A Big Week for Balks at the World Series
It seems that I’ve seen a lot of balking lately. We all saw Cole Hamels’ balk in game 1 of the World Series (obvious balk). Not to mention, there was some ugly umpiring last night in game 2.
If any of you were watching coverage of “the other” World Series this week; the World Series of Poker, you probably saw Brandon Cantu call out his opponent when he balked on the river. His opponent moved a huge stack of chips into the pot and then withdrew them…eventually cutting out a stack of 1.5 million chips.
It looked pretty shady the way that it all went down. I think that if the tournament directors had seen the way it happened they might have used some discretion. Instead, the tournament director ruled that the player’s bet of 1.5 million (the
smaller amount) would stand because the player did not release his
chips.
In some casinos you are allowed to grab a handful of chips, cut out your bet and then bring back the remaining chips. As long as your hand is still on your chips, you can reach back for
more chips and do whatever you want. You are just not allowed to string
bet. Once your hand has released the chips, you can’t go back for more
and you can’t change your bet.
Although a string bet actually refers to a player who goes back for more chips, it’s sort of the same concept, and it looks like the same rules apply. And wouldn’t you know it, someone has already ripped a video of this hand and put it on youtube. Check this vid out…you have to admit that it looks like he wanted to bet that whole stack of chips. You be the judge, is this a balk? leave your comments below.
Related posts:
- Sun Tzu and the Art of Poker
- Protecting Your Chip Position
- Pressing a Small Edge
- Controlling the Pot Size From Early Position
- Pokerstars Thwarting Full Tilt’s World Record Attempt
Categories: Other Poker Topics
