leaves less than the call amount.

My statement was literally correct, as TDA #39 has no equivalent in RRoP, but perhaps the situation is, ahem, more nuanced than I gave it credit for.

You didn't state if this was a tournament, but if it is and you go by TDA, then it is a call. If you go by RRoP, then it's an all-in. If you never stated which rules you use and want to play poker and not lawyer-ball, then perhaps just ask the player what their intent was.