re opening the betting after an all in in spread limit

[mooredog]

Here in Minnesota no-limit cash games aren't allowed so there is now a lot of spread limit games. In limit an all in only has to be 1/2 of a full raise to re open betting to those who have acted on all the previous betting. In no limit it has to be a full raise to re open the betting. What about spread limit? They play a lot of 2-10, 2-20, and 2-100 here with both rulings used, and sometimes in the same card room depending on supervisor. We would like to use the most common procedure but nobody seems to know what that is.

[Nick C]

moordog,
That's a great question. Years ago that was the main game that we played in Las Vegas. It was stud, but it was spread limit. I believe the best way to determine the legal amount, or required amount or %, if you will, is to always consider the minimum amount in the spread limit as the bring. This bring-in is the legal amount that is recognized on every street. Something to consider when playing spread limit: I remember playing $1 to $5 stud and having the betting capped at $4...Player A bets $1, next Player raises to $2, next $3 and capped at $4. So to answer your question, there is nothing to gauge your raise on except the previous bet. i.e. $2 to $10...Player opens for $6 (a full bet) next player wants to raise but only has $9, he goes all-in...now the question is, does the short all-in reopen the raise to the initial bettor? I would say yes, because it is limit poker I would use the 50% rule. I would also count the short all-in raise as one of the raises if there is a 3 or 4 raise limit. Same situation, only the all-in only has $8...because this is less than 50% of the initial $6 bet, it would not reopen the betting to the initial bettor and (of course) not be considered for a limit on raises.

I hope this helps. If you'd like further discussion let me know and I can do some real serious digging.

[mooredog]

Thanks for the thoughts. We are polling our staff and spread limit players and leaning towards the full raise as a re-opener. Internet research shows poker room policies on this vary by room but all we are after is consistency. We do offer stud and a group of mainly retired folks play 1-5 but so passively all in reraises rarely even happen.

[Brian Vickers]

I've always treated spread limit as a "capped bet" no limit game as far as rules go. 

[Nick C]

I don't know what that means...a capped bet.

I will say to mooredog: what I don't like about the 100% rule is when a player goes all-in for about 90% of the original bet, and it's not enough to reopen. That's the same complaint that I have in no limit. The most simple raise rule by far, for any limit (in my opinion) is the 50% rule, or even a 51% rule that is suggested in R.O.P.E. written by Thomas McGee.