Texas Holdem Tournament Rules

1. The organizer of the tournament is to consider the best interest of the game and fairness as the top priority in the decision-making process. Unusual circumstances can, on occasion, dictate that the technical interpretation of the rules be ignored in the interest of fairness. Their decision is final.

Betting Procedures

2. The action of betting is physically defined as the release of chips after a single, forward motion.

3. Above all, verbal declarations in turn are binding. A player who declares a call, raise, fold, must do so to the limit that the chips allow. If simultaneous declarations are made (tossing in a raise and saying call), the verbal declaration takes precedence.

4. Action out of turn is not binding. The deliberate intention to act out of turn may result in a penalty.

5. Check-raising (checking, then later raising over a bet) is allowed.

6. String betting (placing out bets with more than one motion without verbally declaring your intention) is forbidden. Any betting motions after the first motion will be dismissed.

7. In no limit or pot limit, by stating the word “raise”, a player protects his right to raise, but the raise must be made in one additional motion unless he states the amount.

8. In no limit or pot limit, a bet must be at least the amount of the big blind.

9. In no limit or pot limit, a raise must be at least the amount of the previous bet.

9a. If a player puts in a bet below the minimum allowed that is equal or above 50%, the player will be required to make a full raise. The raise will be exactly the minimum raise allowed. If a player cannot cover the full minimum raise, he or she must go all-in.

9b. If a player puts in an amount that is less than 50% of the minimum allowed bet, the player is considered to have called and is returned the excess chips.

10. In limit hold em, there will be a max limit of a bet, a raise, a reraise, and another reraise. When only two players are involved in a hand this betting “cap” does not apply.

11. When a player throws in an oversized chip without making a verbal declaration…

11a. In limit hold ’em, an oversized chip will be considered to be a call.

11b. In no-limit, before the flop, an oversized chip is a call.

11c. In no limit, after the flop, an oversized chip by the initial bettor will constitute the size of the bet.

11d. In no limit, after the flop, an oversized chip by a player facing a bet will be considered a call.

11e. In no limit, if a player states just the word “raise” and throws in an oversized chip, the raise will be that amount.

11f. In pot-limit, if a player states just the word “raise” and throws in an oversized chip, the raise will be the maximum amount allowable up to the size of that chip.

Split Pots, Side Pots, and going All-in

12. A player who is all-in must show his cards at the showdown.

13. In the case of a split pot when there are two or more high hands, the chip(s) will be split as evenly as possible (chips may need to be broken down into smaller denominations) with any odd chip(s) left over given out to the winning player with the worst position (left of the button being the worst).

14. Each side pot will be split as a separate pot. They will not be mixed together before they are split.

15. When a player creates a side pot by going all-in, the side pot will be the current pot plus each call up to the amount of the all-in. Any raises (or calls in the case of a below-the- limit all-in) go into the new pot.

16. At the showdown with a side pot, the player who is all-in can only win the pot set aside when he or she went all-in. After the winner of that hand is resolved, the players involved in the main pot determine the winner without regard to the all-in hand.

17. In case of multiple side pots, a player can only win up to what he put in times the number of calls up to the all-in amount.

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