You are the Tournament Director: Opponents Exposing Your Hand

Two players are left in the pot on the river and player one makes a large bet. His opponent reaches over and turns the player’s cards over. How do you rule?

Now say a third player, who has passed, turns over the hand of the player who has bet. How do you rule?

Matt Savage Matt:
(a) I would kill that player’s hand, the one who turned the hand over. I would give him a penalty, just basically to tell him you know... a time penalty. He’s not allowed to do that type of thing
(b) A third player has turned the hand over? OK he’s definitely getting a penalty for sure. The guy that turned the hand over. It’s a tough one Joe. I would give the player that had his hand turned over the option of having making the bet stand or not. Obviously the third player in the pot who hasn’t acted can act normally?

Thomas Kremser Thomas:
(a) The hand of the player that turns over the hand is dead.
(b) Hand is live and I would deal to the river without betting. Penalty for the player who turned over the hand.

Jack Jack:
(a) Opponent hand is dead when he touched other player’s cards.
(b) In a tournament I would give third player a penalty for unfairly gaining information.

Liam Flood Liam:
(a) The player who makes the bet wins the pot, the other hand is dead
(b) This doesn’t happen Joe, it just does not happen, the *#!*#* would be killed! I know someone who always carried a gun and he’d shoot him!

Mel Mel:
(a) That the player who turned the cards over his hand is dead and penalty 20mins away from the table. This play is not on, it’s cheating.
(b) Penalty 20mins away from the table to the player who turns over the hand, its just blatant cheating

Marty Wilson Marty:
(a) His hand is dead and the player whose cards were turned over takes all the chips in the pot. The player who turned over the cards is given a verbal warning.
(b) The player is responsible for his own cards. The player who turns the cards over would be expelled from the tournament and her chips out of play. The player who hasn’t acted yet is allowed to do so and the hand continues with cards exposed.

Mob Verdict

The first of the two scenarios is easier to deal with. All TDs agree that the player who had his cards turned over wins the pot. Matt and Mel would give a time penalty and Marty a verbal warning. We feel that a time penalty is right otherwise the player might do this when ever he is going to fold to gain information. Repeat offences should be more severely penalised.

The second scenario is more difficult. First the offending player, who is out of this particular hand, should get at least a time penalty. What he has done is just not allowed. Again, more severe penalties or even disqualification should be given for further offences.

A player is responsible for his own hand and the player should have protected his cards at all times. Marty sticks by this in his ruling and whilst not necessarily incorrect we feel that a little leniency in this spot wouldn’t go a miss. Matt gives the player that has made the bet the option of taking it back which is interesting and we assume that he means the other player can still bet if he wants to. It would appear that Thomas has not realised that we are already on the river as he would ‘deal to the river without betting’ – (we would assume that if it wasn’t on the river the other player can act normally and has an option to call).

We believe that you have to try to understand what is in the offending player’s head. He is definitely getting a penalty but if the action is deemed to be malicious then an instant disqualification should be considered.

The ‘protecting your own hand’ rule is important but you don’t expect a player at the table to act in this way – by leaning over and exposing your cards. If you think about the different betting scenarios that can follow the player with the unexposed hand has a huge advantage. We feel that it is so unfair for the victim and that he is so disadvantaged that we would return the bet and move immediately on to the showdown. We understand that the player with the unexposed hand has done nothing wrong and he may for instance lose the opportunity to bluff if he wanted but it’s a very difficult situation and we believe that this would be the fairest ruling.

Many things that happen in tournaments are very situational and you can see just how tough it can be to be a tournament director. It is important that the TD fully understands the complete situation and as well as following the rules makes fair and consistent decisions that are in the interest of fair play and the good of the game.

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