How to Host a Texas Hold'em No-Limit

Sit-n-Go Tournament with Add-On

By "Kelley Boles"

These instructions are written for a player with a working knowledge of the game of Texas Hold'em. If you are not familiar with the game of Texas Hold'em and are really interested in playing in a setting such as this, I have included a list of rules of the game. These rules can be found in appendix A.

Introduction

Has your weekly home game become dull? Does all the action and emotion that used to fill your house now feel like pulling teeth? Well, be prepared to kiss those boredom blues goodbye and play some No-Limit tournament poker!

The responsibilities of the host

As the host of the tournament your job is actually quite simple. Make sure everyone has a good time. While it is true that not everyone can win; everyone can and should have a great time. It is your responsibility to make this happen.

Needed Supplies

A poker table or table top that seats at least 8 players

A deck -preferably 2- of standard size playing cards. If you would like to make this game a regular occurrence you should purchase a set of KEM cards, which are more durable than regular playing cards.

Poker Chips. It is best to have around at least 500 chips in order to safely accommodate everyone. Plastic chips can be purchased cheaply from Wal-Mart and other major retailers or online at casinosupply.com.

Tournament Rules

Included in the steps below are the official tournament rules. All players should be familiar with these rules. They are intended to resolve situations that can lead to disputes and hard feelings. In the event of a dispute or situation not covered by these rules, you should default to standard casino rules.

Before Play Begins:

It is important to know exactly what you and your guest will be playing. You will be playing "no limit" Texas Hold'em. That truly means "no limit." A player may bet/raise any amount up to the chips he possesses (subject to the minimum bet/raise rules listed below). There is also no limit to the number of raises in a round (everyone plays until the pot is square). Now, let's get on with the rules, and steps of the tournament.

1. Each player will be assigned a card at random and be assigned a seat at the table corresponding to his card (high card gets the button).

2. You will schedule breaks to be taken once every two hours and fifteen minutes (i.e., after every third level). If a player is not present at the game when it is his turn to act, the player's hand will be folded after thirty seconds.

How should you structure the dealing?

1. Dealer responsibility rotates around the table clockwise; the button indicates the dealer position

2. Two decks should be provided for the table. You should alternate decks. The player to the right of the dealer will be responsible for shuffling the unused deck while a hand is being played with the other

3. Prior to dealing the flop, the turn, and the river, the dealer shall burn the top card (deal it face down into the muck pile) and then deal the appropriate amount of cards.

4. If the dealer neglects to burn a card there will be no burn card for that round and the card dealt stands.

5. If a card is dealt face-up during the pre-flop deal, it is shown to the table before becoming the first card in the muck and without the player having an option to keep the card and the deal continues with the next player. The player receiving the face-up card then is last to receive his second card. The exposed card will replace the burn card on the flop.

How should you structure the blinds?

1. Blind bets should be out prior to the deal of any cards. It is the dealer's responsibility to ensure the blinds are paid and the pot is correct before dealing the next card(s) and moving the bets.

2. Absent players may not avoid the blinds. An absent player in the small and/or big blind will have his blind posted as dead money and his hand folded in turn.

3. You should announce the blinds increase according to the timer. If the cards have been gathered up, shuffled, and cut, but no card has yet been dealt to a player, then the limit increase is effective immediately. Otherwise, if any cards have been dealt, the increase will take effect on the very next hand. Increases occur according to the tournament structure schedule

The progression of the blinds is very important in a tournament. If the blinds were to stay at the same amount for the duration of the tournament it is possible that the tournament could go on for hours and hours! These progressions are essential to your tournament being long enough to create some exciting action, but not too long that your guest become tired and irritable.

$1-$2 45 minutes
$2-$4 45 minutes
$3-$6 45 minutes (break)
$4-$8 45 minutes
$6-$1245 minutes
$8-$16 45 minutes (break)
$10-$20 45 minutes
$15-$30 thereafter

The rules of betting.

