Every rule of poker started as a fresh idea, usually cooked up in a hurry to take care of a problem. I can imagine the birth of some of the great rules of poker:
- “Hey! Quit that! No fair telling him what to do!”
And the “one player to a hand” rule was born.
- “You tight-asses have no gamble in you whatsoever. Either we figure out a way to loosen this game up, or I’m taking my easy money and going home.”
And the ante was born.
- “Hey guys. Guess what. Because no one has folded during this entire hand, we aren’t going to have enough cards for everybody to get seven. What do we do now?”
And the “community card” was born, which later grew up to become hold’em.
Rules are meant to be made up. If it’s just me and you playing, then we have no choice but to adjust or interpret the rules at the time of each disagreement, or invent new ones. If there’s a group of us, the same thing happens, as self-appointed committees and chairmen come up with ways to improve the conditions of contest. Many times I have been accused in casual gaming situations of making up the rules as I go, and I’m like, you’re right. And you’re welcome.
There is no higher human authority than when someone who has been granted authority by us is acting on that authority. In this way, every floorman is the Supreme Court. When the floorman comes to your table and makes a ruling, whatever he says is the correct ruling. If you get the feeling that he’s making up the rules on the spot, well, somebody has to. That’s the rule of rules. And we agreed it would be the floorman. That’s the rule of authority.
