(Edited 02/15/2025)
This week's rule deals with new blind levels and how to determine at which level the current hand should be played. Some leagues out there say if you posted the blinds ahead of the announcement then you play at the previous level but that is just not the case. Also, we have mistakenly been using the gathering of the cards as an indicator of the next hand. This is also wrong(who knew? not me):
Rule 23: New Hand and New Limits
A new level starts on announcement after the clock reaches zero. The new level applies to the next hand. Hands begin on the first riffle, push of the shuffler button, or on the dealer push. If a hand starts at the prior level by mistake, the hand will continue at the prior level after substantial action occurs (Rule 36).
Rule 36: Substantial Action (SA)
Substantial Action is either A) any 2 actions in turn, at least one of which puts chips in the pot (i.e. any 2 actions except 2 checks or 2 folds) or B) any combination of 3 actions in turn (check, bet, raise, call, fold). Posted blinds do not count towards SA.
We have a handy dandy beep beep beep from the computer when the blind levels increase. Consider this alert the announcement of the new level(now gunshots and that excerpt from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly). The TD coming around or shouting the new level is only done as a courtesy and may come after the official change.
We don't have dealer pushes, so the next hand will be determined by the moving of the button or the first riffle(or shuffle) of the cards. If the button move or card riffle happens before the beeping of the clock, then the hand will be played at the same blind level. If the first of these events happens after the beeping, then the hand will be payed at the new level. (Edit 02/15/2025: When I first posted this I misinterpreted "shuffler button" from Rule 23 to mean "Dealer Button" whereas I now realize that it's referring to the button on an automatic card shuffler, as used in some casinos. Therefore, for our purposes, the next hand will officially start upon the first shuffling of the cards. The gathering of the cards or the moving of the dealer button are not indications of a new hand. I will also be using this marker to determine who to move when balancing tables. In other words, if the cards are already being shuffled I will let the hand proceed with the player currently in the big blind and move the next player to be the big blind when they are out of the hand.)
If a hand mistakenly starts at the wrong level, then Substantial Action will determine whether or not the blinds should be changed to the new level before continuing. Please familiarize yourself with the definition of Substantial Action above.
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.
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