Poker Tournament Rules | All Africa Poker

Poker Tournament Rules

By participating in the Tournament, you agree to abide by the rules and behave in a courteous manner. A violator may be verbally warned, suspended from play for a specified length of time, or disqualified from the Tournament. Chips from a disqualified participant will be removed from play. If a player is on a time penalty all antes and blinds for that period will be deducted from the players chip stack. If a player is blinded out while on a penalty they will be out of the tournament. During the rebuy period players will also be blinded out.
The buy-in and entry fee, if any, will not be refunded to any player who is disqualified from a particular tournament and that player’s tournament chips will be taken out of play.
The TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR may penalize any player whose behavior is assessed as being detrimental to the integrity or the proper conduct of the tournament, including but not limited to the following examples:
Abuse of casino employees, either verbally or physically;
Abuse of other players, either verbally or physically;
A player showing his/her cards or verbally advising the content of his/her hand to another player(s) when the betting round is complete;
Exposing hole card(s) with action pending;
Causing card (s) to go off the table;
Advising another player how to play a hand;
Soft-play occurs
Deliberately miscalling a hand;
Sitting in the wrong seat;
Collusion;
avoiding payment of a blind when moving from a broken table;
Discussion of the particular hand in play prior to action being complete by any player on the table whether in the hand or not;
One player to a hand rule – no seeking advice from other competitors or bystanders; - Acting out of turn;
hole cards from another player (s);
Players participating on the final TV table will not be allowed to discuss any deals or amendments to the prize pool payout structure.
No cellphone calls or use will be permitted.
Initial seating is determined by random draw or assignment.
A change of seat is not allowed, except as assigned by the Tournament Director.
The appropriate starting amount of chips will be placed on the table for each entrant at the beginning of the event by the Dealers, whether the person is present or not. Absent players will be dealt in, and all chips necessary for antes and blinds will be put into the pot.
If a paid entrant is absent at the start of the event, at some point an effort will be made to locate and contact the player. If the player requests the chips to be left in place until arrival, the request will be honored. If the player is unable to be contacted, the chips will be removed from play at the discretion of the director. A starting stack of chips can be placed in a seat to accommodate late entrants (if all antes and blinds have been appropriately paid) An unsold seat will have such stacks removed at a time left to the discretion of the Tournament Director.
Blinds are raised at regularly scheduled intervals.
If there is a signal designating the end of a betting level, the new limits apply on the next deal. (A deal begins with the first riffle of the shuffle.)
The cards will be shuffled and the 1st person to receive the Ace will receive the dealer button. This will only be done at one table, and the position of the button will apply to all the tables.
All tables will have a dedicated dealer
The dealing button will move in a clockwise direction.
Each player will receive their two playing cards; these cards will be dealt one at a time in a clockwise direction.
1 card will be burnt and then the 3 cards will be exposed face-up on the table ‘FLOP’.
Prior to the ‘TURN’ card being exposed a further 1 card will be burnt and prior to the “RIVER’ being dealt a further 1 card will be burnt.
If the first call card is exposed by the dealer in the process of dealing, it’s a misdeal. If it is the second card it is not a misdeal (the card is exposed and another is dealt). If more than one card is exposed by the dealer it is always a misdeal.
It is the responsibility of the PLAYER’S to protect their cards at all times.
If a card is exposed by a PLAYER who is out of the hand i.e. has folded, that card will be shown to the table and burnt.
A PLAYER needs to be seated at the table in order for the PLAYER’S hand to be live. If the player is away from the table his card will be folded in immediately.
No cards are to be lifted at any time; if a PLAYER continually exposes his cards, and this is believed to be deliberate, he/she will be warned once and then disqualified from the Tournament
Once the chips are in the pool either in front of the player or in the middle of the table, no player will be allowed to touch the chips – only the dealer or facilitator may do so.
No PLAYER may collude with another player or attempt to pass information about another PLAYER’S hand.
Any form of collusion will disqualify a player immediately.
No PLAYER may give another PLAYER any of his playing chips, PLAYERS chips need to remain in full view at all times. The largest denomination of chips must be at the front of the players chip stack. If a PLAYER removes any of his/her chips off the table these chips will be deemed to be dead and removed from the Tournament.
Extra chips may only be obtained through a re buy or add on at the appropriate time in the tournament.
All bets are to be placed in front of each player, and not in the center of the table. Players are not to ‘splash’ the pot while betting.
If a player is in the hand his/her cards must be visible to the dealer all the time.
