TOURNAMENT RULES AND REGULATIONS

1. Floor decisions. Floorpeople must consider the best interest of the game and fairness as top priorities in the decision-making process. Unusual circumstances can on occasion dictate that decisions in the interest of fairness take priority over the technical rules. The decisions of the floorpersons are final.
2. Player Card – Players can not start the game without their Merit Poker membership cards.
3. Player responsibilities. Players are expected to verify registration data and seat assignments, protect their hands, make their intentions clear, follow the actions, act in turn, defend their right to act, keep cards visible, keep chips correctly stacked, remain at the table with the live hand, speak up if they see a mistake being made, transfer tables promptly, follow one player to a hand, know and comply with the rules, follow proper etiquette, and generally contribute to an orderly tournament.
4. Electronic devices. Electronic devices are not permitted to be placed on the playing surface. Players may not talk on a phone during the hand.
5. Official terminology use in all events. It’s the responsibility of players to make their intentions clear. During the hand only English is allowed.
6. Tournaments are playing with Big Blind Ante (BB position posting Ante which is equal to Big Blind amount).
7. Random correct seating. Tournament seats will be randomly assigned. A player who started the tournament in the wrong seat with the correct stack amount will be moved to the correct seat and will continue his current total stack.
8. Balancing tables. Play will halt at any table that is at least three players short of the table with the most players at the time. A player will be moved from the BB at the table with the most players to the worst position (never Small Blind) at the short table. Not halting play is not a cause of misdeal and floormen may elect not to halt play at their discretion.

To form a new tournament table, BB position players will be taken from the active tables. The number of players to be taken will be decided by the floormen.

9. Dodging blinds. Players who intentionally dodge any blind when moving from a broken table will incur a penalty.

 

10. Proper tabling is both 1) turning all cards face up on the table and 2) allowing the dealer and players to read the hand clearly. “All cards” means both hole cards in hold’em, all 4 hole cards in Omaha. Cards speak to determine the winner. Verbal declarations of hand value are not binding at showdown. Deliberately miscalling a hand may be penalized.
11. Face up for all-ins. All cards will be tabled without delay once a player is all-in and all betting actions by all other players in the hand is completed. If a player accidently mucks their hand before cards are turned up, floormen reserve the right to retrieve the cards if they are clearly identifiable. Players intentionally mucking their cards may be penalized.
12. Disputing the hand. The right to dispute a hand ends when a new hand begins. A hand begins with the first shuffle or when the green button is pushed.
13. At your seat. A player must be at his/her seat when the dealer delivers the last card to the button. Dealers are instructed to muck the hands of players not at their seats immediately after the final card is dealt to the button. Players must also be at their seat to call time.
14. Pending actions. A player with a live hand must remain at the table if any further betting actions remain in the hand. This includes being all-in (no going to the rail, talking to the media, wandering around the room etc.)
15. Substantial actions. Substantial Action is either A) any 2 actions in turn, at least one of which puts chips in the pot (i.e. any 2 actions except 2 checks or 2 folds) or B) any combination of 3 actions in turn (check, bet, raise, call, fold).
16. Burns after the Substantial actions. The purpose of burn cards is to protect the stub not to preserve the card order. If substantial action occurs and hand is killed due to the wrong number of cards, randomness applies to further dealing. The stub is treated as a normal stub and only one card is burned off the stub for each street.
17. Action out of turn, action in turn, verbal actions including undercalling.

 Action out of turn: Any action out of turn (check, call or raise) is subject to penalty. Muck out of turn is subject to the immediate penalty. The penalty starts from the moment a player was informed. Action out of turn is binding if action to the OOT player does not change. A check, call or fold by the rightful player does not change action. If action changes, the OOT action is not binding; any bet or raise is returned to the OOT player who has all options including: calling, raising, or folding. An OOT fold is binding. A player skipped by OOT action must defend his right to act. If there is reasonable time and the skipped player does not speak up before substantial action. OOT occurs to his left, the OOT action is binding. The floor will rule on how to treat the skipped hand.

Acting in Turn. Players must act in turn verbally and/or by pushing out chips. Action in turn is binding and commits chips put to the pot to stay in the pot. Players must wait for clear bet amounts before acting.

 Verbal actions including undercalling – Verbal declarations in turn regarding wagers are binding. All chips put into the pot in turn stay in the pot. Players must act in turn at all times.

 Undercall – An undercall (betting less than the current call amount) is a mandatory full call if made facing an opening bet multi-way on any betting round, or facing a bet heads-up. In all situations, TD discretion applies. For purposes of this rule, in blind games the posted big blind is the opening bet on the first round.

