So today(ish) didn't happen. So it's tomorrow(ish).
Anyhow, going to try and cover each possible ruling individually and try to gauge any interest in adopting the above ruling for other game types, if at all possible.
Ruling #1 - Dead Hand: This ruling is possible given the obvious - Player in Seat 5 (BB) has an improper number of cards for the game type. Too few in this case. Standard rulings almost always follow the holdem / omaha type rulings governed by this rule: RRoP
The hand does not contain the proper number of cards for that particular game but fail to include this exception in their rulings
(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).
As MikeB stated, most cardrooms now do not even have these game types being played in their rooms. Therefore, it stands to reason that most would not know the exceptions for specific game types.
Pros of this ruling:
- Cut and dry. Too few or too many cards for game type is a dead hand
- Not a misdeal with Substantial action
- Prevents players from hiding cards to receive a 2nd chance at a better card
Cons of this ruling:
- This punishes the player who has an improper number of cards unduly because of a dealer error
- Allows for the incorrect / proper flop and/or in this case an improper draw.
- Is a misdeal without Substantial action
- Players in the blinds lose the right to protect and player on the button loses position paid for through the blinds
Let's briefly discuss the exceptions to the rule: "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." Why is there an exception?
IN STUD - the reason for exception is a player with too few cards still may have a better hand then a player with 7 cards. Therefore it is allowed. Thoughts: I find this logic to be true in all game formats except for Draw games and Badugi. For example in Holdem - A player with only an Ace (one card - too few cards) in their hand may flop an Ace and beat a player with KK in their hand. However, in Holdem it is mandatory to have two cards to win a pot. Otherwise we'd just have people holding/hiding aces all the time. But in Omaha and Big O the Stud rule exception seems to hold water to me. A player with too few cards (i.e. 3 cards) should still be allowed to win the pot. It is possible for them to use two out of the 3 cards they do have and still beat a proper 4 card hand.
I'll discuss this line of thought more in a separate post in Ruling #2IN DRAW - the reason for exception is because a player may wish to draw to a full hand. If they have too few cards after the draw it is a dead hand.
The problem with exceptions is - then you may get into that there is an even exceptions for the exceptions! But overall I like exceptions if they make sense. And that's the main goal of creating and implementing rules, do they make sense. More to come.