You are the Tournament Director: I’ve Got Aces and I’m All-in!

Situation: On the bubble in a big NLH competition Player A makes a big raise under the gun. The button moves all in announcing, ‘I’ve got aces, you had better pass if you want to make the money punk!’ You are called to the table, how do you rule?

Matt Savage Matt:
This is one of those situations where it does happen and I would... strange, strangely enough I would go to the table and see the guys hand and its one of those things where... I’m not a fan of this if you're lying its OK and if your telling the truth then its not but I would see if the player had Aces and if he had Aces then I would give him a penalty that would definitely affect his spot in this tournament and you know I would let the hand play out and... I would ask to see the cards after the hand was finished.

Thomas Kremser Thomas:
I would give a warning to the player as he is not supposed to name his hand! Next time – time penalty!

Jack Jack:
Both hands are live but button player receives penalty starting next hand.

Liam Flood Liam:
It’s up to the other guy to call or pass. The fella who is announcing his aces might not be telling the truth; in fact I’m 99% certain he’s not telling in the truth!

Mel Mel:
You tell the player B that next hand he is sinbinned for 15mins. Player A has decision to make. If player A calls and player B has aces then I would give the pot to player A because you are not allowed to tell people what hand you have. TDA rules state that you are not allowed to mention your exact hand whilst the hand is in play. Just because he might like the guy and not want him to go out, doesn’t mean to say that he can tell him he has aces so he can fold. Not on.

Marty Wilson Marty:
Is he bluffing or telling the truth? It’s only table talk and table talk’s encouraged. If he’s re-raised you’re taking the chance he’s got the aces anyway or it could be a poker move. I give player B the option of calling it.

The Mob Verdict:

We are presuming that the situation is heads up. You have to ask yourself why the TD has been called to the table. Is there any issue of collusion? If collusion is not as issue then we don’t really see a problem and we put it down as table talk.

We don’t buy into the ‘you can only lie’ rule – this is nonsense. The whole point of making statements is to deceive. It is over literal to be concerned whether they have named their hand correctly because whether they have named their hand correctly or not the intention is to deceive. The only thing that you really can’t say at the table is the F-bomb and that rule is nonsense as well.

It could possibly be seen as the same as exposing your hand, stopping any further action, and prejudicing other players who want to see players eliminated. However, what is the difference in a heads up situation for a player to say ‘you are definitely behind’ or ‘I have aces’? Where do you draw the line?

The important thing, as usual, is to have a clear rule that is enforced consistently. From the panel's point of view the most consistent ruling is that of a time penalty.

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