In all games if a player makes a raise of 50% or more of the previous bet without an announcement or indication of intent he/she will be required to make the raise up to the minimum raise permitted. In all games, unless going ‘all in’, if a player makes a raise of less than 50% of the previous bet or raise, without an announcement or intention of intent it will be taken as a call. A raise must be the minimum of the big blind.
In all games if a player makes a bet of less than the amount required to call, he/she will be required to make up the difference or fold and surrender the initial bet which then forms part of the pot.
In No-Limit games, if an entrant states raise and bets with an oversize chip, the raise will be the maximum amount allowable up to the size of that chip.
In No-limit games when raising, players must either bet the amount of the raise in one ‘clean’ motion or state the raise amount. By stating the word raise, an entrant protects his right to raise, but the raise must still be completed as per the previous sentence guidelines.
Verbal declarations in turn are binding. Verbal declarations or action out of turn may also be binding. If a player bets, raises or calls out of turn the bet stands. If a player who should have acted prior to the out of turn player chooses to bet more than the out-of-turn bet, the player who acted out of turn can either make up the difference to call, or take back his bet and fold, or re –raise. A player that checks out of turn forfeits all rights to bet or raise.
The lowest denomination of chip in play is removed from the table when it is no longer needed in the blind or ante structure. All lower-denomination chips that are of sufficient quantity for a new chip will be changed up directly. The method for the removal of odd chips is to deal one card to a player for each odd chip possessed. Cards are dealt clockwise starting with the No. 1 seat, with each player receiving all cards before any cards are dealt to the next player. The player with the highest card by suit gets enough odd chips to exchange for one new chip, the second-highest card gets to exchange for the next chip, and so forth, until all the lower-denomination chips are exchanged. If an odd number of lower-denomination chips are left after this process, the player with the highest card remaining receives a new chip if he has half or more of the quantity of lower-denomination chips needed, otherwise nothing.
An absent player is always dealt a hand, and is put up for blinds, antes and the forced bet if low.
A player must be present at the table to stop the action by calling “time”.
As players are eliminated, tables are broken in a pre-set order, with players from the broken tables assigned to empty seats at other tables.
A player must be seated to receive cards, otherwise the hand is dead.
A player who declares all in and loses the pot, then discovers that one or more chips were hidden, is not entitled to benefit from this. That player is eliminated from the tournament if the opponent had sufficient chips to cover the hidden ones. If another deal has not yet started, the Tournament Director may rule the chips belong to the opponent who won the pot, which obviously would have happened with the chips out in plain view. If the next deal has started, the discovered chips are removed from the Tournament.
If a player lacks sufficient chips for a blind or forced bet, the player is entitled to get action on whatever amount of money remains.
All players must leave their seats immediately after being eliminated from the Tournament.
In the event of two players being eliminated from two separate tables on a corresponding hand, those players will be equal in placing regardless of their tournament chip count at the commencement of that particular hand.
Showing cards from a live hand during the action injures the rights of other players still competing in an event, who wish to see contestants eliminated. A player may not show any cards during a deal (unless the event has only two remaining players) If a player deliberately shows a card, that hand will be ruled dead and the player penalized.
Inappropriate behaviour like throwing cards that go off the table may be punished with a penalty such as being dealt out for a length of time. A severe infraction such as abusive or disruptive behaviour may be punished by eviction from the Tournament.
The deck is not changed on request. Decks change when the dealers change unless there is a damaged card.
The dealer button remains in position until the appropriate blinds are taken. Players must post all blinds every round.
New players are dealt in immediately unless they sit down in the small blind or button position. In these two cases, they must wait until the button passes.
In heads-up play with two blinds, the small blind is on the button.
If a tournament allows re-buys, players in that tournament may purchase additional chips for the amount stipulated.
Re-buys will only take place for a predetermined period of time during the tournament.
The length of the re-buy period and the number of re-buys and add-ons will be determined by the TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR and announced prior to the commencement of the tournament
Where the tournament allows add-ons, all players in that particular tournament may purchase additional chips at the end of the re-buy period for the amount stipulated.
If a player announces the intent to rebuy before cards are dealt, that player is playing behind and is obligated to make the rebuy.
All hands are turned face up whenever a player is all in and betting action is complete.
If two or more players go broke during the same hand, the player starting the hand with the larger amount of money finishes in the higher tournament place for cash awards.
Management is not required to rule on any private deals, side bets, or redistribution of the prize pool among finalists.
