Verbal declarations should be binding. It is up to the player to ensure they know what is happening on the table which is why I don"t like iPods or MP3 players while I"m playing.
Also in the last ladies tournament I played (which they try to be friendly and patient with new players) there was an incident where player UTG made a raise, SB pushed chips in to make up the BB..... she was wearing headphones.
According to my understanding of the rules and what happened to me at The Festival event at Binions in Las Vegas her options were
- she didn"t have to call the raise if she didn"t want to as she hadn"t made a "verbal" call but she should have the option to "fold" and leave the extra chips in the pot; or
- "call" the raise as it was up to "the player" to ensure they know what is happening.
I made this point and the "dealer" and every player disagreed with me. TD was brought over and he said that it was a "friendly" tournament and the chips she put in were not binding and therefore the returned to her leaving only her SB.....
Even though a "friendly" tournament I think these sort of rules should be applied, it was a £100 tournament and quite a lot of money at stake. Also the tournaments were a way of getting on-line ladies used to playing live. Surely this sort of thing should be instilled into them so they don"t make the same mistakes over and over.
Anybody agree with me?
Hmm, my understanding of the rules (and a rule I enforce) is that if a player pushes chips to call a bet, not realising that a raise has been made, then that player must call the full raise, regardless of whether he or she has said anything.
Letting the player off making the full call could lead to an advantageous situation for that player. He/she could push the smaller amount, looking for a reaction from the original raiser, then claim that he/she made a mistake if the reaction wasn"t favourable. I"m not saying that people would do that, but it"s a possibility.
Each and every player at the table is responsible for keeping track of what is going on as far as bets, raises and folds are concerned. Failure to do so is at your own risk. And, to be honest, if you can"t do this then should you really be playing ? You"re hardily in a position to be able to spot tells, patterns etc.
Just my humble opinion......