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You are the Tournament Director Series 3: Does Saying 'Bet' Indicate a Raise?

NLH Freezeout in a UK casino. Player A raises preflop, player B says ‘BET’ and throws in an amount but just not enough to constitute a legal raise. The player who said ‘BET’ was a well known European pro who claims that his intention was clear and he says that by saying ‘BET’ he was obviously raising but he hadn’t seen the original raise. Do you allow him to make the amount up to a legal raise or is he forced to just call?

Matt Savage:
CALL, raise is the proper terminology he needed to use. If he had thrown out a raise amount than obviously it would be a raise. The player needs to pay attention to the action in front of him!

Thomas Kremser:
If his bet is 50% or more than the original raise I would rule that he must make the minimum raise, if it is less than 50% it will be a call.

Dave Lamb:
Saying “Bet” does not mean raise. At best, this is an unclear bet and is only a call.

Jeff Leigh:
Obviously the player’s intention wasn’t clear otherwise there wouldn’t have been any confusion. Not only did he make an unclear (bet) statement he also didn’t throw in enough chips to constitute an “obvious raise” which if he did may have helped his case. He cannot be allowed to raise but he would have to call.

Jack Effel:
BET does not mean raise. Declarations in turn are binding, the words bet and raise have two different meanings. Bet is the first wager made on a particular round. Raise means a bet has been made, and that player would like to increase the wager.

On a side note: In a tournament, if player B places the amount of the bet + at least 50% more in the pot, player B is required to make the minimum allowable raise. If player B places more than the original bet, but less that 50% more into the pot, then player B is only allowed to call.

Thomas Lamatsch:
It is the responsibility of the player to follow the game and the player is just allowed to call the bet. Verbal action is binding and “bet” doesn’t mean raise.

If he announced “raise” he would has to complete the bet to a full minimum raise.

The Mob Verdict

It looks like all our TDs are in agreement. Jack says ‘Declarations in turn are binding, the words bet and raise have two different meanings.’ And he is of course right. Even if the feeling is that the player meant to raise he neither said ‘raise’ nor put enough chips in to constitute a legal raise. We agree and would have ruled a call only in this spot.

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