Eliminating a recurring problem: A new proposed rule

In the December 10, 2007, issue of Poker Player newspaper, the always thought-provoking Mike Caro tells us that he was asked to help prepare a poker rulebook for the Bicycle Casino when it first opened in 1984. A variation from the standard rule that he tried--without success--to implement was that verbal declarations of action would not be binding. That is, a player could announce "call," but then actually raise or fold.

Yes, this obviously opens up an avenue for angle-shooters, but Mr. Caro's arguments for why the net effect would be less confusion, ambiguity, misunderstanding, and even less angle-shooting are not easily dismissed. The skeptical reader should think about his points before dismissing them as daffy. (The column isn't available online yet, but I'll try to remember to add a link to it in an addendum to this post when it has been put up at the publication's site.) Consider also stories such as those told in this post: http://pokergrump.blogspot.com/2007/09/youve-got-to-be-careful-what-you-say.html. Consider the headaches that come from interpreting/enforcing conditional declarations (see, e.g., this discussion: http://www.allvegaspoker.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3471). Consider the recurrent problem of players making verbal declarations out of turn.

Under Mr. Caro's proposal, actions with cards (folding) and chips (calling or raising) would be all that counted; anything verbal would be just table talk, which players would quickly learn to disregard. I think Mr. Caro is probably right that this would overall be a preferable rule. In fact, Mr. Caro fails to mention other potential benefits of his proposal: Players who are deaf (or just have their iPods turned up too loud to hear what is being said) would no longer be at a disadvantage. We would never have to poll the table to find out if other players could confirm what somebody said.

I wish the game had evolved as Mr. Caro proposed. I'm afraid, though, that this particular horse is well and thoroughly out of the barn, and the door closed, locked, and welded shut behind it. We're stuck with verbal declarations being binding, despite the problems that that convention brings with it.

But I think there's one way to reduce, at least by a small amount, the magnitude of the problems attendant to binding verbal declarations, and that pertains to raise amounts in no-limit and pot-limit games. One of the most common game-stopping situations is a player who is facing a bet and wants to raise, but states an amount in a way that is ambiguous as to his intention. That is, nobody can tell if he is raising by 100, or to 100 (to pick an arbitrary example). The game stops while the dealer and players sort it out. This annoys me no end (as do so many things--hence the very existence of this blog as a place to rant about all my irritants).

I think it's crazy to have such a common problem not governed by a rule. Consider other situations in which we have eliminated ambiguity and angle-shooting, and largely reduced delays, by a clear, simple interpretive rule. First there is the oversized-chip rule. If you're facing a bet and you throw into the pot a single chip of a value more than the current bet without first announcing a raise, it is deemed to be a call, even if you intended to raise. This keeps us from having to stop to ask the player what his intention was, and prevents angle-shooters from getting a read on an opponent's reaction to the bet before making up his mind whether to say that he intended to call or raise.

The string-bet rule is similar. It converts a situation rife with potential for confusion, ambiguity, aruments, and angle-shooting to a clear, simple rule.

In both cases, of course, inexperienced players not knowing the rules can be hurt by them, but they catch on quickly (after just one error, unless they're particularly dense). Furthermore, the degree to which they can be hurt by their lack of knowledge is usually much less than how they could otherwise be hurt by a predacious, unethical opponent in the absence of a clear rule.

I propose that we take a similar affirmative step for verbal announcements of raise sizes. Here is how I would state the new rule, if I were writing a poker rulebook:

In pot-limit and no-limit games, a verbal declaration as to the size of a raise may be made by announcing either (A) the increment by which the previous bet is being raised, or (B) the total amount of the player’s bet (i.e., the sum of the previous bet and the increment of the raise). A player verbally announcing a raise amount in a manner that is ambiguous shall be construed to have raised the lesser of the two possible interpretations, i.e., as if he had made an unambiguous declaration under option (B). If that interpretation of an ambiguous declaration would constitute less than a legal raise, the declaration will be deemed to have been one of a minimum legal raise, and the player will be required to put into the pot the corresponding amount of chips.

1. Examples of unambiguous declarations of the amount of the raise, which conform to option (A); other unambiguous variations are equally acceptable:
“Raise by 100.”
“100 on top.”
“Plus 100.”
“Make it 100 more.”
“Add another 100.”

2. Examples of unambiguous declarations of the new total amount of the bet (i.e., the sum of the previous bet and the raise increment), which conform to option (B); other unambiguous variations are equally acceptable:
“Raise to 100.”
“Make it 100.”
“100 total.”
“Total of 100.”
“The bet is 100.”

3. Examples of ambiguous declarations, which will be construed as being in conformity with option (B), provided that the amount stated would constitute a full, legal raise:
“100.”
“Raise, 100.”

Examples of the application of the rule when the declaration is ambiguous:

1. The opening bet is 50. The next player says “Raise, 100.” Because a raise to 100 constitutes a legal raise, this declaration is so construed. It is not construed to be a raise by an increment of 100, to a total bet of 150, even if the player claims after the fact that such was his intention.

2. The opening bet is 60. The next player says “Raise, 100.” Because a raise to 100 would not constitute a legal raise, the declaration is construed as announcing a minimum raise, to 120. It is not construed to be a raise by an increment of 100 to a total bet of 160, even if the player claims after the fact that such was his intention.

Unfortunately, I discovered that it took a whole lot of words to lay out what is actually a pretty simple concept. (I begin to understand why legal statute books are so thick.) But I think that once you read through it carefully, the proposal is really quite easy to understand and apply.

Never again would a dealer have to stop the flow of the game to ask a raiser whether he meant to raise by X or to X. Never again would a player get to change his mind about that point after he realizes that there is ambiguity or confusion about what he wanted to do.

Now, if only I had some actual influence in how such things are implemented....

Addendum, December 22, 2007:

The Caro column discussed above is now available at http://www.pokerplayernewspaper.com/viewarticle.php?id=2366&sort=author.