THE DECK AND DEALING PROCEDURES

1.  The hand will deemed to have started when the first card is dealt. Players must be at their seat when the first card is dealt, or their hand will be dead.



2.  In games where a House Dealer is provided, the Dealer always cuts the cards immediately prior to the deal.



3.  In games where no House Dealer is provided, the cards will be shuffled by the player on the Dealer’s left and cut by the player on his right. There are no exceptions to this rule.



4.  In self deal games the initial deal may be dealt from the hand (provided a cutting card is used to protect the bottom of the deck), for the remainder of the hand the cards must always be spread on the table and not dealt from the hand.



5.  Cards should remain in view at all times and must never be below the table top, cards should not be obscured so as to confuse other players as to whether or not they are in play.



6.  When dealing, cards must be dealt to each player one at a time, when dealing the “flop”, cards must also be dealt from the table one at a time.



7.  Too few or too many cards will render the hand dead



8.  Any players failing to announce the wrong amount of cards prior to voluntary betting will be disqualified from the hand, if this is announced prior to voluntary betting the hand will be void.



9.  The following are misdeals before any betting


  - Failure to shuffle the deck
  - If during the initial deal it is discovered that there are boxed cards in the deck
  - Failure to cut the deck
  - Dealing to the wrong player first
  - Players announcing the wrong amount of cards
  - Two or more exposed cards on the initial deal
  - Card or cards leaving the table due to dealer error
  - In 7 card stud an exposed hole card (by the Dealer) on the initial deal will become the player’s open card, what would have been their open card will then become their hole card. Two exposed hole cards on same hand during the initial deal would constitute a misdeal.


10.  If the (house) dealer exposes a card on the initial deal it will be replaced by the burnt card from the flop



11.   If the dealer exposes more than one card on the initial deal the hand will be void



12.   Prior to completion of the betting a card exposed in error by the dealer will be shuffled back into the remaining live deck, this applies to the first card of the flop, turn and river cards.



13.   If the first card of the flop has been dealt before the live blind has been given the opportunity to raise, the following rule will apply
      - That card will be shuffled back into the remaining live deck
      - If two or three cards have been dealt then the flop will stand and the live blind will not be allowed to raise.



14.  A boxed card will remain in the deck (all players will be made aware of the card) until it comes into play at which point rule 12 will be applied. If the card does not come into play no action will be taken.



15.  Players facing a bet, who expose a card/cards without first making, a verbal declaration will be deemed to have passed.



16.  A player exposing a card in error will not be penalised from betting (except in rules 17 & 18 below)



17.  A player who exposes a card immediately after making a bet will have their bet returned and will be penalised for the remainder of the hand.



18.  Where a player exposes a card after betting in a multi way pot and causes another player to act, the bet will stand. This player will be penalised for the remainder of the hand.



19.  Each player is responsible for their own cards, and must take precautions to ensure they are not removed from play.


  - A player is deemed to have passed/folded their cards if:
  - The player makes a statement that they are  passing/folding
  - The cards have crossed the action line


20.  In competition play upon an “on-their-backs” cue, all active players must place their cards face up on the table.



21.  In a showdown once the aggressor has shown their cards, and it is deemed to be the winning hand, other players are not required to show theirs. The exception to this would be if any player at the table who has contributed to the pot requests to see those cards or the Dealer/Supervisor requests to see them in order to protect the integrity of the game. Prior to any discarded cards being shown the hand must be “killed” or “mucked”.



22.  To win a pot in hands that are played to a conclusion, all cards in all games must be face up on the table (even in Omaha or derivatives). Failure to produce the required amount of cards renders the hand incomplete. The highest complete hand still in play then wins the pot.



23.  The best five-card hand wins.  In the event of a tie on five cards the pot will be split.



24.  The “show one show all” rule applies, any card/cards shown to one player must be shown to the table.



25.  “Rabbit hunting” is not allowed, looking at mucked cards, burnt cards or cards that have yet to be dealt is strictly forbidden.



26.  In 7 card stud and lowball should a player discard their hand without there having been any betting, further cards will not be dealt to their position, after the initial deal has taken place.


BETTING RULES


27.  All games are table stakes only, a player may not be bet out of a pot, they may call all in and a side pot will be formed with the excess.