18. Oversized chip betting. When facing a bet or blind, pushing out a single oversized chip is a call if raise isn’t first declared. To raise with an oversized chip, raise must be declared before the chip hits the table surface. If raise is declared but no amount, the raise is the maximum allowable for the chip. When not facing a bet, pushing out an oversized chip without declaration is a bet of the maximum for the chip.
19. Previous bet not pulled in. If a player bets when facing a raise and has chips in front of him not yet pulled in from a prior bet, the “prior” chips (and any change due) may affect whether his action is ruled a call or re-raise. Because several possibilities exist, players should declare their bets before putting out new chips on top of prior-bet chips not yet pulled in.
20. String bet and raises. Dealers will be responsible for calling string bets and raises.
21. Raises. A raise must be at least equal to the largest prior bet or raise of the current betting round. If a player raises 50% or more of the largest prior bet but less than a minimum raise, he must make a full minimum raise. If less than 50%, it is a call unless “raise” is first declared. Declaring an amount or pushing out the same amount of chips is the same.
22. Non-standard and unclear betting, folds. Players use unofficial betting terms and gestures at their own risk. These may be interpreted to mean other than what the player intended. Also, if a declared bet can reasonably have multiple meanings, it will be ruled the lesser value. Any time before the end of the final betting round, folding in turn if there’s no bet to or folding out of turn are binding folds subject to penalty.
23. All-in with hidden chips. If a player bets all-in and a hidden chip is found behind after a player has called, the TD will determine if the chip behind is part of accepted action. If not part of the action, this player will not be paid off for the chip(s) if he wins. If he loses, he is not saved by the chip(s) and the TD may award the chip(s) to the winning caller.
24. Accidently killed, fouled hands. A player must protect his hand at all times, including the showdown while waiting for the hand to be read. If the dealer kills a hand by mistake or if in TDs judgement a hand is fouled and cannot be identified to 100% certainty, the player has no redress and is not entitled to a refund of called bets. If the player initiated a bet or raise and hasn’t been called, the uncalled amount will be returned to him. If a hand is fouled but can be identified, it remains in play despite cards exposed in the process.
25. Show one – show all. A player, who disclosed the content of his hand to another player(s), must show his cards to the entire table.
    A player who shows one or more hole cards at the wrong time can continuing taking a part of current hand (BET, CALL, RAISE), but penalty can be applied.
26. Heads – up. During the heads up, blind level duration (minutes) is decreased by half.
27. Hand for hand. During the Hand for Hand situation, if enough players bust on the current hand at the different tables to get into the money, the busting players will evenly share the place paid on the current hand (regardless of the highest card combination of the busted players). When two players bust at the same time at the same table, the player with more chips gets the higher position.
28. If two first to be paid ITM players seated at the different tables bust simultaneously, the payout for these two places will be split evenly between them. If such two players bust with an interval of more than 5 seconds, their places will be paid according to the payout structure.
29. Penalties and disqualifications. Penalty options include verbal warnings, one or more “missed hands”, one or more “missed rounds”, and disqualification. Missed rounds are assessed as follows: the offender will miss one hand for every player (including him) at the table when the penalty is given multiplied by the number of penalty rounds. Repeated infractions are subject to escalating penalties. A penalty may be invoked if a player exposes any card with action pending, throws a card off the table, violates one-player-to-a-hand, or similar incidents occur. Penalties will be invoked for soft play, abuse, disruptive behavior, or cheating. A player on penalty must be away from the table. Cards are dealt to his seat, his blinds and antes are posted, and the hand is killed after each initial deal.
30. Ethical playing. Poker is an individual game. Soft play will result in penalties, which may include chip forfeiture and/or disqualification. Chip dumping and other forms of collusion will result in disqualification.
31. Merit Poker reserves the right to refuse the service of alcoholic beverages to any one at any time. Tournament area is non-eating, non-smoking, including any electronic cigarettes.
32. Merit Poker assumes no responsibility for typographical errors, misprints or misinformation.

 

 

CASH GAME INFORMATION

 

1. FLOOR PEOPLE The top priorities for decisions taken by Floormen (FM) must be those of fairness and the best solution in the context of the game. Depending on the circumstances, there can be some exceptional decisions made in the interests of fairness. The decision of the Floormen is final.

 

2. PLAYER CARD Players under 21 years old are not allowed to attend any game in the poker room. Players can not start the game without their Merit Poker membership cards.

 

3. LANGUAGE English is without exception the only language permitted during a hand.

 

4. THE HOUSE RESERVES the right to require that any two or more players do not play in the same game.
5. SEAT CARD will be used for tables with 25/25 and higher limits to start seating & for the free seats at a running game.
   A player is permitted to change his seat after 2 hours of playing and only once during the session.

 

6. WINNING PLAYER must play for a minimum of:
   3 hours – for 5/10 – 25/25 limits; 4 hours – for 25/50 and higher limits;  2 hours – to move to a higher limit table;  2 hours – for a player from a broken table.

