The top 5 poker rules everyone gets wrong

If you expose your cards prematurely by accident, answer a phone call, or do something like that, there was a time when that would result in a dead hand.

Don't wait till the Grim Reaper comes along to declare your hand dead; ask a TD for a ruling.

Nowadays, the punishment for many of those infractions is a penalty or a warning or something along those lines, and very rarely a dead hand.

So if you're thinking, ‘Man, that hand should be dead,’ think about the situation, and if it's a spot where it would actually benefit the game to kill somebody's hand.

If the answer is no, then it’s probably not a dead hand.

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4. Minimum bet

There are a lot of situations where players think something should be a min-bet, when it isn't.

The most common one is someone bets 5K on the flop, for example, then 10K on the turn. And on the river, they throw out a 25K chip, and they say '15'.

There was a time when saying 15 meant 1,500 because it would revert to the lowest possible bet.

Nowadays, especially in that spot, you factor in the pot size when deciding how much the bet should be. Obviously, the pot's well over 15,000, so '15' means 15,000 by default, even if you meant 1,500.

You have to clarify if you want to bet the amount, such as 1,500 there, that doesn't make sense based on the action.

That old rule doesn't exist anymore. We use a lot more common sense in these situations. Things aren't always a min-bet just because it could be clarified in two different ways.

There are a lot of situations where players think something should be a min-bet, when it isn't.

 

3. 'Technically...'

I hear this a lot where somebody says, ‘Well, technically...’ Things like, 'Technically, the cards moved forward'. 'Technically, he touched the table', etc.

Technically, there are a lot of situations that can be interpreted a certain way, but we use rule number one and our judgment to decide what makes the most sense in these spots.

If someone's thinking and he drops his hand and it hits the table, that's his last act, and then nothing happens. And someone says, ‘Technically he touched the table; that should be a check.’

What I'm looking for in these situations:

A: Did a player do it to gain an advantage?

B: Did a player receive an advantage even if not trying to gain one?

If either of those things is true, I might lean more towards the technical side.

For example, if we're in a spot where somebody instantly stopped at that point and said, ‘No, no, no, I'm not checking.’ Nobody's flipped any cards, and nobody has acted. It is very clear that this person wants to bet. I’m probably going to let them bet, even if you have a ‘technically’ that goes along with your question to me.

What we we’re trying to do was protect the best interests of the game, its integrity, and fair play.

2. Action out of turn

This one is my favorite misunderstood rule. Why? Because players sometimes want to treat all of these as the same.

An action out of turn is a very broad statement that covers a lot of very individual events that vary in their degree of severity.

For instance, the one that is the most commonly misunderstood in my experience, and it happens about once a tournament is when someone needs to go to the bathroom; they're fifth to act, so they set their cards on the table, and they walk away.

In their opinion, they are folding in turn, just like you would online if you click auto-fold and run to the bathroom.

The problem is that's not what's happening here. Setting your cards down and walking away is the same thing as chucking them in the muck when it's not your turn. Don't do that.

And what they usually say in that spot is, 'I really had to go to the bathroom'. Here's the thing. I've never seen somebody fold aces because they 'really had to go to the bathroom'.

It always comes down to the quality of your hand and how big this bathroom emergency was.

If it's truly an emergency, don't look at your hand. Just walk away from the table.

No problem. That's not folding out a turn. If you look at it and decide it's an emergency, Now you're folding out a turn.

I've never seen somebody fold aces because they 'really had to go to the bathroom'.

 

A different situation. You're in the one seat. You think everyone has folded, so you fold. Turns out the player in the nine seat still has cards. That's a lower-severity situation.

Now a completely different situation. Three players are on the river. The first goes all in, the second is thinking, and the third folds before the second has acted.

That is a high degree of severity. That will probably get a penalty.

This is a very broad term that covers a lot. There are varying degrees of severity, and I will step in and use judgment in these spots.

It is simply a ‘Don’t do that’ from me, or a ‘Hey, you're going to have to miss some hands because of what you just did'.

We are pretty sure that Phil Hellmuth knows not to fold out of turn.

Antonio Abrego

1. The oversized chip rule

This is the most commonly misunderstood rule, and even a lot of people who think they understand it still get it wrong.

Here's what I try to teach anybody who works for me or who really wants to understand this rule.

It is a calling rule, meaning you have to be facing action for this to come into play.

Facing action means you must put more chips into the pot to continue with the hand.

There are a lot of situations where this is true. You're in the small blind. You have to put in chips to continue. You bet, and someone raises. You have to put in chips in order to continue.

These spots always mean that if you put in one chip without saying anything, you are calling.

The most misunderstood rule in tournament poker is the oversized chip rule.

The one where it's misunderstood the most is, ‘I'm in the big blind. It folds around, or it limps around to me, and I put out one chip. Am I calling or raising?’

Well, You’re not facing any action in that spot. You don't need to put more chips in to continue. So throwing out one chip in that spot is in fact a raise.

Here’s another example. You are first to act. Nobody has done anything. You throw out one chip. That is a bet of that entire amount.

You throw out one chip, and then the next guy throws out one chip that is a bigger denomination. He's calling because he's facing action.

I understand this can be confusing, but generally, if you have to put in more chips to continue the hand and you only put in one, you are calling.

Wrap it up

I hope this helps clarify a few of the rules that people misunderstand most often.

These are my favorite things to talk about: the rules people don't understand and the interpretations within them.

I hope everyone feels more educated now. And if you have any questions, feel free to reach out.

Justin Hammer is the Live Events Director for PokerAtlas, an online tournament director for the Texas-based poker app Hijack, and a tournament director at Thunder Valley Casino Resort. He also works as a consultant and is a minority owner of Desert Bluffs Casino in Kennewick, Washington.

For more info visit PokerAtlas.com, HijackPoker.com, and bluffs.poker. Follow Justin on X.

^{Additional image courtesy of PokerGO.}