Rules Question

[badblood44]

Here's how things were "solved:"

First, a few more incidental facts: It is a home game. There is absolutely no chance of angle shooting - any mistake made was an honest one without doubt. I am Player C and a good friend is player B.

Originally, I put my stack of $95 next to his, and since I had the stone cold nuts, won the pot and dragged it. Player B then brought up the fact that his bet techincally was only $30 in a manner that suggested that the money was not important, but getting the bet right for the sake of obeying the rules was.

It was my house and I felt it inappropriate for me to make the final decision seeing how I was involved.

My original thoughts were that his bet of $95 was the real bet, because with me left to act, he could have been making an isolation bet to get me to fold.

However, I felt I made a mistake by not stopping to clarify what the bet actually was. When you hold the nuts and see a monster bet in front of you, well...you can see how I acted way too quickly. But, I felt he made a mistake by being a bit wreckless with his bet, regardless of his intentions.

I've played with Player B several times and consider him above reproach with respect to being honest.

We had 14 players on 2 tables playing and we polled the most knowledgeable of the bunch on what the ruling should be.

It was unanimous that the bet should have only been $30. I still disagree with that somewhat, HOWEVER, the additional $65 is simply not worth any strain on friendships that a ruling in my favor could incur.

So I gave back $65 to Player B and we all moved on.

[jillaj]

You are a nice guy. My friend announced a raise to a certain amount in a casino before and put in too many chips accidently and had to keep the amount he put in play. He asked why that wasn't a string bet and they said that the only thing that mattered was when he said raise, not the actual amount. So when he put in more than he intended to in play, that was his actual bet. I would recommend to him for "the sake of getting it correct" that when he puts chips in the pot he should expect them to be counted as in play. The only time I would let it fly is when they are heads up.

[Quint]

You did the right thing. No need in potentially ruining a game, or a friendship, over $65.

[ChipFish]

Player B's bet stands $95.
Player C is only a call.

They can bitch all they want.

[drewjax]

I agree with Chip. If someone says the words "all in", they are all in. Trying to be cool by saying "I'll put you all in" is stupid, and should only be said when you are heads up. Too bad for player B. Although in a friendly home game of course this changes.

[Robbr25]

Verbal bets are binding.
So, player B "puts all in" player A, i.e. raises to $30 (I assume he talked before he pushed the chips.)
Player C calls so he would call the $30. (Once again I assume he talked before he pushed the chips.)
Player A then gets to decide if he wants to call the extra $20.

[eddo31]

i dont think that this is right at all. you are right that verbal bets are binding, but pushing chips into the pot is binding as well.

if you declare $50, and only put in 25, then you have to put in the other 25. if you declare 50, and put in 100, then your whole bet stays in the pot. when the guy said "i put him all in," and pushed an undetermined amount into the pot, then his bet should have been the amount tat he put in the pot, not whatever player A had left.

this is just a bad situation. the money involved isnt worth losing friends over, but the fact that it was a unanimous decision is ridiculous. i guess that this is a very good game profit wise, as playing against uninformed players must be +EV.

[Talking Poker]

This is not correct and should have never happened. More below.