Online Poker House Rules (recent changes in red):
Gundam Poker is a micro-stakes private home game that generates zero house profit. No rake is taken, there is no hourly rate and there are no membership fees. All money wagered goes back to the players. It is a legal home game among friends.
Fair Game
- Robert’s Rules of Poker: In general, Gundam Poker follows Robert’s Rules of Poker.
- No Private Communication/Collusion: It is VERY important that there is no private communication between players during a session. Any private communication disclosing hidden information from the current poker session is considered collusion (one player per hand.) Any strategy discussion (public or private) during a hand about the current hand is considered collusion. All communication between players shall use an agreed upon text, audio and/or video conferencing technology, such that any and all players are able to access the information that is being exchanged between any players at the table. Direct messaging between players is highly discouraged, even if messages do not involve disclosing hidden information. In summary, communication between two or more players should be available for all players to hear.
- No Cheating: No player shall have access another players’ hidden/hole cards when dealt a hand at the same table or in the same tournament. If it feels like you are getting an unfair advantage outside the spirit of the game, then consider it angle-shooting and/or cheating and could result in being banned from the session and/or game.
Entering an Online Game
- Funds must be available: A player must have the funds available in their Gundam account prior being given chips at the table. Both the Gundam Host and the player are responsible for assuring they have the funds available. If a mistake is made and chips are ‘given to’ or ‘taken by’ (in the case of rebuy tournament) a player who does not have the funds available, the Monkey Fund will temporarily cover the buy-in, however, the deficit shall be paid-off by the player before the player can participate in any future sessions and/or tournaments. Player-to-Player transfers are allowed to give, spot (loan) or stake (buy a piece of their profit) another player. However, the Gundam host will not enforce the rules of an agreement between other players and will only remove (i.e. transfer, withdrawal, buy-in, etc.) money from a player’s account when the player of the account explicitly agrees to the removal. Funds are currently deposited/withdrawn using popular electronic payment methods.
- Pick a seat: By default* a player can pick their initial seat. If a player is felted (loss of all chips), they can choose any open seat. If a player wants to change seats once seated, the entire table must agree to the change (this is discouraged due to game interruption.) Seating in a tournament is almost always determined randomly. *There may be exceptions for some games where random seating is enforced.
- Use known Nicknames: Players are to use a known and consistent username at the poker table. This is to help the host identify players because it is a private game.
General Game Formats
- Cash Games (super flexible, but usually not what you see played on TV)
- Chips are worth actual $ value.
- Buy-ins can vary between minimum (20 big blinds, e.g. $5) and maximum (typically 100 or 200 big blinds, e.g. $25)
- Blinds, in general, do not increase.
- Players can sit-in and sit-out whenever they choose and are not charged or blinded-off while sitting out. It is a very flexible format that allows for players to buy-in or cash-out at anytime and sit down as early or late as they desire. They can cash-out and keep whatever $ amount they have at a time of their choosing.
- Tournaments (what is usually shown on TV, but not as flexible)
- Every player buys-in for the same amount (e.g. $20) and is given a set amount of starting chips (starting stack) which do not represent $ values (typically 10,000 in Gundam tournaments) and are independent of tournament buy-in amount.
- There is a set starting time where the tournament starts but often there is a late registration period where players can enter later than starting time. After the late registration period players are not allowed to enter the tournament. Any player can enter during the late registration period (even players who have been knocked out of the tournament.)
- If players sits-out they are still charged blinds. In order for a player to cash-out and win $, they must be among the last group of players (typically 2-4) to lose all their chips.
- The tournament is broken down into levels, and often blinds will increase at each new level. This helps assure the tournament will end after a certain # of levels.
- Re-buy: Some tournaments have re-buy periods (typically going beyond the late registration period), allowing players to buy back into the tournament if they lose their chips. The re-buy amount is almost always the same amount as the initial buy-in. Once the re-buy period ends players can not enter the tournament (similar to late-registration period). There is sometimes a limit set on number of re-buys (e.g. 3).
- Bounty: Some tournaments split the buy-in between bounties and prize-pool. The bounty amount is often immediately* awarded to a player who knocks out another player in the tournament, while the prize-pool is then awarded to the last surviving players. (*In progressive bounties, the bounties are accumulated, rather than instantly awarded. When a player is knocked-out they are awarded a fraction of their accumulated bounty with the remaining fraction going towards the accumulated bounty of the player who knocked them out.)
- Mixed Format Games: In a mixed-game, different poker games are dealt (Hold’em, Omaha, Omaha High/Low, etc.)
