Delawarepark.com House Rules

In order to promote integrity, fairness, and security, these House Rules will govern game play on the delawarepark.com website and mobile application (“delawarepark.com”), and all players will be required to adhere to the provisions contained herein.  Players must at all times comply with the delawarepark.com End-User License Agreement.  In the event of any conflict between these House Rules and End-User License Agreement, the End-User License Agreement shall take precedence.

Age Limit and Physical Location Eligibility
In order to play for real money on delawarepark.com, players must be at least 21 years of age, and physically located in the State of Delaware.  Players may be required to upload verification documents to confirm their eligibility. For more information please see the End-User License Agreement.        

Wagering Limits

Cash games
The wagering limits for each cash game table, including the size of the blinds (forced initial bets), appear in the delawarepark.com poker client lobby.  When players join a cash game, they may sit down with any amount that is between the minimum and maximum buy-in designated for that table, with the funds being deducted from their cashier balance.  Players may leave cash game tables at any time, with their remaining funds being transferred back to their cashier balance.  In Fixed Limit games, players may only bet designated amounts in each betting round.  In No Limit games, players can bet as many of their chips as they wish during any betting round.  In Pot Limit games, player may bet any amount up to the size of the current pot.  During game play, players may only wager the chips they have in front of them at the beginning of a hand.  For example, if a player starts a hand with $15 in chips, while each of his opponents have $100, the player may only wager up to the $15 with which he began the hand.  Accordingly, he is only eligible to win $15 from each of his opponents during the hand.

Tournaments
In tournament poker, players pay a designated entry fee and receive tournament chips, which have no cash value and cannot be removed from play.  The structure of each tournament – including the maximum number of entrants, the rate of blind escalation, and the payout structure – is shown in the tournament lobby.  The tournament ends when one player has accumulated all of the chips in play. When a player loses all of his chips, he is knocked out of the tournament (unless the structure of the tournament allows eliminated players to re-enter.)  If two or more players are eliminated in the same hand, the player(s) who began the hand with fewer chips will be deemed to have been eliminated first, for the purpose of calculating payouts. 

Fees: Rake and Tournament Entry Fees
There are fees associated with participating in real-money poker games on delawarepark.com.  The fee for participating in cash games is known as the “rake”, and consists of a small percentage of each pot that is retained by the house. The rake is determined by many factors including the game stakes, the size of the pot, and the number of players who are dealt into a hand.  No rake is taken from a hand that ends during the first round of betting (before the flop.) The rake schedule can be found here.

The fees for participating in tournaments on delawarepark.com are fixed amounts shown in the tournament lobby and buy-in screen of each tournament.  The total cost to enter a tournament is typically presented in the form of “$A + $B”, where $A is the entry fee that goes into the prize pool, and $B is the fee that is retained by the house.

Tournament Play
In order to ensure that all players continuously participate in tournament play and do not sit by while other players knock each other out of the tournament,  blinds and ante will be deducted from players who do not play their hand which may result in a player being “blinded out”. 

Split Pots
We reserve the right to cancel any tournament that is announced, registering, or in a pending state.

Tournaments that are in progress that require cancellation due to a variety of possible factors (server issues, widespread connection problems, power outage, ISP network issues etc.) will be cancelled, and a player who has been eliminated prior to the cancellation of such tournament will not be refunded any amounts in relation to such tournament.

Players who were not eliminated at time of cancellation will: (i) be refunded any Buy-in, knock out fees, rebuys and add-ons which they have purchased in relation to the cancelled tournament; and (ii) share equally (regardless of a player's chip count) the higher of (a) the Buy-ins, applicable knock out fees, rebuys and add-ons purchased by those who have been eliminated prior to the cancellation of the tournament; or (b) the guaranteed prize pool less the amounts distributed in (i).

Notwithstanding the paragraph above, in the event that a tournament is cancelled while still in progress, delawarepark.com reserves the right at its sole discretion to refund players who were not eliminated from the tournament at its time of cancellation (including without limitation those players on a Final Table who have reached an agreement to distribute the prize pool between themselves as detailed below) using a formula based on: (i) a player's chip count; (ii) the prize pool structure; and (iii) the prize pool actually collected from players or the guaranteed prize pool.

For the avoidance of doubt,  in the event that late registration is still open after tournament has begun or the tournament has not materially progressed and such tournament is cancelled, delawarepark.com reserves the right not to refund to players still in the tournament any shortfall  between the prize pool actually collected from players and the guaranteed prize pool.

In such circumstances, players who were not eliminated from the tournament will be refunded within the next couple of days following the tournament's cancellation.

