Just putting something out there. With Pot Limit games (e.g. PLO, PLO8) gaining somewhat in popularity over the years, I was thinking about the rules for these games.
You may recall the Player's Championships situation at the WSOP - we talked about it at the beginning of this thread:
http://www.pokertda.com/forum/index.php?topic=678.0In that case, it was actually an all-in situation, where it turned out the all-in amount was more than pot. The bet was called (a lot of other things also happened to confuse things), and only after the hand was played out did the bet sizes become an issue. The floor ultimately ruled that both players had accepted the all-in action (which I agree with).
I came across the pot-limit rules in RROP (primarily cash games) the other day, and noticed that although RROP does not use the phrase "accepting the action", there does seem to be some basis for a similar ruling.
POT-LIMIT RULES
A bet may not exceed the pot size. The maximum amount a player can raise is the amount in the pot after the call is made. Therefore, if a pot is $100, and someone makes a $50 bet, the next player can call $50 and raise the pot $200, for a total wager of $250.
1. If a wager is made that exceeds the pot size, the surplus will be given back to the bettor as soon as possible, and the amount will be reduced to the maximum allowable.
2. The dealer or any player in the game can and should call attention to a wager that appears to exceed the pot size (this also applies to heads-up pots). The oversize wager may be corrected at any point until all players have acted on it.
3. If an oversize wager has stood for a length of time with someone considering what action to take, that person has had to act on a wager that was thought to be a certain size. If the player then decides to call or raise, and attention is called at this late point to whether this is an allowable amount, the floorperson may rule that the oversize amount must stand (especially if the person now trying to reduce the amount is the person that made the wager).(From RROP)
What I'm thinking about is that if we're moving towards a trend of putting the responsibility on players to get everything right, why can't we make it easier for players to simply overbet the pot, or even go all-in for more than a pot-sized raise, if all players accept the action? For example, what about an addendum to Rule 42 (Pot Size & Pot-Limit Bets):
In Pot Limit games, a bet or raise should not exceed the pot size. However, any player yet to act who wishes to dispute the legality of the size of a wager must do so before substantial action has occurred. If a player makes an oversize wager (including an all-in), and it is not corrected before substantial action has occurred or the betting for that street has completed, the oversize wager shall stand. And maybe, perhaps controversially, the dealer should take a back seat rule to correcting bet sizes:
The Dealer will not correct the amount of any oversize wager unless requested to do so by a player in the hand.I know that die-hard Pot Limit traditionalists might take issue, and insist that "Pot Limit is pot limit", and that all pots should be checked and corrected. It may be argued that if we allow players to simply choose any bet size if no players in the hand object, the game might as well be No Limit, and not Pot Limit. It might also be argued that it opens up the possibility for an angle for players to simply go all-in, and get a read if a player requests that the wager be made right based on the pot. On the other hand, if a player overbets the pot when going all-in, the caller actually has an advantage in that he now has an option as to whether to accept the overbet (and potentially close the action) or to force the bet to the correct amount -- if the caller is not at fault, why shouldn't he have the freedom to choose?