Am I stuck with just a min-raise here?
 

1-2NL max 100 buy-in at a FL dawg track. I'm making a note about a cooler of a hand from 3 hands ago when I come to in the CO with 2 black kings. I announce raise and throw in 12, not realizing UTG limped, UTG+1 raised to 12 and MP called. So if I had actually been paying attention and not steaming I woulda popped to 30ish. Dealer stops the action, points out the raise ahead of me and said the raise is to 18. I asked if I was permitted to raise to more than the minimum and was told I was stuck with the min raise. Standard? At that moment I was like Donnie in The Big Lebowski, completely clueless, so I didn't push the issue.

To add a results-oriented footnote an Ace flopped and the two players in front of me shoved and called so I released saving me $12-15 which I was generous enough to donate to someone else on the next hand.

Re: Am I stuck with just a min-raise here?
 

You can raise to anything you want. You announced raise, then put in the call. This is a common way of executing a raise. It allows you two motions - the first to put in the call, and the second to put in the raise.

BTW, the minimum raise would be to $22 anyway, not $18. The first raise was a $10 raise from $2 to $12.

Re: Am I stuck with just a min-raise here?
 

[ QUOTE ]
BTW, the minimum raise would be to $22 anyway, not $18. The first raise was a $10 raise from $2 to $12.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks, I forgot to add this bit of puzzlement in too. I'm re-thinking how/when I make table notes 'cause I was completely distracted when I checked my hole cards.

Re: Am I stuck with just a min-raise here?
 

kak answered it right. I wanted to add this. In the future make sure you know what's going on before you throw chips in there and get forced into only the minimum raise. IE: Player made it 12 to go in front of you and you say RAISE and toss out 15. You are now relegated to the minimum raise. If you don't throw out at least enough for a minimum raise, you can only make the minimum raise (without stating your action first).

Re: Am I stuck with just a min-raise here?
 

If you have KK, you might want to take a break from your notes. Second point, know the house rules. Third, you should be allowed to raise whatever you want and if there's a problem call the floor. In many cases the dealer is wrong. But it's your bad if you allow the action to continue.

Re: Am I stuck with just a min-raise here?
 

That's why if I hadn't been paying attention I like to survey the table or ask who's in the hand.

Re: Am I stuck with just a min-raise here?
 

If you threw 2 $5 chips and 2 $1 chips, you might have been locked into the min-raise since the dealer thought you had put half of the amount of the call on top of the call for a forced minraise in some casinos (since he obv thought the raise was $6 when he told you to raise to $18, incorrectly).

Re: Am I stuck with just a min-raise here?
 

[x] dealer is an idiot

Re: Am I stuck with just a min-raise here?
 

You're probably going to be stuck with a min raise. From your post it seems the dealer made two mistakes. One, they didn't announce raise loudly and clearly enough for you to hear it (or perhaps you really weren't paying attention). Second, with 1-2 blinds if the first raise was to $12 the min-raise is to $22.

Re: Am I stuck with just a min-raise here?
 

Is it possible that the initial raise was to 10? Then it would have to be a min-raise to 18.