You are the Tournament Director: Let's Go!

The Situation:
Playing heads up player A makes a raise on the button pre-flop and player B calls. The flop comes down Kh, 7h, 5d. Player B checks, Player A makes a small bet player B raises and player A moves all in. Player B announces, ‘Let’s go’ and turns his hand over – he has K, Q. Player A then very happily produces pocket Kings for trips. Player B then says that he didn’t call and insists that by saying ‘Let’s go’ he merely meant ‘Let’s get on with the next hand’. Player A obviously takes it that his all in bet has been called. You are called to the table, how do you rule and why?

Matt:
Fortunately it is one of those ones that could actually go either way only because you have to take into account who’s in the game ‘Lets go’ is not saying ‘I’m all in’ so if this was two people that I didn’t know...

Joe: Lets say to start with its two people you don’t know.

MS: OK, if its two people I don’t know…obviously the first player didn’t push any chips into the pot and Player B didn’t either.

JB: No, Player A makes a small bet Player B raises and then the first player he’s made the small bet, he moves all in, Player B announces ‘Lets go’ so Player A’s chips are all in the middle and some of Player B’s chips are in the middle and he says ‘Lets go’ and he turns his hand over. He’s got top pair Queen kicker.

MS: God that’s tough. I’m probably gonna do the wrong thing here and I’m going to force this guy to put all his money in the pot and the reason for this is because again TDA rules state that you turn your cards over when you are heads up and all in you need to turn your cards face side. The only reason I can see this guy turning his cards face up in this instance is because he’s going to go all in so I would… it’s a very tough decision but I would make the guy go all in.

MS: Unfortunately in this ruling it depends on who it is because you know it could be an angle shooter or …what do you call them?

JB: Stroke puller.

Thomas:
Technically Player B did not make a call with saying “Let’s go”. He clearly trapped Player A with saying “Let’s go “AND turning over his hand at the same time, what looked like a showdown for Player A and not as a “Pass”. For this reason I would force Player B to call and play the hand.

Jack:
I ruled that player B did not say call or put his chips in the pot and that player A acted prematurely by showing his hand before action was complete. Technically player B did not commit to the pot. Ethically he should have put in his chips. Amarillo Slim is not the most ethical player on the planet and Ron Rose is never going to stop complaining about this decision.

Liam:
I accept that player B meant all-in when he said let’s go and turns his hand over. The hand plays out.

Mel:
I’ve seen a similar thing to this happen. ‘Let’s go’ and ‘call’ are 2 of the same and should be made to call. If Player B had wanted to fold he would have mucked his hand. If player B had wanted to pull a stroke on player A by turning his cards over to gain a reaction its bang out of order. My ruling is he has to call.

Marty:
I think this was Amarillo Slim. It’s a verbal form of cheating and taking advantage of the dealer at the table. I’d be giving him a warning and the benefit of the doubt but it’s obviously a form of cheating. I would also say to the dealer that I want verbal declarations on what the actions are in future, a ‘call or fold’, not ‘let’s go’.

The Mob Verdict

In this series of articles some of the situations posed will be real and others made up. You can see from the various answers that this did in fact happen. It took place in the 2001 World Heads Up Championship in Vienna between Amarillo Slim and Ron Rose. Slim was the player that said ‘Let’s Go’ and turned his hand over. Slim went on to win the match and eventually finished 2^nd overall.

Interestingly Jack McClelland was the tournament director on the day and he is, apart from Mad Marty, the only tournament director who would allow Slim to pass his hand. He came to the table, after he was called for, and the important issue for him was that Slim never actually said the word ‘call’. He asked the dealer and the players and they all confirmed that Slim never uttered the all important word.

So is Jack wrong? Matt Savage actually says in his answer ‘I’m probably gonna do the wrong thing here…’ and that he would make the player call. Why would he do the wrong thing? Was Jack the only tournament director to do the ‘right’ thing?

It is certainly a tough one to call. If we knew the players and the circumstance we would probably have made Slim call. Why would anyone say ‘Let’s Go’ and turn their hand over if they weren’t calling? Whether or not reputations of players in circumstances like this should be taken into account is open to debate and it’s something that the Mob disagree about.

Ron Rose told us that he learnt a lot from that hand and that he will never fall for a trick like that again. It’s important for all players to make sure that action is complete before they turn their hand over. If you don’t see your opponents chips in the middle and you think he’s acted don’t be afraid to ask the question!

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