I did a twofer tonight: I hit, first, Mandalay Bay, then hiked over to the Excalibur, taking advantage of them both being connected to the Luxor (which sits in between them) via indoor walkways. My original plan had been to play at all three places, Luxor last, but it was too late and I was too tired by the time I finished at Excalibur.
Anyway, I saw/heard the same mistake twice tonight, one in each casino. In each instance, somebody put in a bet on the flop, followed by another player announcing "reraise."
This is not a "reraise." It is simply a raise. In order to be a reraise, there first has to be a raise. The first bet on any round of betting is not a raise, because there is nothing to raise. So if the second person to act wishes to bet more than the first person did, it's a raise, not a reraise. The third player to act in a round of betting can put in a reraise; it is not possible for the second person acting to do so.
The World Poker Tour episode this week was their annual invitational "Ladies Night." Watching it reminded me that I never saw the one from last season (at least I don't remember having seen it, though with my aging brain cells, it's possible that I watched it 20 times and it didn't stick). I have all of the episodes from every season clogging up my computer's external hard drive, so I fired it up and watched the thing.
The lone amateur player, who won the qualifying tournament to earn a place at the table with the invited pros, does exactly the same thing at one point: she announces a "reraise," when she is simply putting in a raise. Well, not too surprising for an amateur to make that mistake. But I was shocked that Mike Sexton repeated it, saying, in his usual over-excited voice, something like, "Vince, she's not just calling, she's reraising!"
Mike Sexton definitely ought to know better.
And if you, dear reader, didn't know better before, now you do. It's one of those little goofs that, while not actually adversely affecting anything, reveals that one is rather inexperienced at live casino play.
Actually, nobody ever has to use the word "reraise"; simply "raise" works perfectly well, even if it's the fifth or tenth consecutive increase in the size of the bet. So if you want to avoid any possibility of ever making this faux pas, just delete the word "reraise" from your vocabulary entirely, and you'll be fine. For what it's worth, I think the word "reraise" sounds a tad silly, so I never use it. "Raise" does the job just fine.
Closely related is the error in which the first person to act in a given round of betting says "raise" before putting in his chips. Uh, no. You can bet, but it is logically impossible for you to raise, since there has not been any previous bet.
It's just as easy to get it right as to get it wrong, so please try to get it right, OK?
Sunday, May 18, 2008
It's not a reraise, dammit!
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I was given the video game "WSOP: Battle for the Bracelets" for my PS3 a while back. A relatively fun game full of all the big name pros, Hellmuth to Harman and everyone in between. All in all, a pretty good game. Anyway, one of my biggest gripes is that when a "player" is first to enter the pot, a text display pops up that announces "RAISE: $200".
I've stopped screaming "it's not a raise" at the TV. I've downgraded to mumbling through clenched teeth.
Much like Mr. Sexton, you would think that game developers that clearly have a good grasp of the game would get this one detail right.
Yeesh.
I think this has been beat to death over at AVP, but I can't find it right now.
Isn't the Big Blind a forced bet?
Wouldn't this leave the first person to act (UTG, right?) three choices: fold, call (limp in?) or raise?
Chicago Steve
Yes. I was speaking about after the flop.
Technically, the bet is zero. Which means that it can be technically called a raise. You are raising a zero bet. A check is a call of the zero bet. While it is technically ok to do it, it doesn't make it less annoying when someone does.
Sorry to disagree, Whitefox, but I don't think there's a "Zero Bet" out there to be called or raised. Who are you proposing the bettor is in this situation? Nobody? The dealer? Jimmy Hoffa?
Would you say, upon entering the pot, "I raise the imaginary bettor with this stack of chips: this, the first post-flop bet"? Doesn't sound right to me. There is no bet before you, therefore, it's not a raise.
To further illustrate my point, facing no bet, would you actually say, "I call" and rap your knuckles on the table? Correct me if I'm wrong, but not only would you have to endure strange looks from the other players, but the dealer would say something along the lines of, "There is no bet to call, sir. Check or bet, please."
--Ant.
i think when there is a bet on the turn with more then two players involved, and the player behind the bet raises, a third player behind that raiseputs even more money on the table, he doesnt reraise! because the action is back to the first better, who didnt raise but bet, so i think a true reraise is only possible heads up....
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