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You are the Tournament Director Series 2: I Do Not Fold

The following was a post on The Mob forum by Xanman on 8 may 2006

I was recently playing Texas Hold 'em with some co-workers and after the river I went all-in. Everyone else folded except for one player. He thought about it for quite awhile... exclaimed "I do not fold" and then flipped over his cards. I flipped mine (4 of a kind which beat his pair of Aces) and went to take his chips (I was the chip leader) and he said that he did not call. I said that was bulls*%t, but unfortunately, my fellow co-workers agreed with him.

How would you deal with a player making the verbal declaration ‘I do not fold’ and then exposing his hole cards in a tournament?

Danny
I would not force him to make the call as his words do not state this. However I would give him the standard penalty we apply for exposing cards with action pending – 10 minutes for first offence.

If the person making the verbal declaration had the better hand, i.e., he had convinced the other player to turn his hand over, I would confirm that he was still calling the bet but would still apply a penalty after the hand for exposing his hand.

Thomas
This guy is clearly trying to take advantage by saying “I do not fold” and turning over the hole cards. I would make this player call the all-in raise. (He would also have claimed the pot if his Aces would have been the winning hand).

Matt
It appears to be an obvious move on his part and I would give him a penalty for exposing his cards before the action was complete. That being said he had not called and therefore does not have to put any chips in as the first player should have waited for him to complete his action.

Roy
Depending on how he says it. If it's emphasised it and clearly intends it to be meant as a call I make him put the chips in.

Luke
In my tournaments, exposing one’s cards does not mean that their hand is dead or that the player has finished acting. However, it is considered unethical and the player who declares ‘I do not fold’ was facing an all-in bet and therefore could not raise, he has declared he is not folding and therefore his only remaining option is to Call. I would further reprimand him discretely about his play on words. (Again sharp practice).

Mel
His hand would be classed as dead with a 10 minute penalty because he should say call to make his intentions clear. It is clear to me he was taking a shot. A pro would ask him if he was calling to make certain before turning his cards over.

Mob Verdict

This is very interesting with some differences of opinion. Both Luke and Thomas force the player to call the bet, Danny and Matt don’t and give the player the option. Roy says it depends but it looks like he might force the call and Mel doesn’t give the player any option at all – he calls his hand dead and gives him a penalty!

One thing that comes from this is that it is far from clear and players should be encouraged to make sure that all action is clear before exposing their cards. The all in player has definitely made a mistake by turning his hand over before clarifying that the action is complete.

There are clearly two ways to go on this. If, as in this case, the player appears to be shooting an angle and is trying to get the all in player to expose his hand then despite the fact that he has not technically called we might well force him to do so. He would not try the same stroke again in a hurry. If however it is not overwhelmingly clear that the player was deliberately trying to take a free shot at the pot then we would simply treat it as a case of exposing a hand which was dealt with here.

We feel such a case has to be taken on its merits. If there is substantial doubt that the player meant his verbal declaration to be taken as a call then we would treat it in the same way as exposing cards without the speech play. He can call if he wishes and he will receive a 10 minute penalty. Repeat offences would have a more serious penalty.

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