Common Home Game Rules By: Spaceman Spiff

1. Cards speak for themselves.

2. Checkraising is permitted. It’s not sandbagging, it’s not cheating, and it won’t get your knees shot out.

3. One player to a hand. This isn't a team game.

4. If you show one person your cards, you must show everyone even if it was folded.

5. No string-raising. The first action stated, for instance, “I see your bet…” is considered a call and is binding.

6. Please verbally announce betting action keeping in mind that the verbal declaration is binding.

7. A raise must be a minimum of the size of the big blind or the current bet or raise. For instance, the big blind is 200 and a player raises it 300 to a total of 500. If you want to re-raise, the minimum you can go is 300 more (the size of the current raise) to a total of 800.

8. Please don’t splash the pot. Place your bet in front of you and all bets will be collected into the pot at the end of the betting round.

9. Protect your hand at all times.

10. Any hand that touches the muck is considered dead. It doesn’t matter if it was an accident or not. PROTECT YOUR HAND!

11. Keep cards and chips on the table and visible at all times. Higher denomination chips should be easily seen by anyone at the table. This is a common courtesy and it helps speed up the game.

12. Please act in turn. Acting early gives unfair information to those who have yet to act.

13. Both cards must be shown to win a showdown. The last raiser (or first to act if checked around) must show their cards first.

14. With the exception of no limit games, there can be only 1 bet and 3 raises in any betting round. In no limit, there is no limit to the number of raises (duh!).

15. House decisions are final. If the house in involved in a dispute, a non-partisan party will be chosen to make a ruling.

16. If anything arises that is not covered by these rules, Robert's Rules of Poker will be used to make a decision.