1. Action is called or folded around to the small blind (blinds are 100/200). SB takes a single oversized chip (500), picks up his small blind chip just a little bit above the felt, then drops them both on the felt a little bit forwards of where the small blind originally rested and doesn't say anything throughout this whole process. Is it a call or a raise?


2. In a tournament, player goes all-in. There is significant action behind. The all-in player then dies (heart attack, stroke, etc). Does he get his chips back (to be blinded off) or are they forfeited to the pot?


3. If a player (B) appears to be building chips to make a bet when it's not his turn, is it acceptable for the dealer to ask the other player (A) if they have acted yet? Does it matter if Player (A) is watching Player (B) as if it was his turn? Or should the dealer give Player B the opportunity to act out of turn?


4. I know it's bad luck to be superstitious, but is buying chips from the middle of the table at the start of a new game considered bad luck? I see a lot of players willingly wait in line for chips when they are called into a new game because they don't want to buy from the starting racks of chips.

1. Call. TDA rule 44.

2. House rules apply. The TDA rule 31 says leaving the table is subject to penalty so I suppose a hard ass could rule that the penalty is forfeiting the pot they were in and letting the next best hand win it.

3. A simple, "the action is on player A" is enough.

4. I've never heard that, but I haven't played everywhere. Many rooms ask players to make their initial buy at the cage to reduce the number of fills at the table. If a poker room manager started that story, they should be in line for a raise. That would be pretty clever.

1) Raise 100%

2) With significant action behind, I'd say that his chips get forfeited to the pot, as had he not gone all-in the hand most likely would've played out completely differently. This poses another question though, is the dead all-in player still eligible to win the pot, with his chips then being blinded out accordingly? Or is it dead player, dead hand?

3) This is a good question, as a dealer myself I'd like to know how others feel. Personally I'm letting the guy act out of turn once, because a) who knows if he's just pretending, and b) I could influence the outcome of the hand by speaking up. Then if he does in fact act out of turn, I'll give him the warning "hey, he's first" or whatever, then I'll keep an eye on him from there. If he continues to look as if and/or does act out of turn in future hands, I'll give a more stern warning "you have to play in turn", etc.

4) If you're walking past the roulette wheel and see that 11 blacks in a row have hit, is it a good time to empty your wallet on red because it's due?

1. That’s a raise. Player drops two chips at the same time = a multi-chip bet. I don’t think we have any rule that says how far the chips have to move on the table or how far back the single chip has to go bevor we’re allowed to add the second chip?

2. You could argue the player abandoned his hand when his spirit left the poker room. Would be pretty cruel though.

3. I don’t think there’s any action needed if it’s obvious that player B knows it’s A’s turn. Otherwise, “action is on player A” sounds good to me.

4. I didn’t know that was a thing. But I’ve heard players say they want to wait for a chip runner because waiting for a refill of the rack is going to take ages.

1. Almost usually ruled a raise. Taking the SB back (or in this case, picked up with the new chip) is typically considered intent to raise or call and since he added a chip for a legal raise (I assume), it should be a raise. If ruled on by a floor, it could go either way though.

2. Any floor with a heart, and since the person has a medical emergency is all-in, will allow the hand to play out. If he loses, problem is solved (wow, that reads harsh). If he wins, this will depend on the TD and/or house rules. Personally, I think his stack remains in the game until blinded out. If he makes the money, it goes to his estate.

3. If dealer believes A hasn't acted, he should say to the table, "Action is on A". He can then be corrected if it is not.

4. Room depended. Many rooms you can only buy your initial stack from the cage.

1. Raise. TDA Rule 46 (emphasis is mine)

46: Prior Bet Chips Not Pulled In

A: To avoid confusion, players with prior-bet chips not yet pulled in who face a raise should verbalize their action before adding chips to the prior bet.

B: If facing a raise, clearly pulling back a prior bet chip binds a player to call or raise; he or she may not put the chip(s) back out and fold.

