General Poker Rules, Dead Hands

1. Your hand is declared dead if:
   • You fold or announce that you are folding when facing a bet or a raise.
   • You throw your hand away in a forward motion causing another player to act behind you (even if not facing a bet).
   • In stud, when facing a bet, you pick your upcards off the table, turn your upcards facedown, or mix your upcards and downcards together.
   • The hand does not contain the proper number of cards for that particular game (except at stud a hand missing the final card may be ruled live, and at lowball and draw high a hand with too few cards before the draw is live).
     
     Explanation:
     Most poker rule sets say you have a dead hand at the showdown if you do not have the proper number of cards for that game. At stud, this rule is too strict. An inexperienced player sometimes does not pay sufficient attention to the final card when holding a big hand like a flush or full house (where improvement is neither likely to happen nor be needed), and fails to protect that card. If the dealer erroneously puts that final card into the muck after the player fails to take it in, the rules should give the decision-maker an option to rule such a hand live. Rule 18 in Section 8 - Seven-card Stud reads: A hand with more than seven cards is dead. A hand with less than seven cards at the showdown is dead, except any player missing a seventh card may have the hand ruled live.
   • You act on a hand with a joker as a holecard in a game not using a joker. (A player who acts on a hand without looking at a card assumes the liability of finding an improper card, as given in Irregularities, rule #8.)
   • You have the clock on you when facing a bet or raise and exceed the specified time limit.
2. Cards thrown into the muck may be ruled dead. However, a hand that is clearly identifiable may be retrieved and ruled live at management's discretion if doing so is in the best interest of the game. We will make an extra effort to rule a hand retrievable if it was folded as a result of incorrect information given to the player.
3. Cards thrown into another player's hand are dead, whether they are faceup or facedown.

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Roberts Rules of Poker

• Proper Behavior
  • Conduct Code
  • Poker Etiquette
  • Tobacco Use
• House Policies
  • Decision Making
  • Procedures
  • Seating
• General Poker Rules
  • The Buy In
  • Misdeals
  • Dead Hands
  • Irregularities
  • Betting And Raising
  • The Showdown
  • Ties
• Button And Blind Use
  • Rules For Using Blinds
• Texas Holdem
  • Rules Of Texas Holdem
• Omaha
  • Rules Of Omaha
• Omaha High Low
  • Rules Of Omaha High Low
• Seven Card Stud
  • Rules Of Seven Card Stud
• Seven Card Stud Low (Razz)
  • Rules Of Seven Card Stud Low (Razz)
• Seven Card Stud High Low
  • Rules Of Seven Card Stud High Low
• Lowball
  • Rules Of Lowball
  • Ace To Five Lowball
  • Deuce To Seven Lowball
  • No Limit And Pot Limit Lowball
• Draw High
  • Rules Of Draw High
  • Jacks Or Better
  • The Joker
• Kill Pots
  • Rules Of Kill Pots
• No Limit And Pot Limit
  • No Limit Rules
  • Pot Limit Rules
• Tournaments