1. All lead bets must be for a minimum of the big blind amount. All raises must be for a minimum of the most recent of the lead bet amount or the amount of a raise during that betting round. For example: on the flop, if the big blind is $2, the lead bettor must bet a minimum of $2. If he bets $2, the next player must raise at least an additional $2 if he chooses to raise. If he raises it to $5 (a $3 raise), the next raise must be for a minimum of $3 more. If the next player raises to $10 (a $5 raise), the next player to raise must raise a minimum of $5. Play continues from there until every player has squared the pot.

2. Pre-flop, the player immediately to the left of the big blind must fold, call the amount of the big blind, or raise. All players then act in turn accordingly. There is no option to check before the flop. Your only choices are to call, raise, or fold.

3. Bets should be placed in front of the player, not thrown into the pot. This permits all players to easily verify the current bet status. Also, players should keep their bets/raises neatly stacked so that the amount can be easily verified. Once a round of betting is completed, the pot should not be jumbled together. Instead, it should be moved, in stack form, to the center of the table.

4. An oral statement denotes a player's action and is binding. It is best for a player to orally declare his intentions to avoid confusion. A player should orally declare: fold, check, bet, call, or raise. It is best to orally declare the amount of a bet/raise (e.g., "I bet $10" or "I raise $30"). That being said rapping the table in turn constitutes a check.

5. A player who bets or calls by releasing chips onto the table in front of him rather than by orally announcing his intent is bound by that action. However, if a player is unaware that the pot has been raised, the player may withdraw that money and reconsider the action, provided that no one else has acted after the player.

6. If a player makes a forward motion with chips towards the pot and, by doing so, causes another player to reasonably believe it is his turn to act and such player then acts out of turn, the player making the forward motion is forced to complete the action.

7. If a player folds in turn by tossing his cards toward the dealer and/or at or into the muck, the cards are dead and may not be retrieved (even if they are identifiable). Players should protect their cards, chips, and bets at all times. All cards must remain on or above the table and in front of the players' chips at all times.

8. If a player releases a single chip into the pot that is larger than the bet, but does not announce a raise prior to releasing the chip, the player is assumed to have only called. Example: At the $10-$20 level, one player opens for $10 and the next player puts a $25 chip in front of him without saying anything. The second player has merely called the $10 bet, and the dealer would make change.

9. String bets are not allowed. A string bet is a bet that initially looks like a call, but then turns out to be a raise. It can cause other players to react and give away information providing an unfair advantage to the bettor and other players. Once the player's hand has put some chips out, the player may not go back to his stack to get more chips and increase the size of the bet. If the player always declares "call" or "raise" as you bet, he will be immune to this problem. Note that an oral declaration in turn is binding, so an oral string bet is possible and also prohibited. A player cannot say "I call your $5, and raise you another $5!" Once "call" is said, that's it. The rest of the sentence is irrelevant.

10. Checking and raising is permitted.

11. All-in situations:

A player is never obligated to drop out of contention because of insufficient funds to play or to call the full amount of a bet. The player may call a bet for the total amount of chips possessed by that player. The excess part of the bet is either returned to the bettor or used to form a side pot with another player or players who matched the amount called, as applicable. There is no limitation on the number of side pots. A player who has put all remaining chips in play into the pot is said to be all-in. It is common for the player to verbally declare "All-in" when going all-in. If a player is all-in and there is no further action possible, all hands must be turned face up on the table before the deal is completed.

Buy-ins and payment structure

1. The minimum buy-in is $30. For such buy-in, a player will receive T75 worth of chips. An optional add-on of $20 will provide a player with an amount of T75 additional chips. A player may add-on at any point before the tournament begins or within the first ninety minutes of the tournament during which he still has a chip remaining in his stack. In other words, a player may not go all-in, lose the hand, and then request an add-on. A player may not elect to add-on during a hand (i.e., all add-ons must occur between hands). Be certain that everyone understand the mechanics of this process. For example, a player pushes all-in during a hand, orally declares "I want to add-on after this hand," and then loses the pot. He did not add-on before the hand began and he had no chips remaining when the next add-on opportunity arose. He, therefore, may not add-on and is out of the tournament.

2. A player that loses all of their chips is out of the tournament and finishes in the order they were eliminated. If two or more players are eliminated in the same hand, the player who began the hand with the higher chip count will finish higher. If a player is eliminated from the big or small blind position, the button will remain in the same place for the next deal so that every player posts the big and small blind.

