Prematurely Exposing Cards

[K-Lo]

I ran across this oldie on YouTube the other day:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOHPyYnJKFs

Tony G exposes his cards before the hand is complete.  The TD rules that his hand is not dead, but that he can no longer take any aggressive action.  I can't find the basis for this in the TDA rules... it is a local rule?  I would have ruled that the hand would continue with the opponent having the benefit of knowing Tony G's cards when acting on future streets - this is usually penalty enough  -- and all options still available to the player who exposed the cards.  Am I wrong in this? 

[DCJ001]

This was a TV show. Whoever ruled that Tony could not make an aggressive action could have been making rulings without having a rule like this on the TV show.

[Nick C]

K-Lo,
 The hand can not be called dead. Tony G said call, so that's all he could do. I don't know how they could even say, "In some card rooms, the hand could be ruled dead!" Ridiculous, especially in a head to head situation! Exposing your hand in a multi-handed pot is a serious offense. Head to head is completely different, and I was always in favor of separating head-to-head and all-in, from the standard rules for poker.
 I will say that the situation on the video could have been handled different. I might have given the opposing player the option to allow tony's raise or not.
 I agree with K-Lo when he says the opponent has the benefit of seeing Tony G's hand but, I would not allow Tony to raise until the next betting round. I don't know if I've ever heard of a rule that forbids a player from betting or raising on a new "street!" Is that what the floorman said?

[MikeB]

K:

You're absolutely right, there is no TDA rule requiring that prematurely exposed hand cannot initiate aggressive action. The only TDA rule is that premature exposure is strongly discouraged, may be subject to penalty, but the hand will not be dead. See Poker TDA Rules, 2011, Version 2.0, Rule # 52.

Any further limitations on action, etc. are strictly house rules.

[Nick C]

MikeB,
 TDA rules #50 & #52 address the exposed card with action pending, as you stated. However, #52 mentions the penalty-if any-will begin at the start of the next hand. Have you experienced during head to head action any situation where players are not allowed to bet, or raise on the next betting round of that hand?

 I can't watch that video without commenting on the dealer. The pitch was bad, the flop was unorthedoxed and if you look at the hand in question, what was the burn doing on the table long before the flop? Finally, what's with the underhand placement of the flop, turn and river? The only person in the video that did nothing wrong was DeWolfe, only because he folded! No wonder so many questions are asked about rules and procedures, there are too many video's like this one out there.

 K-Lo, by the way, your ruling would have been better than the one that was made on that video. 

[MikeB]

MikeB,
 TDA rules #50 & #52 address the exposed card with action pending, as you stated. However, #52 mentions the penalty-if any-will begin at the start of the next hand. Have you experienced during head to head action any situation where players are not allowed to bet, or raise on the next betting round of that hand?

I've experienced a variety of different house rules on this issue... including freezing action which I never liked b/c it effectively allows a player with a weak hand to expose his cards and freeze any further betting action.  This thread raises an important point that players need to be aware of whatever house rules are being used that might deviate from the standard TDA rules set. Premature card exposure is one of those topics that has a fairly wide range of variation.

 I can't watch that video without commenting on the dealer. The pitch was bad, the flop was unorthedoxed and if you look at the hand in question, what was the burn doing on the table long before the flop? Finally, what's with the underhand placement of the flop, turn and river? The only person in the video that did nothing wrong was DeWolfe, only because he folded! No wonder so many questions are asked about rules and procedures, there are too many video's like this one out there.

 K-Lo, by the way, your ruling would have been better than the one that was made on that video.  

[Nick C]

Gentlemen,
 Anything to say about the dealer?

[mooredog]

We have had this happen quite a few times. Tony G thought the other player was all in so called then flipped his cards up. It was an honest mistake and we usually issue a warning and let the hand play out. If we think the player exposes the cards intentionally a penalty is imposed, but no restrictions are put on the hand as far as raisnig goes on later streets. The other player ends up with a pretty nice edge since Tony G doesn't know what he has.

[Luca P.]

It's impossible to rule the hand dead, when it happens to me, I usually let the player have any option: raise, call, fold.
It's just that I asses a penality that he would never do that again

Anyway, I also think that it could be possible to let the player only choose "call" or "fold"