28.  All games played are check and raise.



29.  “Over-blinds” (straddles) are not permitted in competition play, and must be sanctioned by the Supervisor in cash games



30.  Bets must be made up on the player’s side of the action line or a verbal declaration must be made prior to crossing the line. (competition only)



31.  Any chips that cross the action line and touch the table will be considered to be the bet.



32.  Any player placing a chip larger than the amount required to call into the pot (without comment) will be deemed to have called only. A raise (without comment) will only be accepted where it is an obvious raise, such as, placing two chips into the pot where one chip would suffice for the call.



33.  It is each players responsibility to know what the bet is prior to placing any chips in the pot or announcing call, however if a player should put the wrong amount into a pot the following rules will apply
    
      - If they have not caused any player after them to act then they may take the call back or make up the difference.
      - If they have caused the next player to act then the only option is to make up the difference or pass their hand, without removing the amount they have already put in.
      - In the final round of betting if a player puts a lesser amount into the pot to call a bet, and that action causes the other player to show their cards the offending player must make up the difference.
      - A player that throws an amount of chips into the pot that is 50% or more of the bet they are facing will be deemed to have raised and will be required to make the bet up to the minimum raise. Under 50% will be deemed to be a flat call.
    
    
34.  Play must always proceed in a clockwise direction, it is each player’s responsibility to check, bet, call or pass in turn (see rule 35). Players continually failing to adhere to this may be penalised, by being dealt out of the game for a set period of time/hands (This rule does not apply if the player is mislead by a house dealer)



35.  All action out of turn goes. A player who bets out of turn will be penalised for that round only.



36.  A player who has made a bet and mistakenly passes their cards believing they have won will not be penalised.



37.  “Under raises” are ONLY permitted :-


  - If a player is going “all in”
  - In “Heads Up” play. (Active from the betting round after the hand becomes heads up)
  - In competition play under raises are only permitted when the field is reduced to 2 players (except point one above)


38.  Note: All in under raises do not reactivate the betting for players who have already acted



39.  All in means all in, every chip in play must go into the pot without exception



40.  When betting falls to a player whom is all in, the action will pass to the next highest hand in 7-card stud and to the next active players in flop games.



41.  A player who makes a bet that is not called wins the pot, a player that decides for themselves (incorrectly) that they have no hand to beat and throws their hand or any part of it into the discards forfeits the pot to the highest live hand against them.



42.  In a showdown the player to make the previous bet will be the one to show their cards first, regardless of when the bet was made. In a check, check situation the last aggressor in a previous betting round will be the person to show first.


GENERAL RULES.


43.  The printed line around the table between the player and the dealer will be known as the “action line”. Any action that takes place over this line by the player is binding, this includes any of action cards or chips.



44.  Verbal declarations in turn are binding, verbal declarations out of turn will be binding if the action to that player has not changed when it is their turn to act, check, call or fold is not considered an action change.



45.  Players using the telephone during a pot will be penalised from betting for the remainder of the hand.



46.  Odd chips remaining after a split pot go to the player nearest the deal (clockwise) who was still involved in that pot.



47.  The supervisor has the right to try and reconstruct a hand and award the pot to the rightful player if required



48.  The house has the right to prohibit any two players from playing in the same game



49.  The supervisor may at any time ask a spectator to move away from the table



50.  Spectators may only sit behind players with the permission of the supervisor but must never involve themselves in the game in any way.



51.  The house has a right to request a standard of dress, language and behaviour as per the house rules and befitting the environment.



52.  Any player (not the dealer) at the table can call for a clock after a reasonable amount of time has passed, when this happens the dealer will call for the Supervisor. When the Supervisor arrives at the table a one-minute clock will be given, the last ten seconds of which will be counted down verbally, if the player has not acted after this they will be deemed to have passed.



53.  Penalties for technical offences will be as follows


  - First offence = warning
  - Second offence = Dealt out for one complete round
  - Third offence = Dealt out for two complete rounds


54.  Note: After this and for more serious offences the casino Manager may make the decision to remove the player from the casino, and that player then risks removal of their membership.



55.  Grosvenor and “G” Casinos reserve the right to amend these rules as and when necessary.