3. When play becomes heads-up at the end of the tourney, the dealer posts the small blind and has first action pre-flop (small blind on the button). For all play after the flop the player who posted the big blind acts first.

4. The entire prize pool, consisting of all entry and add-on payments, will be distributed as follows: third place receives $30, then first place receives 70% of the balance of the prize pool, and then second place receives the remainder of the prize pool. Any odd amount is rounded up to the nearest dollar in favor of the first place player (e.g., $200.25 is rounded to $201). Deals are permitted if everyone still in the tournament agrees to the terms of the deal. There is no obligation to agree to a deal. Absent a deal, play will continue until a single winner remains.

Important notes to be aware of

1. If a player is going to be late to arrive, he must call thirty-minutes prior to the starting time to confirm his participation. Late players who call to confirm will have a seat drawn for them and will be responsible for paying their entry fee. When play commences, players who are not present will have hands dealt (and folded) and blinds posted (as dead money) in turn until they arrive or are blinded out.

2. Players must only act on their hands in turn. Acting out of turn gives an unfair advantage to players still to act. Acting out of turn is not binding except for folding. Deliberately acting out of turn is a violation of the etiquette of poker.

3. If a player acts out of turn ahead of a player still to act, the dealer or player to act should stop the action by calling "time." Failure to stop the action before two or more players have acted behind may cause a player to lose the right to act. A player cannot forfeit the right to act if no player in front has yet to act.

4. One player to a hand. When a player intends to fold a hand, he is not permitted to flash the cards to another player, even if that player has already folded. Although the information cannot be helpful in the current hand, the danger is that someone still involved in the pot may accidentally get a view of the exposed cards. In addition, the player who is seeing the flashed cards will get information on someone's play that is not available to the other players at the table. Discussing a hand while the hand is in progress is also not permitted. Showing one's hand to any player at any time (even after the hand is completed) requires showing the hand to the entire table.

5. Both cards must be shown face up on the table in order to win any part of the pot. Only hands that make it to showdown must be shown to the table. The person to put in the last bet/raise shows first at showdown and the other players show in turn. If there is no action on the river, the showdown begins with the player in earliest position. It is impolite and impermissible to peek at hands folded before a showdown.

6. "Cards speak," which means the cards read for themselves and override any oral hand declaration. Players are responsible for holding onto their cards until the winner is finally declared. Throwing one's cards face down into or towards the muck, even at showdown, folds one's hand. Although oral declarations as to the contents of a hand are not binding, deliberately miscalling a hand with the intent of causing another player to discard his hand is unethical. Any odd chips in a split pot will be broken into the smallest possible denominations and evenly distributed among the winners. Any remainder shall be given to the player closest to the blinds (with the button being the furthest away).

7. Have fun!

WARNING: Sometimes in the world of poker tempers get out of hand. Make sure you have at least two people available for security should one player become physically violent to another player. It should be made known to all before the tournament begins that violent behavior will not be tolerated and that the breaking of this rule will result in immediate removal from the premises and forfeiture of tournament buy-in.

Conclusion

So, there you have it. All you need for a fun-filled night of fast paced poker action. What are you waiting for?  Shuffle up and deal!

Appendix A:

Hold'em is a poker game where each player receives two cards as his initial hand. There is a round of betting after these cards have been dealt. Then three board cards are turned simultaneously (which is called "the flop") and are community cards available to all players. Another round of betting takes place. The next two board cards are turned one at a time with a round of betting after each one. After the final round of betting has been completed, a player may use any combination of five cards (one in his hand, four from the board, etc.) to determine his best hand. A player may use all of the board cards (called "playing the board").

Hold'em uses a flat disc called a Dealer Button to indicate the player who, in theory, deals the cards for that pot. The Button (player with the Dealer Button) is last to receive cards on the initial deal and has the right of last-action on all betting rounds, except the first. On the first round one or more blind bets are used to stimulate action and initiate play. Blinds are posted before a player looks at his cards. Blinds count as part of the player's bet unless the structure of a specific game or situation requires part or all of a particular blind to be "dead". Dead chips are not part of a player's bet.

