Playing in a pot limit game. Let's say the pot has $785 in it and the player first to act tosses out two $500 chips. Should the dealer immediately announce the bet is $785 without being prompted by the other player, or only announce it if the player asks how much the bet is?

Does this change if you're playing cash game or tournament?

yes

Traditionally, no announcement is made.

The dealer should announce the actual size of the bet, i.e. whatever the pot is. It used to be that dealers were taught to not announce bet sizes unless asked. But the TDA changed their recommended procedure to announcing every bet, and many rooms are now using TDA procedures in their cash games as well. The TDA rules represent the rule set that is most routinely updated , plus rooms are realizing that with some exceptions (like how to handle missed blinds) there are no good reasons to have basic procedures differ between tourneys and cash games.

That said, each room will still have their own policy on announcing bets, andIm sure you will find rooms that do and rooms that don't.

Just announce it. Any time a player bets pot, the size of the pot sized bet should be announced. The only plausible exception would be if it was a very high stakes game and the players only want the action called when asked. Even then the players will want the pot on demand anyway, and they are astute enough to ask immediately what the bet is.

I always announce the correct amount and have never heard that this might be wrong. The procedure in my room for all games is that we announce bet sizes unless someone goes all in, in which case we're supposed to wait until the player in turn asks.

In this particular spot I think the amount of the bet should be 'clarified' since it is part of the game being played. What if the pot had been $525?

In a much tougher (and polar opposite) spot IMO, what do we expect from a Dealer when a Player says 'pot' and can't cover the bet? I was witness to a hand where a Player said 'pot' but made no motions. After a substantial tank (and two pump fake mucks) the V 'finally' asked "How much?" .. and it was revealed that the Player only had about 1/8 of the pot behind, which resulted in a snap call. The Dealer was in obvious 'pain' during the tank, even to the point of leaning forward to try and get a visual of the Player's stack .. who was in Seat 1.

In a slightly toned down version of that .. what if the Player had declared 'all-in' instead of 'pot'?


As is the case in all threads, room/game/stake variables apply .. GL

No idea what the standard rule for that is but I've definitely seen dealers announce "all-in for xyz" and "all-in for less" after the player announced pot.

In the specific case you posted, the "pot" sounds like an angle to me because there's no way the player didn't know he had only a fraction of the pot. I would definitely prefer for the dealer to make that clear.

If someone announces pot I will do my best to assure they have enough in their stack to cover it, including asking the player to move their hands if I can't see it. I'm supposed to either give a number or throw out an all in button but I can't do either if I don't know whether they can cover the bet. If they're slow to do it I just tell the other player I'm not sure what the bet is yet.

Sometimes it is an angle but most of the time PLO players are just excited about getting to showdown and don't even realize they're covering their stack.

If I am dealing, I announce that the player bet pot and what the pot amount is. Then I try my hardest to get the pot amount pushed forward. If at any point I have any question of if the betting Player doesn't have enough in front of him I openly ask him to push his chips forward to be counted (or alternatively push enough forward to cover the pot).pit.

If he is short I have no problem announcing exactly how much he has in front of him because his bet was for pot, not all in. Maybe that is semantics, but it works for me.

In your alternative scenario where a player announces all in when his amount remaining is close to the pot, my standard it to say that the player is all in, pending the amount of the pot which is $X.