Tennessee’s Premier Poker League Since 2005

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"Poker is a fighting game, a game in which each player tries to get the better of every other player and does so by fair means or foul so long as he obeys the rules of the game... It probably began as a war game; that is, the representation of a miniature battle between the forces of two kingdoms."

~Karl Meninger (1893-1990), U.S. psychologist, "Love Against Hate" (1942)

UPT Event Rules

Updated 9/1/8

GENERAL RULES:

Ø UPT Events are free of charge. There is no cover charge, drink minimum or entry fee.

Ø UPT reserves the right to qualify or disqualify any person before, during, or after any Tournament.

Ø UPT reserves the right to refuse entry into any tournament.

Ø UPT may disqualify any participant for any prize based upon fraud, dishonesty, violation of promotional rules or other misconduct whether or not related to this promotion.

Ø Must be at least 21 years of age to participate.

Ø All employees of UPT are eligible to play.

Ø Individuals who are excluded from casino facilities are not eligible to participate.

Ø Participants agree to consume alcohol in moderation and acknowledge that they WIILL be removed from the tournament if they are unfit to play.

Ø Event times are approximate. UPT reserves the right to change event times due to unforeseen or extenuating circumstances.

Ø UPT is not liable for injuries or losses arising or resulting from participation in the promotion and is not liable for any acts or omissions by employees, whether negligent or willful.

Ø Prizes are non-transferable.

Ø Entries will be retained for record keeping purposes in accordance with local legal requirements.

Ø Participants agree to allow UPT the unconditional use of their name and likeness for promotions, advertising and announcements without compensation, consideration, notice, review, or consent.

Ø All decisions regarding the interpretation of rules, eligibility, etc. for this promotion lie solely with UPT.

Ø By participating in this promotion, participants agree to the rules.

Ø A copy of these rules and any changes will be available at our website, eshuffle.com, throughout the duration of this promotion.

Ø GENERAL TOURNAMENT RULES:

Ø The Tournament Directors are to consider the best interest of the game and fairness as the top priority in the decision-making process. Unusual circumstances can, on occasion, dictate that the technical interpretation of the rules be ignored in the interest of fairness.

Ø Poker is an individual (not a team) game. Players are obligated to protect the other players in the tournament at all times. Players, whether in the hand or not, may not: 1) Disclose contents of live or folded hands 2.) Advise or criticize play before the action is complete 3.) Read a hand that hasn’t been tabled. Discussing cards discarded, hand possibilities or advising a player how to play a hand is not allowed. A penalty WILL be given for discussion of hands during play. Any action intended to help another player is unethical and is prohibited.

Ø The one-player-to-a-hand rule will be enforced.

Ø No written or mechanical aides are allowed.

Ø Cards must remain on the table and be visible if you are in the hand.

Ø A player may not use a cellular phone, text-messaging device, or other communication device at the table.

Ø All disputes must be settled before the shuffle of the next hand.

Ø Any player who directs any profane and/or abusive language at another player, dealer or tournament staff member or who makes any profane and/or abusive comments about another player, dealer or tournament staff member will be penalized. In particular, the use of the so-called "f-bomb" and "c-bomb" as well as derivatives of those and similarly offensive terms, will subject the offending player to penalties if they are directed at or refer to another player, dealer, staff member, patron or official of UPT or the hosting location. In UPT's sole and absolute discretion, it may impose at any time a zero-tolerance policy for profane language whether directed at another person or not.

Ø A penalty MAY be invoked if a card(s) goes off the table, if soft-play occurs, or similar incidents take place. Penalties WILL be invoked in cases of abuse, disruptive behavior, or similar incidents.

Ø Verbally disclosing the contents of your hand may result in a penalty. Verbal declarations as to the content of a player's hand are not binding; however at management's discretion, any player deliberately miscalling his hand may be penalized.

Ø A player may not show any cards during a hand. A player who exposes his cards during the play may incur a penalty, but will not have his hand killed.

Ø Repeated etiquette violations will result in penalties. Examples include unnecessarily touching other players cards or chips, delay of the game, and excessive chatter. Players are required to act in turn.

Ø Penalties available for use by the Tournament Directors are verbal warnings, 10, 20, 30, and 40 minutes away from the table and may be used with discretion. These may be utilized up to and including disqualification. A player who is disqualified shall have his chips removed from play.

Ø Verbal declarations in turn are binding. Action out of turn may be binding.

Ø Deliberately acting out of turn will not be tolerated. A player who checks out of turn may not bet or raise on the next turn to act. An action or verbal declaration out of turn may be ruled binding if there is no bet, call, or raise by an intervening player acting after the infraction has been committed.

Ø No communication, either verbal or visual, will be permitted between players and spectators.

Ø The official Tournament language is English; no conversation in any other language is permitted.

Ø There will be no foreign chips on the table except for a maximum of one card cap.

Ø Players will be required to keep their cards above the table at all times. Players holding cards must remain seated during the round.

Ø All chips must be visibly displayed at all times. Players may not have tournament chips in their pockets at any time. A player who has chips in his pocket will forfeit the chips. The forfeited chips will be taken out of play from the tournament.

Ø Players must keep their highest denomination chips visible at all times.