Late Registration
The Late Registration feature permits a player to enter and start playing in select poker tournaments after the first hand has been dealt and during the late registration period set for such tournaments. This feature will not be available once there are three players or less in an applicable poker tournament, regardless of the late registration time period set for the poker tournament.

Multi-Tabling
To keep the pace of play at an enjoyable level, players will be limited to playing a maximum of ten (10) cash game tables at any time.  There is no maximum on the number of tournaments in which a player can play concurrently.

“Sit Out” Feature
The “Sit Out” feature is only intended for use in order to take short breaks between extended periods of play during “ring” games. It is not intended for use while no play is taking place at the table, or for waiting on players to join or leave the table. delawarepark.com reserves the right, at our discretion, to take action against players using the "Sit Out" feature excessively. Players who repeatedly abuse the "Sit Out" may have their accounts terminated and delawarepark.com may withhold any funds that are present in such account.

Time Limits
To keep the pace of play at an enjoyable level, a time limit applies to every player action.  A warning will be given as the player’s time runs down – if no action is taken before time expires, his hand will be automatically folded, and he will forfeit any amount that he has contributed to the pot. Certain tables may be designated as “turbo” or “hyper-turbo” tables and will operate on shorter time limits to accommodate players who enjoy a faster pace of play.

Log- Out and Lock Features
If no keyboard key is pressed by the player and the mouse is not moved or clicked by the player for a period of 15 minutes, the delawarepark.com client will attempt to log-out such player and prompt the player to enter his user name and password. In such case a warning pop-up with a 60 seconds countdown will be displayed after 9 minutes to allow the player to click the “I’m Back” button  and avoid being logged out by the client.

A player may also manually lock the delawarepark.com client by accessing the ‘Lock Session’ option which can be found under ‘My Profile’ in the delawarepark.com client menu. The manual locking of the delawarepark.com client by a player will close all his active tables and such player will not be able to take a seat at any table and play whilst the delawarepark.com client is manually locked.

Time Bank
A “time bank” is an additional limited reservoir of time that can be activated by the player for difficult decisions by clicking on the “Time Bank” button.  Players also have the option to have their time bank automatically activated when their normal time to act expires via the game settings.  If a player has configured the time bank to be automatically activated, it will only be used in hands where the player has voluntarily invested money in the pot (this includes posting blinds out of turn).  Posting blinds when it is the player’s turn to post them will not be considered a voluntary investment of money in the pot.  Players who fail to act before their time bank expires will have their hand automatically folded.

All-In Players
A player who wagers all of his available chips is considered “all in.” An all-in player is always eligible to win the “main pot”, which consists of the amount wagered by the all-in player plus the amount of his contribution that was matched by other players in a hand.

A “side pot” will be created for the players that continue to wager in the hand after the all-in player is no longer able to make or match further bets. Depending on the respective chip stacks of the players, a number of side pots may be created in a single poker hand each time a subsequent player is all-in.
For example, assume there are three players: A, B, and C, who have $100, $120, and $200, respectively, at the beginning of the hand. Player A makes an all-in bet for $100, Player B moves all-in as well for $120, and Player C calls.  The “main pot” will be $300 (consisting of $100 from each player), and will be contested between all 3 players.  A “side pot” of $40 ($20 from Player B and $20 from Player C) will also be formed, but will only be contested between Players B and C, because Player A was all-in for $100 and did not contribute to the side pot. In other words, even if Player A has the best hand among the three of them, only players B and C are eligible to win the $40 side pot. If Player B or C has the best hand among the three players, he would win both the main pot and the side pot (because, unlike Player A, he had contributed to each).

Player Disconnection Policy
If a player is disconnected due to a reason specific to that player for example, server issues affecting only that player or some of the players, disconnection resulting from the player’s hardware or telecommunication services used by the player, or if the location verification service we employ identifies the player as being located outside of the State of Delaware),  the server may automatically attempt to reestablish connection to the player. 

If the connection cannot be reestablished in a suitable amount of time, for ring games:

if the player has not made a bet when it is such player’s turn to act, he will automatically check;

if another player has made a bet, and a call is required when it is the player’s turn to act, his hand will be automatically folded.  A player’s hand will not be treated as ‘all-in’ due to a player connection problem. Before any automatic action is taken, the player’s time bank (if any) will be activated.

If the connection cannot be reestablished in a suitable amount of time, then for tournaments which are in progress, the player will continue to play the blinds and such blinds will be deducted from the player until the player is “blinded out.” In the event that server resumes connection before the player is “blinded out”, the player will automatically be reconnected to the tournament and can continue to play in such tournament.

