Disputed Play Consistent Approach
Misdeal Cards are never redealt because of a misdeal. Each player is responsible for his own cards. Any misdealt hand having an uncorrectable advantage must be folded. Any misdealt hand that is correctable or left at a disadvantage can be played.
Exposed card during the deal An exposed card can never be exchanged for a new one--all cards must be accepted.
Exposed card before the deal All cards must come off in order. No one can ask for a reshuffle, a cut, or a different card.
Out-of-turn betting, calling, raising, or checking
Any play made out of turn (except folding) is
meaningless and can be remade or changed during the player's proper turn.
Note: These approaches are for private games. Approaches for public games (casino and club poker) may be
entirely different. See Part six for information on public poker.
The approaches in Table 21 provide clear and consistent solutions to disputes that commonly occur, especially in complex games involving split pots and twists.
c. Inequitable rules (71)
The good player may favor a chronic loser with an inequitable rule interpretation in order to keep him in the game (to everyone's benefit). Yet, he interprets and applies a rule with favorable bias toward a loser only if the financial value of that loser outweighs the financial value of interpreting all rules consistently and equitably.
d. House rules(72)
House rules are very important to the good player. They concern betting and playing procedures plus any other rules the players wish to adopt. The house rules determine not only the game stakes but also the game pace.
Since most players fail to differentiate between the house rules and poker rules, they often let the good player control the house rules because of his fairness in interpreting poker rules. Important house rules that the good player seeks to control and manipulate concern--
● stakes and antes ● games permitted
● rules for betting (e.g., betting limits for each round, table stakes, pot limit) ● rules for raising (e.g., pick-up checks, check raising)
● treatment of discards to be redealt (such as placing unshuffled discards on the bottom of the deck) ● courtesies (such as showing noncalled hands and hole cards).
The good player avoids well-defined or written rules to retain the flexibility needed to change the rules when advantageous.
In the Monday night game, John Finn verbally insists on adhering to the rules, but he carefully avoids any reference to specific rules. Instead, he mediates all disputes fairly, even when it costs him the pot. In his black notebook, he records his rule interpretations and dispute settlements. As a book of law, he refers to those entries in settling future problems. The entries in which he loses money are marked by big stars and recorded in accurate detail. He remembers those entries, and at every appropriate opportunity he reminds everyone how his honest rule interpretations cost him money. Of course, he never mentions the interpretations that favored him.
With his consistent policy of "integrity", John wins the confidence of the players. They know he is fair--everyone trusts him. They ask him to settle disputes, and they abide by his decisions. They accept him as the controller of the rules. Failing to realize that the poker rules bear no relationship to the house rules, they let John's influence spill into the house rules, thereby giving him a key tool for controlling the game.
In the Monday night game, the original house rules allowed a maximum bet of $1 and permitted only straight draw and stud games . . . $50 winners were rare. Now $100 bets are made in draw. Wild and split-pot games with twists prevail. Thousand-dollar winners are common. After six years of controlling the rules, John increased his edge odds from 35 percent to 65 percent, and his profits soared from $2,500 to $42,000 per year.
4. Arguments and Emotional Situations (73)
The good player avoids involvement in emotional situations such as--
● personal disputes and arguments ● personal problems
● exposing cheaters.
He avoids involvement by outwardly ignoring the situation. The good player will, however, study an emotional situation in order to exploit it. He intervenes only in those situations that could cost him money. For example, he steps in to prevent a loser from quitting the game because of a personal argument.
When the good player faces a potential argument, he controls the situation either by yielding quickly or by standing firm. He avoids taking positions that he may have to compromise or yield. He takes a firm position only when financially profitable. When in doubt about yielding or holding firm, he usually yields before a confrontation occurs.
Sid's loud mouth constantly bellows good-natured insults at the players. Professor Merck does not like Sid to tease him about his mustache, his tight playing, or his beret. He tells Sid to stop. But Sid Bennett grins and rides him even harder by calling him a dirty old man. Quintin accuses Sid of running a-dishonest road-paving business and calls him a pasty-faced crook. Sid shouts back louder insults. Since their bickering hurts their poker playing, John increases his winnings from the upset men.... But their animosity increases each week and John begins to worry. Blows are nearly exchanged when Quintin threatens to expose Sid's payola on city paving contracts. Sid threatens to sue him for slander and then calls him a queer. Squinting his green eyes, Quintin cracks the edge of his hand on the table and threatens Sid with a karate blow. Sid vibrates his big fist close to Quintin's nose, calls him a queer again, and then storms out of the house while
shouting that either he or Quintin must quit the game.
