Hold 'em rules question

[One_And_Only_Wanderers]

Whilst playing in a local league last night, i saw a disagreement over the rules. During one hand, the big blind was eliminated. The rules used for the next hand, were that there must be 2 blinds, so the guy who was under the gun the prior hand became the small blind, with the guy to his left being the big blind. The big blind was pissed because he thought he should be under the gun, with just a big blind before him and a dead small blind.

Now, I think these are both valid viewpoints, pokerstars for instance applies the former, whereas the iPoker network applies the latter, and the local league had the right to enforce whichever one they wanted. It did lead me to wonder though, are there any other situations in Hold 'em where there are 2 possible sets of (widely accepted) rules?

[Santo_Rugger]

I’ve always played the way the player in your example thought it should be, so that when the deal gets past the players in question, all remaining players were small blind, big blind, and under the gun. If the dealer of the previous hand was eliminated, I’ve often seen the dealer have to put up a big blind, and the person to their left put up a big blind, to keep the flow.

The only rule variation I can think of right now is when it goes to head-to-head, I like to have the dealer play the small blind, so he’s forced to act first preflop, but gets to act second postflop. I’ve seen others have the dealer remain the big blind, so he always acts second in the hand.

Granted, both of these situations have been in extremely informal settings.

[garygnu]

In that situation you eliminate the small blind for one hand.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@garygnu

In that situation you eliminate the small blind for one hand.

Yup.

You can have a dead small blind, just not a dead big blind. The “dead” player then becomes the button next hand, then the next hand everything is as normal.

[One_And_Only_Wanderers]

@Really Not All That Bright

Yup.

You can have a dead small blind, just not a dead big blind. The “dead” player then becomes the button next hand, then the next hand everything is as normal.

I know, but you can also rotate the blinds one place clockwise, that’s what they do on poker stars. it’s the only area i can think of in hold 'em with 2 different widely used rules

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@One And Only Wanderers

I know, but you can also rotate the blinds one place clockwise, that’s what they do on poker stars. it’s the only area i can think of in hold 'em with 2 different widely used rules

Pokerstars does all sorts of things oddly, as do a lot of the online casinos.

In Vegas, they use the Tournament Directors’ Association rule book, which doesn’t cover this contingency, and Roberts’ Rules of Poker, which does:

Dead button – The big blind is posted by the player due for it, and the small blind and button are positioned accordingly, even if this means the small blind or the button is placed in front of an empty seat, giving the same player the privilege of last action on consecutive hands.

In other words, f**k Pokerstars

ETA: A lot of “real” casinos use their own rule books, but they pretty much all follow the above pattern, in my experience.

[Pasta]

A few that come to mind that fit the OP’s query (i.e., at least two possible rules, each widely accepted) –

• Whether “buying the button” is allowed. (Previously absent player returns in the SB and posts both blinds; gets the button next hand with blinds back to normal.)

• Whether a new player must post or not (cash game).

• Whether a live straddle is allowed.

• Whether more than one live straddle is allowed. (Often when a live straddle is allowed, any further straddles are taken simply as blind bets.)

• Whether a player can expose his hand to try to get a tell. (Commerce Casino in L.A. now has the statute that, yes, you can do this, but you must act within 10 seconds, or your hand is dead.)