TDA Updates Rules
poker online tournaments in casinos mostly follow the rules developed by the Tournament Directors Association. These are periodically updated and some are a bit obscure. If you are a tournament player you should be aware of these rules. 1. In Omaha casino games, when you are holding the absolute nuts and check on the river card from the button seat, forcing other players to show their hands, then you can be penalized for soft play. This situation rarely arises, and there are exceptions to the rule. 2. Don’t ask the dealer to turn over any poker cards - known as “rabbit hunting” - when the hand is completed without going to the river. Move on the next hand. The dealer is not supposed to turn over the remaining cards that would have been in play had the betting continued. 3. If the board displays cards that make the winning hand, you still have to show your cards. Do not announce you are “playing the board” and muck your cards. The dealer does in fact have to ascertain that the board is the highest hand by examining the pocket cards left in play. 4. When a tournament table is broken, and a player assigned a new seat at another table, that player cannot procrastinate getting to the new seat in order to miss the blinds. Deliberately trying to evade paying the blind calls for a penalty. 5. The dealer is only allowed to count the chips in the pot except when the game is a pot-limit format. With limit and no-limit, the dealer can only spread the pot chips out in clear view for the players to count themselves.
