Strange rules???

[maddo]

Playing a freezeout in my small local casino last night the following action took place:

Approx 8 players remaining on final table.
Blinds 400/800 no antes.
UTG moves in for just 900.
2 callers.
I'm in SB with 88 and I want to raise.

Dealer says I can't because the original raise is an under-raise, and that I can only call or fold. I questioned it but he says that it's the rule in all the cardrooms he has worked in and even called the floor over confirm the ruling.

This just feels wrong. Is it?

Fair enough, if someone already makes a legit raise and then a short stacked player makes an under-raise all-in for a bit more, I would agree that I would be unable to reraise - but that didn't happen here.

They do have other rules which don't seem to mirror the rest of the poker world.

E.g.

(1) Sometimes you have to actually say 'raise' to raise - moving multiple chips over the line doesn't count, even if you silently push your whole stack in.

(2) I got to heads-up and was totally confused every hand because they decided that the BB has the button HU.

(3) The dealer was happy for a player to take his own change from the pot immediately after they had made a bet, even though players behind him were still to act. The dealer adds the chips to the pot as soon as a bet is made which is just great when you're trying to work out who has bet how much - and can get very painful when there's raises and reraises.

And, FWIW, this casino is owned by Stanley Casinos, a company whose website says "Stanley Casinos is Britain's biggest casino operator with venues throughout the country."