BackDoor Poker – Rules and Info

Some general rules and info regarding all of BDP’s Tournament games.

Our Style…

The Back Door Poker league follows semi-relaxed casino rules. Basically, we stay standard to casino poker rules; but being a free poker league, we aren’t as strict and demanding. The main point of our league above all others is to have fun and enjoy a game we all love.

We are a points driven league. The more points you accumulate the higher you climb giving you more opportunities for the bigger prizes.

Our tournaments follow a rotating deal. Meaning, whoever is on the button will deal the hand. The dealer should be the one who controls the pot and flow of that hand. If you are a new player and not yet comfortable with dealing, that is no problem, simply ask either player to your left or right to deal it out for you until you get the hang of it. Thats one of the great things about our poker league, its the perfect place to learn.

The Mechanics…

To play you simply enter your name in the “sign-up” sheet before the game, and when we start the tournament you will be assigned a table. At that point all players Draw for high card to establish who will be the first to deal.

We generally run our tables at 6-7 players each, but at times it will be more or less for certain situations.

Blinds start at 25/50 and incrementally increases throughout the game. And in typical Poker Tournament fashion, we play til one player has won it all!

BackDoor Poker reserves the right to refuse service to anyone at any point. We will not tolerate fighting, abusive behavior, cheating, disruptive/disrespectful attitudes, or disrespecting the venue.

Early Chip

We give out a bonus $500 early chip. To earn this, you must be there AND signed up 30 minutes prior to the scheduled start time.

Drink Chips

Back Door Poker offers Bonus Drink Chips throughout all our tournaments. There are several ways you can always win a free drink:

Aces Cracked. You must be delt Ace-Ace in the hole and lose the hand after the final showdown.

Quads or Better. Win with ‘4 of a kind’, a Straight Flush, or a Royal Flush.

Special Drink Hand. Any hand that the Tournament Director picks during the game. The TD will let all the players know what it is. If you win with this hand you must show the Tournament Director the winning hand to receive the Drink Chip.

If you win a Drink Chip You can use the Chip that night or at any azbdp tournament night (but only during a Backdoor poker tournament). Simply give your server the Drink Chip when you order your drink. The Drink Chip is only good for one(1) drink with a maximum value of $5. Feel free to collect these and ‘drink up’ all in one night on us.

Bonus Chip for $25 tab

Every time you spend at least $25 on one tab, give the Tournament Director your receipt and they will give you a token which you can use to get a bonus $500 play chip at a future tournament. You may only use one(1) chip per tournament.

Table Moves

Through out the game the TD will be moving players and breaking tables til we eventually make it to a final table. If you are asked to move to a new table you are required to do so. The TD is the only person who can move you into a specific spot. If we ask you to sit and play that hand as Big Blind or Small Blind then you must adhere to that (we typically only ask you to do this if you were going to play that position on your previous table).

If you are moved to a table without any specific position given, then you can sit anywhere you want except small blind and dealer. If you sit down making you Big Blind the next hand, you have OPTION to either post the Big Blind or sit out waiting for the dealer button to pass you. You cannot sit down as small blind, if you sit in that position you must wait until the dealer button passes you before you can be dealt in.

Reestablish

The table is required to reestablish for dealer (draw one card from the pile. highest card wins) anytime 3 new players come into the table, and at the beginning of all final tables, without exception.

Live Straddle

We do allow Live Straddles in our Tournaments. Its only Live if the players straddle bet is placed before he receives his cards. The Live Straddler will get last option after the big blind. A straddle bet is simply Double the Big Blind.

Raising

All raises must be ATLEAST double the initial bet. If its pre-flop and you want to raise the pot higher, you have to make it atleast double the Big Blind amount.

String-Bets

A typical string bet is when you place chips out in the pot and reach back into your pile for more chips. This is not allowed. all your betting/raising must be done in one forward motion, or verbally declared. Easy way to avoid this is count your chips in your own space before pushing them in, or declare the amount you are betting before you do anything, or verbally declare raise.
an example for clarification… say there is already a $300 bet made by another player and you want to raise it. If you placed $300 in the pot and said “call” and then you reached back into your pile and said “…and raise it…”. Thats a string bet and your turn would be over. You would simply call the $300 and not get the chance to raise it until your next turn to act.

Mucked cards

If at any point in the hand you muck your cards into the middle before you were declared winner, then your hand is dead.

Dead Money

Sometimes a player will place a bet or call a wrong amount because a player in front of him has already raised it a higher amount. If you want to still call the bet, then you have to put in the rest of the amount. But if you want to fold at that point, then the money you already placed into the pot would be considered dead and you could not retrieve it. The only way this rule can be overruled is if the other player went all-in verbally but didnt push his chips in, or the player splashed the pot, making it possible for the other players to be confused as the bet amount.

A few other noteworthy FAQ’s

2nd Chance Tables

We run 2nd chance tables during our tournaments for players who bust out but want to keep playing and win points. Its a single table tournament, With a max of 7 players. It must have 4 players at least to start.

betting/raising:

There is a differance between betting and raising. If after the flop you are first to act, and you place any chips into the pot, it is considered a “bet”. It doesnt matter if its all-in, or if its the minimum, its still considered a bet because its the first initial action. Any initial action is considered a bet. If someone has already bet into the pot and you want to make it more, then you have to “raise” it…
Pre-flop is a bit different. Since there is already an established bet (the big blind) you only have three options; call, raise or fold. the term “betting” doesn’t exist pre-flop, because the Big Blind is a constant established initial bet.

one chip call:

If you place a single chip that is of higher value than the minimum bet amount, it is considered a “call” unless verbally declared otherwise.
For example, if the blinds are $200/$400 then you have to bet/call atleast $400. If you throw a $1,000 chip out and don’t announce a raise, then it is considered a call, and you will get your change back.
If you ever intend to raise and you are only using one chip to do so, you MUST verbally declare a raise and/or the amount. If you are raising and using more than one chip to do so, then no verbal clarification is needed as it is already obvious enough as to your intentions.

best five cards:

Usually its easy to pick out the winning hand and determine which player wins the pot. But sometimes its not so clear cut. All you got to remember is every player has a total of 7 cards to play with, 2 hole cards + 5 community cards. At the showdown you simply have to figure out YOUR BEST 5 cards using any hole and community cards. It doesnt matter if you use all 5 of the community cards, or if you use both your Hole cards and 3 community cards etc, just as long as the combonation gives you the best 5 cards possible.
A situation I see sometimes is when the board (the 5 community cards) shows the highest hand possible. Usually a straight or flush etc. If none of the players hole cards could improve the board, making them a higher straight or flush etc.. then it would be a tie, and the pot would be chopped (split evenly). At no point can you use a 6th card to determine a higher kicker to win such a pot. Its only 5 cards possible.