Rules/Ettiquette Question: Marked Card

[marchron]

On Wednesday nights I play a $15 tournament with some buddies of mine. I've been doing it for about two years now. We're not in it for the money — we're either playing for fun or just to improve our skills — so I strongly doubt I got hustled. But this was a very unnerving situation, to say the least, and I'd like to know how to handle it in case it comes up in a more "serious" tourney.

The tourney started at about 10:15 or so, but because of a prior committment I didn't get there until about 10:30. This isn't too unusual, so I get a stack, and post/fold until I show up. Standard.

Anyway, I get there late, and find out I've basically missed a whole round. The hand that just finished was my button, so my first hand being officially dealt in had me sitting in the CO. The cards are dealt and I look down and see A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 10[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. One player limps to me. He's our version of Gus Hansen, known to play lots of pots and try to hit bad hands for cheap. He limps in for t50 and I raise to t400 (we all start with 3000).

Right after I raise, I notice that one of my cards, the Ace, has a small (maybe 1/8- to 1/4-inch) slice near the corner. I inform our host that we'll need a deck change. After calling my raise, my opponent in the hand, in a joking tone, says, "oh, that's the, uhhhhh, Ace of Clubs, right?"

He said this jokingly. However, I haven't been present for the entire tournament up until now, so it's possible that he had that card on a previous hand. But I can't imagine somebody angle-shooting in a $15 tournament, and specifically in the earliest stages, where the payoff of knowing one marked card in the deck may or may not be worth any money at all. I've never known this guy to be shady. And furthermore, he's not an idiot — if he knew that the card I held was the A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] and intended on using that knowledge against me, I can't imagine him just blurting it out like that.

What's my play? Am I allowed to declare a misdeal at this point? Whether it's a coincidence or an angle-shot, should I reveal my hand and just declare it dead? Would this award him the pot?

[mornelth]

I'd call for a mis-deal, and request for a deck change and re-deal.

[Spee]

It happens. I've observed crimped cards at tables that I've played at in live casino tournaments. The crimps had an appearance that made it very clear to me that they were purposely done. I simply pointed them out to the floorperson and asked for a new deck before the hand was dealt.

I don't know what you could do in your situation, since there is no set rule in place. With an opponent calling out your card in the middle of the hand, I would please with the rest of the table to call the hand dead, and redeal. If you couldn't get that to happen, then I would simply finish out the night and then start looking for a new game.

For the future, when I used to play home games, the host would typically buy beer, snacks, cards, etc., and we would rake from pots until the host was paid back. In your case, if it is a regular game, just set a rule that everyone kicks in $5 a night for "overhead." If there is any left over after 3 months or 6 months, then you can throw it into the tournament prize fund for an extra bonus.

[Gary07]

i would declare a misdeal and get a new deck. I don't care if he is joking or not, because when he says the "ace of clubs" you're likely to give off some reaction affirming his "guess."