As often happens, something I saw this week has kicked off another rules debate—this time about retracting your blind and what that actually entails.
46: Prior Bet Chips Not Pulled In
A: To avoid confusion, players with prior-bet chips not yet pulled in who face a raise should verbalize their action before adding chips to the prior bet.
B: If facing a raise, clearly pulling back a prior bet chip binds a player to call or raise; they may not put the chip(s) back out and fold.
C: If new chip(s) are added silently and the bet is unclear to the house, the call and raise rules 41-45 apply as follows: 1) If prior chips don’t cover the call AND are either left alone OR fully pulled back, an overchip is a call and multiple new chips are subject to the 50% raise standard (Rule 43). 2) If prior chips are partly pulled back OR if prior chip(s) cover the call, the combined final chip bet is a raise if reaching the 50% standard (Rules 43 and 45), if less it is a call. See Illustration Addendum.
This week’s incident falls under Part B of Rule 46, but let’s break down the whole rule for clarity. “Prior bet chips” refer to your blind or any bet, call, or raise you’ve made that’s later raised by someone else. Sometimes the dealer sweeps all matched bets into the pot, leaving no prior bets on the table, but that’s not always feasible—especially with multiple raises or when the small and big blinds haven’t acted yet.
Part A is simple: if you’ve got prior bet chips out and face a raise, always say what you’re doing. A clear “call” or “raise” avoids confusion for everyone at the table.
Part B tripped up at least one player this week. If you pull back your blind—or any prior bet chips—when facing a raise, you’re quietly signaling you intend to call or raise. You can’t take them back, then put them out again and fold. I’d even say that pulling back your small blind means you’re either calling the big blind (which counts as facing a raise, though it’s a blind one) or raising it. Same goes for the big blind: if you’re in that spot and can check or bet, taking back your big blind signals a raise—you can’t then put it back and check. This quirk applies only to the big blind since it’s the one position where you can raise even if everyone just called, as you haven’t acted yet. All this mess can be dodged by sticking to Part A and just saying what you mean.
Part C gets trickier, tying into other rules about calling and raising. The easiest way to grasp it is to check out the examples in the Illustrated Addendum. Study those, and it’ll click.
Rule 46: Prior Bet Chips Not Pulled In, situation examples.
Situation 1: If prior chips don’t cover the call AND are left alone. Ex: THE 25-50, the BB posts two 25’s, button raises to 600 total (550 more to BB).
1: Adding an overchip is a call (drop a 1k chip onto the two 25’s).
2: Adding multiple new chips is a call if all new chips are needed to call a) drop two 500’s onto the two 25’s or b) drop a 100 and 500 chip onto the two 25’s. In these two examples all new chips when combined with the prior chips are needed to make the call.
3: Adding multiple new chips is a Rule 45 multiple chip bet if one of the smallest new chips is not needed to make the call (drop a 1k and 500 chip onto the two 25’s is a total bet of 1550). Per Rule 45, a silent multi-chip bet is a raise if it hits the 50% threshold; otherwise it is a call.
Situation 2: If prior chips don’t cover the call AND are fully pulled back:
1) Removing all prior chips and adding an overchip is a call (pull back the two 25’s, add 1k chip).
2) Removing all prior chips and adding new multiple chips is a Rule 45 bet (pull back two 25’s, add two or more new chips).
Situation 3: if prior chip(s) are partly pulled back (whether or not they cover the call amount)
1) Partial removal of prior chips (pull back one 25, leave the other 25 out, add any new chip(s), is a Rule 45 multiple-chip bet (a raise if hitting 50%, otherwise a call).
Situation 4: If prior chip(s) cover the call amount, adding any new chip(s) is a Rule 45 multiple chip bet. Ex: THE 50-100, BB posts one 1k chip. Pre-flop raise to 700 (600 more to BB). The 1k prior chip covers the raise, thus adding any new chip(s) is a Rule 45 bet of all chips. This applies whether or not the initial 1k posted is pulled back or left alone.
Situation 5: Regardless of the above, the gesture of combining and pushing or tossing all chips forward may be interpreted as intent to bet all chips under Rule 45.
Again, sticking to Part A—announcing your intentions before touching any chips—can spare you and everyone else a ton of trouble.
Dead Man's Hand Poker uses the rules set forth by the Poker Tournament Directors Association. The Poker TDA is a voluntary poker industry association founded in 2001. The TDA mission is to increase global uniformity of poker tournament rules. The Poker TDA rules can be found here.
Comments