Server Outage Policy

In the unlikely scenario that a delawarepark.com server experiences an unexpected outage and such outage affects all players playing a ring game or tournament:

Cash games will roll back to their status before the hand then in progress (interrupted due to the outage) as though it was never dealt;

Players who are disconnected in the middle of a cash game will be automatically refunded the funds they contributed to the pot in the interrupted hand, and their balance at the table will be returned to their Cashier balance;

Tournaments that are in progress will be cancelled and the prize pool will be divided evenly among all the players that are still in the tournament.  Players who busted from the tournament prior to the connectivity issue would remain unaffected, and be ineligible for any prize.

Auto-Muck Losing Hand
If a player is participating in a showdown, and his hand is ranked lower than an already revealed hand, the player can opt to not show his losing hand to the other participants at the table.  To enable this feature, the player must check the “Auto-Muck Losing Hand” box. In a multi-way pot at showdown, any player’s hand that wins any portion of the pot will automatically be revealed to the other participants at the table. If a player wins a hand by virtue of everyone else folding, he will have the option to choose "Show Hand" or "Muck."

Collusion
Collusion occurs when two or more players at a poker table attempt to gain an unfair advantage by sharing knowledge of their cards or other information. Collusion is prohibited and we use a variety of methods to detect play that appears questionable or suspicious. More information can be found in delawarepark.com's End User License Agreement.

Fair Play
delawarepark.com reserves the right to terminate the account of any player it deems to be violating these House Rules, the End-User License Agreement, Internet Lottery Regulations, or any State or Federal law, and to take any action, as specified in the End-User License Agreement and as permitted by law or regulation, to address incidents requiring intervention.

Rat-Holing
delawarepark.com considers it unethical for a player to leave a cash game table, only to return to the table shortly thereafter with less than the amount he had left with (known as “rat-holing”). If a player attempts to join a table that he vacated less than 30 minutes prior, he will be required to bring to the table an amount equal to or greater than what he left with.

Table Etiquette

Slow Play
Maintaining a reasonable pace of play is the responsibility of all players. Players should aim to play at the same pace as other players at the table.

In-turn Checkboxes
Players can expedite gameplay by using the in-turn checkboxes to choose their action (e.g. check, fold, etc) before it is their turn to act.  The selected action will be automatically taken when it is the player’s turn.

Chat
We strive to create an enjoyable experience for all players and may censor language we deem inappropriate.  Players may not use offensive, abusive, defamatory, insulting, harassing, inflammatory, sexually explicit, or derogatory language, or language that includes expressions of bigotry, racism, hatred or profanity.  Use of such language may result in a player having his chat privileges revoked.

In-Game Commentary
Players must refrain from using the chat feature to comment on hands, either concluded or then-in-progress. This includes, but is not limited to, providing strategy advice, sharing cards, or identifying potential bluffs.

Multi Table Tournaments - Final Table Deal

In some multi-table tournaments, players who reach the Final Table may reach an agreement to distribute the prize pool between themselves on the basis of the Independent Chip Model ("ICM"- a mathematical model used to calculate to each player’s probable payout according to his/her stack size and the tournament prize pool distribution table) and not as detailed in the applicable payout table. How much of the prize pool is distributed on the basis of the ICM will be at our discretion and we may set aside up to 5% of the prize pool for the winner of the tournament.

On reaching the Final Table, all players will be presented with a “Discuss a Deal” checkbox. If all players check this box, tournament play will be paused and a deal screen will be displayed with the proposed new prize pool distribution. If all players agree to the proposed new prize pool distribution, the prize pool will be distributed between the players as such subject to the Tournament Cancellation Policy and Server Outage Policy. However, if one or more of the players then declines the new prize pool distribution or the time allotted to players to accept such distribution expires, tournament play will resume on the basis of the prize pool distribution in the original payout table.

Please Note: If any player on the Final Table is using software which does not support the “Final Table Deal” feature, then no deal can take place and the prize pool distribution will be as detailed in the original payout table.

BLAST Tournament

Players participating in a BLAST Tournament must not discuss or reach any type of agreement with regards to the distribution of the prize pool between themselves.

If the prize pool displayed for a BLAST Tournament differs in the tournament lobby, within the tournament table and the amount presented following the prize pool draw, the prize pool displayed in the tournament table shall govern.

Following the hand in which the countdown clock reaches zero, all subsequent hand(s) will be played “all-in” by the players until there is a single winner.

 

Prize Award Policy

Players will not receive fractions of a cent. In all instances where a player's winnings include a fraction of a cent, deleawarepark.com will round down such player's winnings to the nearest cent. So, for example if you win $4.096, you will receive $4.09.

 

Good luck, and enjoy the tables!

 

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