Party Poker Blog

I just saw this post from Perry and I'm still shaking my head.

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Subject: Bicycle Casino: Ridiculous Rule ("Stupidest thing I've ever heard")
Author: Perry Friedman


Today in the WTP $5,000 event the floor ruled and announced to the whole room that in No Limit tournament at the Bike, there is a a rule that, get this:

a bet and three raises is a CAP in NO LIMIT!

Can anyone tell me another casino in the world that has a CAP in NO LIMIT?

The situation actually came up TWICE at my table!

First time:
UTG raises with KK
UTG+1 reraised with QQ
UTG+2 reraised with AA
UTG says "all in"
UTG+1 goes to fold and the dealer tells UTG that the pot is CAPPED!

The floor is called and there is much hullabaloo. The floor confirms the rule. A second floor is called and they too confirm it. A third floor (I forget his name, but he is the one who eventually announced it to the whole room) comes over and I explain to him that no place in the world that I know of has a cap in NL.

He says something "This is a tournament, and TDA rules say there is a bet and three raises." I offered to bet my LIFE, versus a dollar, that that was not what TDA rules said. Jim Miller, who was playing at a table next to me, offered to back me! I offered to look up the TDA rules online for the floor. He insisted that all tourneys at the Bike are played that way and always have been. I asked to see the rule in writing. He came back later, made an announcement to the table that that was the rule at the Bike, regardless of what TDA rules said, and that was the end of it and there would be no more discussion. He never produced anything in writing with the rule.

The funny thing was, I was not even involved in the hand, but it tilted me so much, it really affected my game for the next hour, and in fact, probably through the time I busted. I made a poor decision on my bustout hand where I could have gotten away from the hand... but oh well.

At one point, Mike Paulle having heard the discussion, said "The might be the stupidest thing I've ever heard." When pressed on his hedge of "might be" he said he couldn't think of anything more stupid!

Can anyone tell me if they have
a) ever played at another casino that had a bet and three raises be a cap in NL
b) ever heard that ruling made in a NL tournament AT THE BIKE

Perry

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BTW, among the absurdities induced by having a cap are the following:
- You can "hack a Shaq" in NL

Suppose you have the Grinder at your table with a big stack and he's raising every pot. You have the first 3 players UTG each min raise every hand and now he's shut out from raising!

- The following hand came up:
Andy Bloch raises from UTG.
Mid position reraises.
Late position reraises, and fumbles with some chips and ends up betting less than he claimed he wanted to. But regardless, he has now blocked Andy from reraising the mid-position player! Andy ended up folding, but had he had a real hand there, he would not have been able to reraise.

I can't wait to see the leadin to the WPT where the explain NL Hold'em when the Bike episode airs:

"In No Limit Holdem, a player can go 'All In' at any time... well, unless there has already been a bet and 3 raises..."

Perry