C: If new chip(s) are added silently and the bet is unclear to the house, the call and raise rules 41-45 apply as follows: 1) If prior chips don’t cover the call AND are either left alone OR fully pulled back, an overchip is a call and multiple new chips are subject to the 50% raise standard (Rule 43). 2) If prior chips are partly pulled back OR if prior chips cover the call, the combined final chip bet is a raise if reaching the 50% standard (Rules 43 & 45), if less it is a call. See Illustration Addendum.

2. The strong bias in to avoid killing hands. Since the incapicitated player no long has any action, his hand will likely stand. If he loses, the pot goes to the winner. If he wins, his pot goes to his stack. That being said, I have seen ghost players (players who never showed up, for example for day 2) treated both ways. In some cases, as they blind out, if the blinds put them all in, their hand is considered live. This is more common in my experience. In some cases, if they are not present, their hand is conisdered dead, even if they would have legally not had a chance to fold.

3. This is a breach of etiquette. Some argue that it is nothing more than a physical tell, no different than a player looking excited or nervous after he looks at his cards and waits for his turn. Others argue that it is giving the acting players information to which they are not entitled. When I was a newish player, I did this at a circuit event and was admonished, fairly gently, to wait and only act in turn. I don't think this action is covered in TDA, so I don't think it would be penalized

4. In my opinion, the best option is whatever keeps the game moving.

What? How is playing with your chips acting out of turn?

By the letter of the rule, I would guess that it wasn't, but I was definitely signal what action I intended. This happened a couple of times (I wasn't terribly patient at the time). The exact wording wasn't always 'act in turn', sometimes it was something like 'calm down and wait until it is your turn'.

Like i said, some argue that prestaging your bet(especially in heads up play) is nothing more than a physical tell and is not prohibited, but I do think it is bad etiquette.

1) Raise .. if 'original' SB chip is left undisturbed .. call

2) Players need not be present in a tournament. There was a Player in the WSOP who got hit by a car and died between Day 1 and Day 2 .. his stack cashed and the wife collected. Cash games the chips would be racked up as 'abandoned' property and hopefully claimed by the estate.

3) Manipulating (or even just 'gripping') chips is a long time tell of sorts where generally it's a Player trying to get off cheap by acting like they're ready to 'call anything'. I'm not so sure a Dealer should save a Player from themselves in that spot. During a WSOP event last week I could've let a Player act out of Turn on the River holding the nuts, but I stopped him. He'd already acted OOT on the Flop and I just didn't want to win chips that way .. probably should've just let him do it. Dealer was not going to intervene at all.

4) Players have all sorts of 'chip' policies. Never really heard of that one. The most common is not accepting 'their' chips back from the Player that just felted them. It is amazing how many times I've hit a lull in my stack once I've run it up and become 'the bank' for the table or the Floor asked me to color up .. you know, sending the lucky chips to other Players!! GL

2) Hand is still live. If he wins, chips are put in front of his chair. If there's a possibility that he will cash, he gets blinded out and an heir can collect. If it's early and no chance of cashing it could be considered a forfeit and chips removed from play.

3) There are no set guidelines on this, but if it's heads up I'll look to the skipped player to see if they speak up. If it's multi way I'm going to try to keep action in turn.

4) Many players are used to playing where they have to go to the cage for their first buyin. What you're seeing is probably a combination of habit and wanting specific denominations that might not be provided when the table opens.

That situation would only be relevant if the player went all-in, stood up from his chair, walked out and then got hit by a car. The question isn’t if players need to be present in a tournament to have a stack in front of their chair but if they have to be present to win a hand. If the player didn’t go all in but raised 99% of their stack instead and somebody else shoved, what would we do once action comes back to the now deceased player? I’d still say refund the bet to his seat is the right thing to do but if we go strictly by rules that might not be correct.

Just last night I was playing in a NLHE home game with a player who primarily plays fixed limit. He kept gathering his bet with multiple players still to act in front of him until the host told him to knock it off lol.

It's one of those things that is easier not to do than to do for most people — like not reacting to a turn card after you folded on the flop — so you are expected to control yourself.