 

7. TO BE ABLE TO MOVE from one table to a table with the same limit, you need to play 3 hours. In case of loss, to change tables, you need to play 2 hours.

 

8. TO BE  ABLE  TO  RETURN to the game with a minimum stack at least 3 hours must pass between the sessions  (4 hours at 25/50 and higher limits).
9. AT YOUR SEAT RULE A player must be at his or her seat when the dealer delivers the last card to the button in order to have a live hand. The missing player’s hand, including small or big blind, will be considered a ”dead” hand.

 

 

10. ACTION IN TURN is binding and commits the chips put to the pot to stay in the pot.

ACCEPTED ACTION – It is the caller’s responsibility to determine the correct amount of an opponent’s bet before calling, regardless of what is stated by the dealer or players. *If a caller requests a count but receives incorrect information from the dealer or players, then places that amount in the pot, the caller is assumed to accept the full correct action & is subject to the correct wager or all-in amount.

 

11. ONCE THERE IS A SUBSTANTIAL ACTION, A MISDEAL CANNOT BE CALLED. The deal will be played, and no money will be returned to any player whose hand is fouled. In button games, substantial action is considered: three folds, three checks, or any two actions in turn, at least one of which puts chips into the pot.

 

12. FORWARD MOTION with chips or cards obliges the player to complete the action.

 

13. FACING A BET

A player, who releases his cards with a distinct forward motion, will be deemed to have folded his hand. If a player opens his cards when facing a bet his hand is accepted as a “dead” hand.    

 

14. PLAYERS ARE OBLIGED to protect their hands.

IF THE DEALER KILLS AN UNPROTECTED HAND, the player will not get back the capital he invested. Exception: If a player has raised and his raise has not been called yet, in this case the amount of the raise returns to the player.

 

15. SHOW ONE SHOW ALL A player, who disclosed the content of his hand to another player(s), must show his cards to the whole table.

 

16. A PLAYER WHO SHOWS ONE OR MORE HOLE CARDS at the wrong time can only passively take part in the hand. He cannot bet or raise, but his hand is not dead.

 

17. “RUNNING IT 2 OR 3 TIMES” is allowed on all tables, if all involved players agree. In case of a splitting pot, tax will be applied by running 2 or 3 times board.

 

DEALING PROCEDURE

“Short stack” player wants to run 1 time, side pot players want to run 2 or 3 times –

IF a “short stack” looses, the deal between the side pot players will be for all pots (main pot and side pot).

 

18. PLO 5 cards game will be dealt as 7 handed only. Table with 8 players: “cut off” players will not receive the cards.

 

19. DINNER BREAK. Only two players are allowed to have dinner break at the same time – 45 min, once in 5 hours (not included in 3 (4) hours playing session). If a player is absent for longer, the player’s chips will be picked up in a full game with a waiting list.

The BB and SB are not taken only from those players who are on dinner break. *If a player has been informed of this rule and still chooses to leave the table, the stack will be blinded off.

 

20. A PLAYER COMING FROM A BROKEN TABLE to a game of the same limit & type will continue to play the same amount of money. * If it is less than the min buy-in for that game the player will be allowed to play with an option to buy more chips.

 

21. A PLAYER, ABSENT at the table that has been broken\ a player who doesn’t want to continue at the current table, loses his right to draw a seat card and is automatically moved to the waiting list.

 

22. PLAYERS ARE NOT PERMITTED to give their seat to another player without a floor person’s prior approval.

 

23. A PLAYER WHO MOVES AWAY FROM THE BLINDS (clockwise) must post a BB amount at his new seat or wait for his turn for the BB position.

 

24. A REQUEST FOR A RULING must be made either prior to the start of the next hand or before the game ends. (Decision might be taken without camera check.) Otherwise, the result of the prior hand will stand. The first riffle of the shuffle marks the start of a deal. On the tables with shuffle machines a new deal starts once the button has been pushed on the shuffle machine.

 

 

25. NO Mississippi
26. NO HEADS-UP

 

27. MOBILE PHONES must not be used by any player with cards in a hand.

 

28. PLAYERS WHO INTENTIONALLY DAMAGE cards will receive a warning and, if it is repeated, a penalty will be applied (get suspended from a game for 24 hours).

 

29. THE ABUSE of other players, venue staff or other personnel will result in a warning. If it is repeated, a penalty will be applied (the player may not be allowed to play or black list measures).

 

30. THE HOUSE RESERVES THE RIGHT to refuse the service of alcoholic beverages to anyone at any time.

 

31. MERIT POKER assumes no responsibility for the mistakes made at the table. Company cannot be held responsible for any kind of dealer’s mistakes (including awarding the pot to the wrong player).