Ø Players must act with their highest appropriate denomination chips. Example… Do not call a 100 bet with 4 whites... use 2 reds or 1 blue.

Ø A single oversized chip will be considered a call if the player does not announce a raise. To make a raise with a single oversized chip a verbal declaration must be made before the chip hits the table surface. If a player puts an oversized chip into the pot and states raise but does not state the amount, the raise will be the maximum allowable up to the size of that chip. After the flop, an initial bet of a single oversized chip without comment will constitute the size of the bet.

Ø The minimum amount of a raise must be the amount of the previous raise, not the amount of the previous bet. If the blinds are 100 and 200 and the opener raises to 600. If the next player wants to raise, then the minimum raise is now TO 1,000. Because the previous raise was 400. The minimum re-raise must now be 400.

Ø In no-limit or pot-limit a raise must be made by (1) placing the full amount in the pot in one motion; or (2) verbally declaring the full amount prior to the initial placement of chips into the pot; or (3) verbally declaring “raise” prior to the placement of the amount to call into the pot and then completing the action with one additional motion. No string bets allowed. When raising, a player must either put the amount of the raise out in one motion or state the raise amount. If the raise is unannounced then the raise must be made in one motion. If the raise is announced but no amount is announced - I raise - then the amount of the raise must be in one motion. If both the raise and the amount are announced - I raise 600 - then the player can make several motions to put chips into the pot.

Ø Dealers will be responsible for calling string raises.

Ø If a player puts in a raise of 50 percent or more of the previous bet, he will be required to make a full raise. The raise will be exactly the minimum raise allowed.

Ø Players are entitled to be informed of the pot size in pot-limit games only. Dealers will not count the pot in limit and no-limit games.

Ø A player who declares all-in, then discovers one or more chips were hidden, is not entitled to benefit by that concealment.

Ø Players facing no action after the flop may not fold. With no action pending after the flop, the only options are to check or bet.

Ø Once a reasonable amount of time has passed and a clock is called for, a player will be a maximum of one minute to make a decision. There will be a 10-second countdown. If a player has not acted on his hand by the time the countdown is over, the hand will be dead. A Tournament Director must be summoned to activate the clock.

Ø TOURNAMENT PROCEDURE:

Ø By participating in any Tournament, participant agrees to abide by the rules and behave in a courteous manner.

Ø Players must be present to register.

Ø The sign-up sheets for the Tournament will include the player’s first and last name.

Ø Seats are assigned at random.

Ø The Seating chart will be made available 5 minutes before the Tournament begins.

Ø Players registering after seats have been assigned will take seats as soon as the Tournament Director can seat them.

Ø Any modification made to Tournament table assignments must be made by Tournament Staff. Any other changes will be considered fraudulent and are grounds for DISQUALIFICATION.

Ø Only active players or working UPT Staff are allowed to be seated at tournament tables.

Ø “Railbirds” are expected to act in a courteous manner and will not “Hover” around the tables. “Railbirds” will remain at least three feet away from the table. “Railbirds” will not speak while a hand is in play.

Ø The Tournament Director will ensure each table has an equal amount of players before the start of the Tournament.

Ø All tournaments will begin promptly at the scheduled time.

Ø Each player will receive 3,000 tournament chips.

Ø The button will be positioned at Seat 1 to start play.

Ø Participants must listen to the Tournament Director for instructions.

Ø Play will not begin until the Tournament Director announces “Shuffle up & deal”.

Ø If the tournament is full we will accept alternates. “Full” depends on the venue.

Ø “Alternates” may enter as seats become available. Alternates will not have blinds removed.

Ø Late Registration will be available and will not terminate until 30 minutes have elapsed.

Ø Players registering after the tournament has begun will be treated as “Late Entrants” and will have blinds removed.

Ø When a Late entrant is seated they will lose chips 25 tournament chips for each 5 minute interval elapsed.

Ø Limits and blinds are raised at regularly scheduled intervals. (See Tournament Structure)

Ø If the signal sounding the end of a round goes off, new blinds will apply on the next hand. A hand begins with the first riffle of the shuffle.

Ø Pay attention to the hand if you are in it.

Ø Dealers must “hold” the deck while dealing… do not deal from the table.

Ø Dealers will place the deck on the table when not dealing. Do not “fiddle” with the deck.

Ø Dealers will not “burn” cards until it is time.

Ø Mucked cards will be placed under the dealer button.

Ø Dealers will not “stack” the muck.

Ø Do not turn over mucked cards.

Ø Do not splash the pot.

Ø Do not act out of turn.

Ø No rabbit hunting is allowed. Rabbit hunting is seeing what cards would have come had the hand played to conclusion.

Ø It is the player’s responsibility to communicate his/her desired action to the dealer.

Ø Players must remain at the table if they still have action pending on a hand.

Ø Players may not request deck changes, unless there is a damaged card.

Ø A person who must leave a running tournament will be treated as "sitting out". Tournament participants "sitting out" are blinded and anted off and are dealt cards. The chips of a player "sitting out" will not be taken out of play or surrendered in any fashion other than being "blinded off" until we reach the points. A player that is being blinded off when we reach the points will be removed from the tournament and have their chips removed from play. A player will finish out of the points if they leave and do not return in time for the points to kick in.<