Betting rules

Eoin

Hi Folks,

Another stupid newbie question for you:

I know that "string betting" is not allowed: I understand this to be where you move in several chips at a time, as opposed to all at once to see what reaction you get.

What about the opposite, where you have a load of chips in your hand but only put a few of them down? From what I have seen, this seems to be allowed, but looks to be very similar to string betting.

Any thoughts?

Eoin

bmc

It's tricky... often people will pick up a whole stack and drop chips in up to the point where they've called a bet. This is allowed since if they said nothing and just dropped the first chip in, it would have to be brought up to a call anyway. Although, if they put the whole stack in (and down) and then take back change to make it a call when there was sufficient there to be a raise they probably shouldn't be allowed.

If they are raising then they have to do it in one move. However, if they've declared the amount of their raise e.g. "raise to 500" then they are raising to 500, and so long as they they put out the entire 500 they can pretty much do it however they like.

karlh

if you say raise its a raise, if you don't its a call.

if the amount put down (out of the loads in you hand) is enough to constitute a raise then you'ld probably get away with it. to constitute a raise it must be at least twice the original bet you are raising.

if there was no bet before you, then once the amount was at least the size of the big blind, then its a valid bet, regardless of how many you have in your hand.

not a good idea to have all your chips in your hands when your betting though. i suppose if your hand with all the chips pass the bet line, someone could argue you are all in!?

DeVore

Yeah, I hate when people do that. They grab a huge pile of chips and then... *dink* drop one from the bottom. I've taken to not looking at people if they start that because they are looking for a reaction from you sometimes.
There is no official rule about it but I'll ask tonight if its a "warnable" offence if they are blatant.

DeV.

Eoin

There is no official rule about it but I'll ask tonight if its a "warnable" offence if they are blatant.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I was wondering - to me it is exactly the same as string betting, and not too sure why it isn't allowed. I suppose the simplest answer is to get that poker face working the whole time, and it won't be an issue at all - sort of like this should do the trick! :cool:

mewso

There are variations though, like stacking your chips as if you are about to push a bet in then tapping the table to check. I can't see any real way you can complain about it. I think theres an unwritten rule. If you saw it on the telly it's ok.

Eoin

There are variations though, like stacking your chips as if you are about to push a bet in then tapping the table to check

that's a very good point, when you do as you described above, it is a totally legitimate thing to do and you could argue there is very little difference...

DeVore

Thats why I dont observe my opponents at times, I also think that if someone is staring at you they are probably concerned about what you are going to do which means there is something that potentially concerns them. I think others think that too.

DeV.