Blinds are posted by players who sit in consecutive clockwise order from the Button. Action is initiated on the first betting round by the player on the immediate left of the person who posted the furthest blind clockwise from the Button. The blinds act last on the first betting round and are "live" which means the player is allowed to raise his own blind bet.

RULES FOR HOLD'EM

Check and raise permitted.

A bet and four raises are allowed. The fourth raise "caps the action.

There is no limit on raises when only two players are left in a betting round and the action is not yet "capped".

String raises are not allowed. To protect your right to raise, you should either declare your intention verbally or place the proper amount of chips into the pot. Putting a full bet plus a half-bet or more into the pot is considered to be the same as announcing a raise, and the raise must be completed. A player putting in less than half of the raise without announcing "raise" may call only.

A player who puts a single chip into the pot that is larger than the bet to him is assumed to have called the bet, unless he announces "raise".

No pot may be awarded until all losing hands have been killed. The winning hand should remain face up until the pot is awarded.

A card found face up in the deck (boxed card) shall be treated as a scrap of paper". A joker that appears in a game that does not use a Joker is also a "scrap of paper". A card being treated as a scrap of paper is replaced by the next card below it in the deck when possible. If not possible, it is replaced by the top card of the deck after completion of the round. If a player does not call attention to the Joker among his down cards before acting on his hand, then he has a foul hand and forfeits all rights to the pot and all monies involved.

If a player's hole card is exposed due to a dealer error, he may not keep the exposed card. After completing the deal, the dealer will exchange the exposed card with the top card on the deck and place the exposed card face up on top of the deck. The exposed card will be used as the first burn card after all action before the flop is completed. If two or more cards are exposed on the deal, it is a misdeal.

If a player is dealt more or less cards than the game is playing calls for, and it is discovered before two players act on their hands, it is a misdeal. If it is discovered after two players have acted, then all monies, antes and blinds are forfeited by that player.

If the flop has too many cards, it will be taken back and reshuffled, except the burn card will remain burned. No new burn card will be used.

If cards are flopped by the dealer before all the betting is completed, the entire flop is taken back and reshuffled. The burn card will remain and no additional burn card will be used for this flop.

If the dealer burns up the fourth card on the board before the round of betting is completed, the card is not in play. After the completion of the betting, the next card is burned and the fifth card is put in the fourth card's place. After betting is completed, the dealer will reshuffle the deck, including the card that was taken out of play but not the burn card or discards. The dealer will then deal the fifth card without burning.

If the fifth card is turned up before betting is complete, it shall be reshuffled in the same manner as the previous rule.

Playing the Board: A player may play the board by throwing his hand away only if: (1) the hand has been checked around, or (2) there has been a bet and a call, and the best hand is on the board. The player must CLEARLY declare that he is playing the board before throwing his hand away; otherwise the player relinquishes all claims to the pot.

The winning hand must show both cards face up on the table; one card up and the other face down is not a valid hand. " A player must not enter play in the middle of the blinds; he must wait until the Button passes.

A new player entering any Hold'em game has several options. He may: (1) wait for his big blind, (2) wait until the Button passes and then post his big blind, or (3) post the big blind when he sits down. If he chooses the second or third option, the blind acts as his opening bet and he may either call by rapping the table or make the prescribed raise in turn.

If a player leaves the table for any reason and any blind passes his position, he may resume play by posting the total amount of the blinds for the game or wait for the big blind. If he chooses to post the total amount of blinds, the small blind goes to the center of the pot while the big blind is live.

The dealer button always moves forward and the blinds are adjusted accordingly.

An all-in wager of less than half a bet does not reopen the betting for any player who has already acted and is in the pot for all previous bets. A player facing less than half a bet may fold, call or complete the wager. An all-in wager of half a bet or more is treated as a full bet and a player may fold, call or make a full raise.

The smallest chip that may be wagered in a game is the smallest chip used in the antes or blinds. Any smaller chips may be played provided they can be combined in quantity to equal the size of a chip used in the game. When going all-in, players must put all chips that play into that pot.

(THIS ARTICLE PRINTED HERE WITH THE PERMISSION OF KELLEY BOLES)