Season XII New Rules

Oct 6, 2013 by Dave Robichaud

Hey gang,

At our first game this season, we informally discussed a lot of changes that could be implemented for this (and upcoming) seasons, in order to help evolve our league and ultimately improve the games and seasons.  As I've always said, if the majority of the players want to implement a change, I have no issues doing so.

I was thinking of posting all of items via the poll, but there are far too many suggestions, and the poll isn't the most accurate of tools.  Therefore, I'm going to post all the questions here and everybody can vote in the comments.  Please make an effort to give your opinion as your votes will decide how we will proceed with the season.  People who don't vote will be considered indifferent and will be removed from the total number of players.

Remember that the majority will decide the outcome of each rule.  If there are 4 votes for, 3 votes against, and 15 players indifferent, the rule will be implemented.  The examples shows how a small number of players have decided to implement a rule – so it’s important to vote unless you are really indifferent.

 

Rule 1 - First card off the deck rule.

Due to the inconsistencies of time allowed for people to return to the table when they are away, do we want to implement a strict time that if you’re not at your seat, your cards are mucked.  The Tournament Directors Association has implemented a rule which is stated as follows:

A player must be at his seat when the first card is dealt on the initial deal or he will have a dead hand. A player not then at his seat is dealt in, he may not look at his cards, and the hand is immediately killed after the initial deal. His blinds and antes are posted and if dealt the bring-in card in a stud-type game he will post the bring-in. A player must be at his seat to call time. “At your seat” means within reach of your chair. This rule is not intended to condone players being out of their seats while involved in a hand.

Options

  1. Implement the rule
  2. Implement the rule with variation (example: if you're not at your seat when the LAST card is dealt, your hand is mucked).
  3. Do not implement the rule and continue to allow the people at the table decide when a person should be mucked.

 

Rule 2 - Standardize the day / time of each game

I think this has pretty much been decided to NOT be implemented, but here’s your chance to give your official vote if you want the same day and time for each game.

Options

  1. Saturday afternoon
  2. Saturday night
  3. Sunday afternoon
  4. Game day/time should be left to the discretion of the host

 

Rule 3 - Minimum starting stack

Some people have expressed concerns about having lower chip stacks during regular season games.  Do we want to set a minimum starting stack for each game?

Options

  1. Set minimum starting stack (example: 2000)
  2. Set minimum starting stack in relation to buy-in (example, $15 buy-in = 1500 in chips, $20 buy-in = 2000 in chips, $25 buy-in = 2500 in chips)
  3. Chip stacks are left to the discretion of the host

 

Rule 4 - Ban peek cards

Pretty straight-forward, do we want to keep the peek cards or not?

Options

  1. Yes, ban peek cards
  2. No, keep peek cards

 

Rule 5 - Final game chip stack

I think this is one of the bigger items on our list.  Do we want to increase the number of chips at the final game in order to give more play for the players?

Options

  1. Increase the top player’s chips and keep allowing a proportional number of chips distributed for the rest of the players. (Example, increase chip leader’s chip count to 3500)
  2. Give a set amount of chips to each player at the final game. (Example, at the final game, everybody gets an extra 500 in chips)
  3. Give a set amount of chips to each player, at an optional fee. (Example, each player at the final game has the option to pay $10 that goes directly to the big pot for an additional 1000 in chips)
  4. Anything else that you think would be appropriate.

 

Rule 6 - 2 decks in play to speed up games

To speed up play and get more hands in, this would definitely be something to consider.  For those not familiar, this is how it would work: 

While the button deals from one deck, the player in the cutoff seat shuffles the other deck. Once the hand is complete, the cutoff player hands the shuffled deck to the small blind, who is now the button, while the previous button, who is now the cutoff, collects the cards from the last deal and shuffles them in preparation for the next hand. In this way, the dealer always has a fresh deck that he can deal from right away.

Options

  1. Yes, implement this rule.
  2. No, do not implement this rule.

 

Rule 7 - Schedule all games in advance, including Big Pot.

Doing this would avoid any scheduling issues and we’d avoid the hard time we had last year in scheduling the final game.

Options

  1. Yes, let’s outline all 15 games and big pot game now
  2. No, let’s allow the hosts to schedule the games when they are able to host a game.

 

And that’s all of them.  Thanks in advance for the feedback guys.

Cheers

Dave