- Cash Games: In an on-line mixed cash game, the games are usually rotated after a set amount of time (e.g. 20 minutes). In the Gundam Cash Game, we will try to have Hold’em dealt at the top of the hour (7PM, 8PM, etc.), Omaha High dealt 20 minutes after the hour (7:20PM, 8:20PM, etc.) and Omaha High-Low dealt 40 minutes after the hour (7:40PM, 8:40PM, etc.). This way players who have a favorite game will know when to come back and join the action!
- Tournaments: In an on-line mixed tournament, the games are usually rotated at each level. So the same game is played for an entire level. This also means that blinds are sometimes not increased every level so each game plays with equal stack depths.
Cash Game Buy-Ins and Top-Offs
- Buy-In: A player must buy-in between the minimum buy-in (typically 20bb) up-to the maximum buy-in (typically 100bb or 200bb) or up-to the 2nd largest stack at the table.
- Top-Offs (default): A player may “top-off” or add chips to their stack if any of the 3 conditions are met: (1) If a player’s stack is equal to or less than 1/2 the maximum buy-in (2) if any other player is buying-in, rebuying or topping-off (3) during a break or change of games.
Additional Rules & Reminders
- One-person-per hand: No discussion of the current hand should be made by anyone (including those in the hand) when the hand is not heads-up. When the hand is heads-up, the two players in the hand are allowed to say anything they want, however, no other players or spectators should discuss the current hand.
- Errors: When there is “a glitch”, network connection issue, or mistake that is made by the host, dealer and/or software, the situation will only be rectified if the correction of the error is obvious and resolvable. Most errors will not be able to be resolved and any negative (or positive) consequences remain as-is. Yes, this means that immediate outcomes may seem “unfair”, however, it is expected that over the long-run (infinity) every player will be subjected equal “unfair” outcomes while short-run variance will just have to be tolerated. Basically following the guidelines of Robert’s Rules of Poker.
- Pausing Game: If a player losses connection, there is no obligation to pause the game for the player to re-establish a connection. However, if the host is not in the hand, the host may elect to pause the game unless & until an objection is made by another player at the table, in which the game will be un-paused and continue using the software time-banks. Note: If the host is in the hand and not all other players agree, he/she should NOT pause the action and allow the time-banks to be used as-is. This is to prevent the possibility or appearance of the host angle-shooting.
- No Collusion: No collusion of any kind. This includes chip-dumping, playing soft against particular opponents or speaking privately to other players about the action when both players are at the same table or in the same tournament.
- No Multi-Accounting: A player is only allowed one seat at the table and/or one seat in a tournament.
- Staking a Player: If a player is backing or staking another player, both players should make this known to all the other players at the table.
- No Going-South (aka rat-holing): During a session players must leave their chips on the table if they continue playing. If a player who has left their seat and/or cashed-out decides to re-join the table, they must sit down with at least the amount they cashed-out but greater than the minimum buy-in.
- Sitting a player out: The host may sit a player out of a game for any reason. Typically the reason will be that a player is slowing the play down by not acting promptly when it is their turn. This is typically not a reprimand, but just a solution to keep the game running smoothly.
- Player Removal: The host may remove or ban any player from the game at any time for any reason. Typically the reason will be that a player is “Away” or “Sitting Out” at a full-table, and the seat is desired by another player who is able to play hands promptly and immediately. This is typically not a reprimand, but just a solution to keep the game running smoothly. However, a player may also be removed and/or banned if they are acting outside the spirit of the game by angle-shooting, being abusive, offensive or disruptive (slowing play down or decreasing the enjoyment of others at the table.) If this occurs it could result in banning in future games.
Online Poker Etiquette
- Join with Audio if possible: If at all possible join audio chat. This does not mean you are required to speak (you can mute yourself). But it allows for the best communication when issues arise and is the best way to assure equal access to information to all the players. It also makes the game more social.
- Mute when not speaking: Use the mute key when not speaking, especially if there is significant background noise in your surrounding.
- Do not hold-up game: Do not consistently stall game, either by being distracted or purposefully holding up game. Some delay to prevent timing tells is reasonable, but players should not “tank” too frequently. Use the “Away” or “Sit out” button if you are distracted or think you’ll have a difficult time keeping pace with game.
- Do not admonish or berate players: This is a fun-friendly game. There is no room for berating or admonishing players, unless they truly deserve it.
- Have patience with host: The host makes no money by being the host and often loses money with free-rolls and buying trophies/mugs and hats. The host often has many things they are having to deal with (text questions from other players, updating register, setting games, sending reminders, organizing tournaments, etc.) so please be patient with them.
- RSVP’s are extremely helpful: If you can let the host know whether or not you plan on attending a game, it can be very helpful.