Fearing that Sid may quit, John telephones both men the next day and settles their argument. He explains how their feud is hurting their playing and is costing them money. They both agree and thank him for straightening out their problem.
John made extra money from their feuding. But when the feud almost caused the loss of the
a desirable player.
XIV
Cheaters (74)
[ 18 ]
The good player never cheats--he never needs to.
In friendly and private poker games, most players consider a cheater less honorable than a thief because a thief robs from strangers, but a poker cheat robs from his friends. The normal emotional impulse is to banish the cheater from the game ... or worse.[ 19 ] The good poker player, however, resists acting on emotions. He views any cheating situation objectively and then acts in his best long-range financial interest.
1. Cheating (75)
Cheating involves the following manipulations of cards, money, or betting:
● Cards are covertly switched to alter the value of a hand. Cards are purposely flashed to see
undeaIt or unexposed cards. The deck is culled and stacked to change the sequence of cards to be dealt.
● Money is stolen from the pot or from other players. Wrong change is purposely taken from the
pot. Lights are purposely not paid.
● Mechanical devices such as marked cards, strippers, mirrors, and hold-out equipment, and
techniques to smudge, nick, or mar cards for future identification, are used.
● Secret betting agreements or partnerships are made; the colluding partners signal each other when
to bet or raise.
Honest poker allows any behavior or manipulation, no matter how deceptive, except cheating. Cheating is the only dishonest, illegal, or unethical behavior in poker. But where does deception end and cheating begin? Actually, a sharp distinction exists between the two. Poker cheating is the conjuring up of
advantages unavailable to others. Poker deception is the taking advantage of situations available to all. For example, all cards are marked. A sharp-eyed player can find printing imperfections in honest decks of cards. Some common printing imperfections are ink spots, inkless dots, and slightly off-centered designs on the back side of the cards. Also, the normal use of cards produces identifying smudges, nicks, scratches, and creases on their backs. (Purposely marring cards for identification would, of course, be cheating.) Those natural imperfections and markings that identify unexposed cards are available to any player willing to train his eye and discipline his mind. The good player willingly exerts the effort to learn and then use these natural markings. He may even increase that advantage by providing the game with cheaper (but honest) cards with less perfect printing patterns.
Sid Bennett cheats. While it is quite obvious, only John Finn fully realizes that he cheats. Quintin Merck suspects it, but never makes any direct accusations. The other players watch Sid's cheating, but refuse to suspect him. His crude cheating techniques include--
● looking through the discards to select cards for use in his hand ● culling or sorting cards prior to dealing
● peeking at cards to be dealt, especially twist cards ● stealing money from the pot when going light
● slipping a good card into the hand of a losing player (Robin Hood cheating). John estimates that Sid cheats once in every eight or ten hands.
2. Accepting Cheaters (76)
The good player quietly accepts cheaters if they are losers. In fact, he often welcomes their cheating because they generally lose more money when cheating, particularly when cheating in complex games involving split pots and twists.... A player usually increases his losses when cheating because he--
● dilutes his attention toward the game by worrying about and concentrating on his cheating ● overestimates the benefits of cheating and thus plays looser and poorer poker
● makes his cards more readable.
Why does a player cheat if his cheating increases his losses? Some players cheat to satisfy emotional needs. Other players cheat out of financial desperation.
Sid cheats for emotional rather than financial reasons. His cheating costs him thousands of extra dollars every year, as shown by the data below. The data include a three-month period when Sid stopped his cheating because he was worried about getting caught.
Period Edge Odds for Sid Bennett
Cheating Frequency
Edge Odds for Sid Bennett Average Edge Odds, %
1st year Seldom --10
2nd and 3rd year Regular --23
3 months in 3rd year
4th year Regular --25
The data indicate that Sid doubles his losses when cheating. With his current losses in the Monday night game totaling $20,000 per year, his cheating costs him about $10,000 per year.
3. Rejecting Cheaters (77)
Under certain conditions, cheating by others can financially hurt the good player. For example, valuable losers might quit the game if they detected cheating. Or the game itself could be destroyed by cheating. If necessary, therefore, the good player can eliminate the cheater or his cheating in one or more of the ways shown in Table 22.