Poker Rules

Hello all! Yes, t's been a long time, that's all I'm going to say about that, and pretend like it hasn't been over a year since I've written!

So I've moved to San Diego and am playing a lot more live cardroom poker than I have ever.  Every Tuesday night, I go to the Sycuan Casino and play in a weekly WSOP qualifier tournament and then play some 1/2 NLHE after that.

An interesting situation came up last night, but let me give some background.  Most poker rooms do not allow you to grab a large amount of chips from your stack and then make a forward motion but only drop a few past the betting line for your call or raise.  Usually, if you make a forward motion with a stack of chips, that defines your bet.  Sycuan does not enforce this rule.  I'd say the bet is only final once the chips are on the felt, but it's really a dealer judgement call, as the staff are liberal.  They will typically verbally confirm the bet with the player to make sure before allowing action to move forward, and most of the time that works.

Well, last night, I built a pot up to $100 on a draw, and on the river I was first to act.  I was resolved to bluff and thought $35 would be a nice price to get a fold from weak hands and only called and raised by strong hands.  I cut out the $35 in chips in front of me, picked them up about 6-12 inches off the table, and brought my arm forward to bet them, when my opponent couldn't stop himself from putting his call out before I had placed my chips down.  So I pulled my arm back.  The dealer said I couldn't do that, and I told him I thought he was right, but that I didn't declare a bet, so what's the amount?  We called the floor, and the floor ruled that I only had to bet the minimum $2.  Makes sense to me, but that really pissed off my opponent.  What sucks worse is that he then rivered me a few hands later for my stack, and I could tell he was happy to have gotten his "vengence".

I rebought and re-grouped (eventually) and was able to felt him later and end up leaving with a profit on the night.

I'd like to say something enlightening like "It pays to be deliberate at the table.  I took my time, while he rushed", but lets face it, I got lucky in that spot.  The floor could have ruled against me.

However, now I know should that ever happen again, I should just verbally declare the minimum bet and drop a single chip onto the felt.  Simple.  Easy.  And I should pray that I have a made hand, rather than a bluff so that I can re-raise!