There is a rule that you cannot muck after going all in to prevent chips dumping. If you go all in and run out of the building your hand is still live.

I don't know of any documented cases of players purposely dying in order to chip dump, but the rule still applies.

Also most TDs are not medical doctors and would probably err on the side of hoping the player is merely passed out or could be revived.

Once the chips are in the middle they have to be won in order for them to come back.

Now you could question that a Player must be able to table their cards in a cash game. But in a tournament the cards must be tabled for an all-in and that allows for the chips to go back to that seat .. absent the Player.

I'm not sure the reasoning for a refund/return in a tournament .. why should the stack be blinded off (for 'all' the Players to go after) and not be lost (or won) in the current pot? Certainly anyting left behind technically belongs to the Player .. cash, pick it up .. tournament, blind it off.

In the case of a tournament where a Player still has chips behind .. that's a tough one, but I don't think we can provide a refund since the Player was assumed to be of 'right mind and body' when the chips were put into the pot.

It would be an interesting spot in a cash game even if the Player wasn't all-in. Who really want to win chips that way? GL

You guys are making this complicated. Someone dies during the hand their estate gets a refund of their buy-in (yes, no matter how far they were). The chips in the pot may be live if the player was alive at the time, but seriously how the heck did we get to this point? Someone just died!

Sorry Quito. I strongly doubt any refund is coming or even considered in a tournament.

Let us say we are heads up in the main with 1st getting $7mil and 2nd getting $4mil and second in chips shoves then dies do you think either player’s estate wo7ld accept a entry refund? Heck even if leader shives, gets called and loses, you think he is getting a entry refund?

Looking at it from the poker POV not the personal POV, whether you are absent due to oversleeping, have the flu with a 105 temp, in a coma in the hospital or passed away, to the game it really does not matter…your are absent if you win you all in chips to your seat and start blinding off

This is kind of what I was worried about as it opens up an angle. Free chips if he folds or, "Oh, you're calling my all-in? I'm going to die and now I get my chips back."

I get that death is negative EV but from the standpoint of his estate, there's an angle that he can shoot here if we let him have his chips back.

The player is dead but the hand is live.

Definitely not 100%.

If the dealer isn't paying close attention,
it might look like a single oversize chip and a call.

If the dealer clearly saw what happened, raise maybe 80% of the time.

Probably should leave that angle open so the angleshooters can weed themselves out

If you’re THAT committed of an angle shooter, well then I guess I can respect that and let you have it. You’ll only get away with it once, though��

If you were already planning on faking your own death if you don't win the tournament, you might as well do it just before busting. Your loved ones will appreciate the extra $10k and the loan sharks will believe you're dead because they read about it on pokernews.

Pulling the fake fatal heart attack off while all-in vs AA in the Big One for One Drop would be next level.

With a miraculous recovery when you flop a 10 high straight on a rainbow flop.

1: I've seen it called both ways. It will be house/floor dependent. It will also depend on exactly how far the original chip was moved before both chips hit the felt. And as was mentioned before it will also depend on who was watching and what they think they saw. For me I would just announce the raise or add two or more chips so it is clearly a raise.

2: I hope the house would award the pot to the dead all-in guy (if he won) and then have his chips blind off. He could get into the money (or already be in the money). And miracles do happen. He could be revived. One year at the WSOP Main Event (I think) Stu Unger failed to show up for the final day and blinded off into the final table. He could have been dead and probably came close.

3: Please don't! This would violate OPTAH. Some people use this tactic to try to alter another players action. The dealer shouldn't be helping the players that do this. Also, the player whose turn it is to bet may be peripherally watching to see what the other player is doing. Which is his prerogative.

However, if a player is actually starting to move the chips out to bet, stopping him from betting out of turn is more than OK. At that point you could be aiding an angle but probably 99% of the time it is not an angle - just somebody who was about to bet out of turn.

4: Lol. This is not a thing. However, if you are superstitious I would say do what makes you feel comfortable. Studies have shown that when superstitious people do superstitious things, then things work out more than they would have otherwise.