Private agreements by remaining players in the Tournament regarding distribution of prize pool are not condoned. Any private agreement that excludes one or more active competitors is improper by definition.
The Tournament is expected to be played until completion. A private agreement that removes all prize money from being at stake in the competition is unethical.
Management retains the right to cancel any event, or alter it in a manner which is fair to the players.
Once the field has been trimmed to the final 10 players, there will be a final table.
During the course of the Tournament, the tables will be balanced by the TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR; players will be required to move from table to table in order to balance the tables and sit where placed, they will play the next hand whether BLIND or not.
Players moving table never get the button or the small blind at the new tables.
If a player should be small blind and the person next to him leaves the tournament there will only be one blind after which the button will be dead. If both blind players leave the tournament then there is only one big blind and then next hand the button is dead.
If a player is the last in turn to speak and there will be no betting afterwards; the player is thinking whether to call and he exposes one or more of his cards, he will be allowed to call or check but may not raise. Players may request to ‘put the clock’ on another player. Subject to the request being reasonable the TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR will call ‘time’ and the player in question will have one minute to act. If action has not been taken by the time the minute is over, there will be a 10-second countdown. If a player has not acted on his/her hand by the time the countdown is over, the hand will be dead. All wagers made by the player will remain in the pot (s). The TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR may also call ‘time’ on an entrant if deemed necessary.
If the TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR determines that player is deliberately being slow to act on more than one occasion in the same tournament, that player may be given a maximum of 10 seconds to act for all subsequent hands.
No throwing or speaking out of turn.
All raises to be called or they do not go.
All raises must be the minimum of the big blind, you may not under raise.
A player talks once whatever he/she calls goes i.e. If a bet is R200.00 and the player calls raise R500.00, R700.00 must be put in the pool. If a player places the equivalent amount of chips to cover a bet and does not call raise only the call goes. The player may not change his mind and muck.
If a player purposefully disrupts the game or uses abusive behavior he will be warned once, if it happens again he will be asked to leave with no refund.
No SWEARING will be tolerated
If there is a dispute of any sort, or uncertainty, a floor manager will need to be notified and the TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR will rectify the problem.
Tournament seats are non refundable.
All Tournament seats are non-transferable.
There will be antes during the tournament which apply to every player in the tournament.
The TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR reserves the right to alter or amend the prize pool.
No Stills or video photography, camera’s or cellphone photographs may be taken in the poker room. By entering the poker room you have consented to being on camera and being broadcast on television. Players personal information collected during The All Africa Poker Tournament will be handled In accordance with Piggs Peak’s Policy unless otherwise provided in these terms and conditions.
By entering The All Africa Poker Championship each player authorizes the organizers and any third party to the unconditional use of the player’s name, suburb, image and likeness (including by any way of photograph, video, cinematography film recording or any other media) for the purpose of promoting and advertising The All Africa Poker Tournament or any third party without further consideration, notice, or review as described in the Player acknowledgment and release form.
No poker or casino branded clothing from other casinos or poker room’s including clothing bearing url’s may be worn whatsoever. Management reserves the right to remove such clothing.

3% Staff Gratuity is taken off the prize pool

Main Table – Feature Table

During the tournament players will be allocated to the feature table. This is the table where filming of all the cards including players hole cards takes place.
If a player is allocated to the table the player will be obliged to abide by all rules of the table as laid down by the TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR
Each player will be required to wear a microphone.
Whilst the player is at the feature table smoke breaks are not permitted. The TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR will announce a break at some time at the table for players to smoke etc.
The player must show the hole cards to the camera position on the table. If a player refuses to show his cards to the camera, he can be disqualified from the tournament.
Whilst players are on the feature table, no IPOD or music devices will be permitted. No cellphone calls or use will be permitted.
All players on the feature table are to follow the dealers and TV crews instructions at all times.
Players are to be aware that they are on the feature table and that all conversation is recorded and to please conduct themselves in an appropriate manner.

The TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR’S decision is final and binding. ALL TABLES ARE NON-SMOKING TABLES, SHOULD YOU WISH TO SMOKE PLEASE MOVE AWAY FROM YOUR TABLE TO THE DESIGNATED SMOKING AREA.