Administrative Rules of Montana › Department 23 - JUSTICE › Chapter 23.16 - GAMBLING CONTROL DIVISION › Subchapter 23.16.12 - Poker and Other Card Games › Rule 23.16.1201 - DEFINITIONS

Current through Register Vol. 13, July 5, 2024
As used throughout this subchapter, the following definitions
				  apply:
(1) "Ante" means the amount of
				money or chips each player places into the pot before the first deal of each
				game.
(2) "Authority reference"
				means the Official Montana Poker Rulebook (version 2014) and Scarne's
				Encyclopedia of Card Games, copyright 1983, by John Scarne, pages 18 through
				276. These books will be used by the department as the authority on how to play
				authorized card games. The authority references are adopted and incorporated by
				reference; copies of Scarne's Encyclopedia of Card Games may be obtained from
				local bookstores and copies of the Official Montana Poker Rulebook may be
				obtained from the Gambling Control Division web site www.doj.mt.gov/gaming
				[File Link Not Available]. The sections of the books cited as authority will
				not apply where there is a conflict with state law or department
				rule.
(3) "Banking game" means a
				game where there is a fund against which everyone has the right to bet, the
				bank taking all that is lost by the bettors and paying all that is won. The
				test of such a game is whether the banker pays winnings and suffers losses. The
				game is not a banking game where the players bet against each other and settle
				with each other. Games in which any portion of the games includes betting
				against a fund are considered banking games.
(4) "Blind bet" means the money a player
				places into the pot before looking at his or her cards.
(5) "To burn a card" means to discard a card
				from the top of the deck and place it face down on the table according to house
				rules.
(6) "Card room contractor"
				means a person licensed by the department to operate one or more live card game
				tables on an operator's premises.
(7) "Card table" or "live card game table"
				means a table licensed by the department on which no more than one authorized
				card game is played at a time.
(8)
				"Dead card or hand" means a card or hand ruled out of play and ineligible to
				win any part of the pot.
(9)
				"Fouled hand" means a hand that either has an improper number of cards or has
				come in contact with discards.
(10)
				"Game" means a period in a session of play, from which emerges a
				winner(s).
(11) "Hand" means the
				cards dealt to or drawn by a player or the period of time in poker between
				dealing of the cards and winning of the pot.
(12) "House player" means any person who has
				a financial relationship with a dealer or an operator including, but not
				limited to, shills, proposition players, employees, or independent
				contractors.
(13) "Operator" means
				an individual licensed to conduct public gambling pursuant to Title 23, chapter
				5, MCA.
(14) "Player" means a
				natural person participating in a live card game specifically authorized in
				Title 23, chapter 5, MCA, and described by these rules.
(15) "Poker" means a card game played by at
				least two players who bet against each other and settle with each other and not
				against the house. Poker is dealt by one dealer on a card table. A player bets
				on the card (hand) the player holds. There may be an initial ante round and/or
				blind bet by the players. After the players receive their starting card, there
				are one or more betting rounds. After all the dealing of cards and betting has
				occurred for a pot and there are two or more players still in contention, there
				is a showdown based on a maximum of five cards. The object of the game is for a
				player to win the pot either by making a bet no other player is willing to
				match or by having the best hand as described in these rules.
(16) "Pot" means all the bets placed by the
				players collected together.
(17)
				"Rake" means a set fee or percentage of the pot assessed by an operator for
				providing the services of a dealer, table, and location for public
				play.
(18) "Showdown" means the
				hands shown by all players remaining in the game.
(19) "Table stakes" means the amount of chips
				or cash in front of the player prior to the beginning of a hand.
23-5-115,
					 MCA; IMP,
					 23-5-115,
					 23-5-311,
					 MCA;