Question Regarding Poker
 

If you're playing with someone head to head, say you bet 40 chips, and they call, place 10 into the pot (one out of four stacks) and then all of sudden announce that they retract their call based one my reaction once they called...is that allowed?

You cannot take back bets. If they absolutely insist, make them leave and never allow them to play the game again. It's that simple.

Not worth a bloody nose though, just let them know they will never be allowed back.

bump.....

once you announce it, you cant take it back

so once you've announced the call and start moving your chips to the center you can't take them back? even if the person you're betting against is so sure he's gonna win he starts breakdancing?

yes................

Can't take em back. Period

That would get you shot in many of the games I play in... seriously! :pimp

cool. so i'm assuming this is especially the case in official casino games?

I would think any casino would make them leave their chips in the pot and then ask them to leave reguardless of the outcome...

It is not allowed to retract the announced bets.

Peter

Definitely, once he said "call" he was committed to putting the chips in. On a side note though, why would you start rejoicing once he said call and tell him you have a monster hand unless he was all in?

he was chip leader and i went all in against him, and i didnt rejoice so much as just grin, which can be either a tell or bluff so it's shouldn't matter.

Just making the motion of moving your chips towards the pot is considered a bet.

You can't "fake 'em out" by putting your stack in and taking it back out even if you don't let go of the chips.

That depends...different houses different rules

Some tables have what we call a "racetrack," which is the betting line. You can move chips up to that line and not past it and it's not considered a call.

Some houses rule, once chips move past your cards...as in front of them...then that's a bet or call. It's wise to find out the rules of the house you're playing in.

Now to answer the OP's question...there is not a casino I have ever played in that "verbal declarations" are not binding...they always are 100% of the time with a few exceptions.

For example:
Player 1: $1,000 FIRST TO ACT
Player 2: $500
Player 3: $2,000

Player 1 - Is thinking about acting, hasn't checked or bet yet.
Player 2 - Acts out of turn and says, I'm all-In.
Player 3 - He cannot now say..."I call." Because player 2 acted out of turn.

The floor steps over and rules that player 1 now has to act.

If player 1 decides to check, player 2 is now all-in because of his verbal declaration.
If player 1 decides to bet $10.00, player 2's all-in declaration is now void because first action was never his.

This keeps players from shooting angles. They see you're about to bet, and decide to declare all-in making you rethink your bet and fold.

Second part to my post.

Once again different rules for different houses.

For example playing $1/$2 at one local casino that has a racetrack, if you hold a $100 stack of redbirds in your hand and move it past the line to cut out a $40 bet, it's a $40 bet.

But at Greenvalley, you take that same stack and move it past the line to cut out a $40 bet, it is now a $100 bet.

In a live game situation, it is wise to almost always declare your intentions so you don't get called for a string raise, or a raise when you intended to call, or a raise in an amount for either less or more than you intended.

The action is to you, just say either, "fold, call, or raise." Once you declare raise, you can now put the "call" portion of the bet out, then cut out the amount you plan on raising, and then move that out there. Better yet, just declare the amount you intend to raise.

String raises are something I see everyday I play live.

For those who don't know what a string raise is, it is when someone for exaple makes a bet of $20, and you plan on raising it to $60. You put out the $20 without saying a word, then go back to your stack for the rest.

In poker, you get only ONE action, unless you declare what that action is. If you say raise in the example I stated above and move out $40 in chips and then you go back for $100 more. You can't, you have now raised them $20 more.

However, if in that same example, someone bets $20 into you, and you say, Raise to $100. You can now put out the $20, and in 4 separate motions bring out $80 more in chips because you declared the amounts.

There are reasons for these rules, if they didn't exist you'd see angle shooting all over the place.

The angle shot you'll see most often is someone with a stack of say $200, you bet $25, and they put out the $25 then move the rest of their stack in without saying anything, hoping others will fold immediately behind them.

You will see other players who planned on calling the $25 now fold, because they think it is now $200 to them. Always ask the dealer..."what's the action dealer?"

Never say..."raise?" Or..."Call?" As in, "is that a raise?" or "Is that a call?" Because just the one word, can now be a verbal declaration.

If they said "call," it's done. They've called.

If they never said "call," but were instead stacking up their chips in front of themselves - even if it was close to the pot, they were under no obligation one way or the other, and it was you who jumped the gun.

If they actually threw chips into the pot (their chips making contct with pot chips) without saying a word, they have to meet the minimum payment due to continue action with them in play... in this case, call you.