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.dojmt.gov/gaming. 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.

History: 23-5-115, MCA; IMP, 23-5-115, 23-5-311, MCA; EMERG, NEW, 1990 MAR p. 286, Eff. 2/9/90; AMD, 1991 MAR p. 196, Eff. 2/15/91; AMD, 1991 MAR p. 1942, Eff. 10/18/91; AMD, 1993 MAR p. 2786, Eff. 11/25/93; AMD, 1994 MAR p. 2834, Eff. 10/28/94; AMD, 1997 MAR p. 404, Eff. 2/25/97; AMD, 2013 MAR p. 1606, Eff. 10/1/13; AMD, 2014 MAR p. 1505, Eff. 7/11/14.