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The Hendon Mob
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21 Oct 2009
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Two players are heads up in an online tournament with equal chips and
it is on the river. One (player A) has the nuts and moves all in, he has
the other (player B) covered. Player B types in the chat window 'I call'.
He then times out and his hand is folded. How do you rule? |
MATT SAVAGE
Obviously online rules are different than live tournament
rules. I am assuming that he needed to click the mouse
and he loses the pot. I am sure that live support is not
watching every tournament and would have to be
consistent across the board.
THOMAS KREMSER
If he doesn’t hit the call button and times out, it is clearly a fold.
If a player by accident hits the fold button instead of the call
button the hand is also dead (didn’t it happen to all of us?).
DAVE LAMB
Chat windows are just that, a great way to shoot the
breeze, but there is no way to enforce or know if all
opponents have the chat open. Binding actions online are
those that are done with the click of the mouse.
JEFF LEIGH
I don’t play on the Internet but I’ll take a stab at this one. It
seems to me to be pretty straightforward, if a comment in a
“chat window” constitutes “legal” action then it should stand,
however if a “chat window” has no legal obligation within the
context of a hand (i.e. whatever comment is written has no
bearing on the hand itself) then if he “times out” without
making action it seems reasonable he has folded his hand.
JACK EFFEL
I’ll take a risk and say that verbal is not binding in this
situation, because action online is controlled by the check,
call, raise, and fold buttons. There are many factors to
consider when playing online such as bad internet
connection, a person’s PC locking up, or not acting in time.
I would think the site would have a rule that covers these
types of situations, and to contact them.
THOMAS LAMATSCH
Online ruling is very fair and comfortable. When the player
B announces “I call”, he can’t create any advantage
through his statement. Player A can’t show his hand too
early or other action. So the verbal action in online games
is not binding.
THE MOB VERDICT
This is an interesting one that shows one of the ways in
which online poker and live poker are very different.
David Lamb makes the valid comment that some players
may not even have the chat window open and he is 100
per cent correct when he says, ‘Binding actions online
are those that are done with the click of the mouse.’
Verbal action in turn in live poker is binding.
Chat window action whether in turn or not is not valid
action online.
Whilst the situation with action is quite straightforward
there can still be an issue with information and opinion. On
Full Tilt Poker chat is suspended when a player is all-in in
order to prevent players or observers attempting to
influence the decisions of those who are still to act in the
hand. Although such problems are rare, we feel this is
proportionate and does not unduly restrict the general chat.
This article first appeared on The Hendon Mob website.
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