Champions of Poker

Hello,

I played poker the other night with two friends James and Matthew. James had an Ace with two aces on the board back then while Matthew had pocket jacks with a jack on the board. Matthew eventually discovered that James had the ace and so put up his cards.

James had 3 aces while Matthew had a full house jacks full of aces. However, Matthew haven’t discovered this until later on when James took the chips and placed them in pile.

By the way, the situation looked like:

James- A 3 Matthew – J J Board- A J 8 6 A

Do you think Matthew should give James the money? Or else he should just keep it safe as James had an error?

Thanks,
Haarstick
Haarstick,

If this was in a casino, the dealer should have divided up the pot and sent the money to the other player. If your friend discovered the error during the hand, then James should pay back the money. If the error was discovered or thought about later, there really isn’t much that can be done since the next hand has been played.

Hello,

Let’s assume that there’s an odd number of chips in the pot and the pot is actually split. Who do you think will get the excess 5 and for what reason? In one of the games I was able to witness, the excess was just thrown in the next pot.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Thanks!

Regards,
Rife
Rife,

In the case that there is an odd chip in a split pot, the person closest to the dealer wins the odd chip.

Hi,

I’ll start by sharing that I was once a tenderfoot in the game of poker, specifically in Texas Holdem. I tried to research then and study the basics of the game to eventually improve myself and my skills. However, at a three-six table at the Nugget casino in Sparks Nevada something happened that distracted me. The dealer joined our game on his break. At such instance, I was on the button holding A,5 suited. Following scene was that I raised the blind and had three callers. I don’t why but quite to my surprise one of the callers was the dealer. Of course, flop came and was J, 5, 2 rainbow. Afterwards, the table checked to me and so I bet. Once again, I had three callers. Turn came and was a 7. Again, the table checked to me and so I bet one more time. At that point, two folded while the dealer called. Then river card came and was a 3. The dealer then placed a bet therefore I raised as if I have JJ.

Later on, the dealer played with his chips and all. Afterwards, he suddenly exposed his pocket cards. Does it mean he folded? For me, exposing your cards was like folding other way around.

Well, I remember he had A, 7 by which had me beat. I then turned my cards over, had them in the middle and collected the pot. Quite surprising, he said loudly he’d call.

Can you please explain to me if he could actually call? I’m confused to be honest.

Thanks!

Regards,
Weatherford
Weatherford,

His hand was not dead when he exposed his cards. Exposing your hand does not constitute a fold and he was within his rights to call.

Hi,

My friend was scheduled to play at a no limit table last night, however, she got sick. She thought of letting her husband play in behalf of her. Is this possible? Any related rules for this kind of situation?

Thanks!

Cheers,
Bhat
Bhat,

If this was a tournament and she registered in her name, this is not allowed. Otherwise, it doesn’t matter. You don’t have to sign up to play in a cash game. You just buy your chips and sit down.

Hi there,

I have a concern regarding chip stacking. Just the other day, I watched a live game. I’ve seen that the chips of one player were colored out with two colors. Also, he had his larger chips hidden behind the cheaper chips and had a cheaper chip on top of his larger chips. I don’t know why he exactly did such but I guess he wanted to deceive his opponents. Well, it actually appeared as if he had only stacks of cheaper chips.

Eventually, his opponent went all-in and unfortunately didn’t win the pot. Well, what’s surprising is that they later on discovered that they had the same amount of chips. Losing player was so upset and actually did question the rule about chip stacking and all. Any thoughts on this?

Thank you.

Regards,
Olson
Olson,

In a casino, larger denomination chips must be visible at all times as to prevent deception regarding stack sizes.

Hi,

Along with some old friends, I played NL holdem cash game. I usually play NL cash games on the internet and so I was quite confident I’d be well. Also, I’m quite familiar with the rules, particularly those at Party Poker.

To start, well, all of us bought in with 25 dollars. We all agreed then that the chips could be filled up many times as we want as long as we don’t go beyond the maximum which was 25 dollars back then.

At some point, a certain player placed a 10 dollar bet on the turn though he only had 5 dollars. There was a possibility of a side pot then as there were players who were willing to call the bet, also considering they were still in. But in the middle of the hand, the player who bet 10 dollars wanted to buy more chips. I believe he can’t buy chips in the middle of a hand and so I tried to tell him. He asked why and I explained to him that there’ll be a good and bad effect if he’d do such. Well, the good effect is that we play side pots, the short stack would have the option of buying more chips if he’d go for the pot or using the side pot if he only had a mediocre hand. The bad effect is that he’ll be giving the short stack an unfair advantage. Am I right?

By the way, at Party Poker, as long as you don’t go beyond the table maximum, you can replenish your chips in between hands, but in the middle of a hand it’s a BIG NO!

Thanks and great site!

Warm regards,
Moore
Moore,

A player may not replenish their chips in the middle of a hand. This changes the natural course of action and can even influence action.