Ties & Odd Chips

When the situation arises where a pot needs to be split, such as in a split-pot game or when two or more players tie for the winning hand, it is often the case that there will be an odd chip or chips that will need to be assigned. The conventions for splitting pots and dealing with odd chips are largely taken from the TDA rules. The pertinent sections are General Concepts 20 and 21.

  1. An odd chip is broken down into the smallest denomination in play.
  2. No player may receive more than one off chip.
  3. When two or more hands tie, an odd chip or chips are awarded as follows: a. In games with a button, the first hand clockwise from the button (i.e. “worst position”) gets the odd chip; b. In stud games, the odd chip will be given to the hand with the highest card by suit, where the ordering of suits is spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs; c. In High-Low split games, the high hand receives the odd chip in a split between the high and low hands.

Some split-pot games that are not High-Low in the traditional sense are not explicitly covered in the TDA rules. Here is how odd chips will be assigned:

  • In split games that involve a five-card hand and a four-card hand, the five-card hand is treated as the high hand. Examples of such games include Badacey, Badeucy, Razzdugi, and Action Razzdugi. For instance, an odd chip in Badacey would be awarded to the player with the best A-5 lowball hand, not the best badugi hand.

  • In split pot games that involve a draw hand, where the player uses all five cards in their hand, and an Omaha hand, where the player uses two cards in their hand and three cards from the board, the draw hand is treated as the high hand. Examples of such games include Dramaha, Triple-Draw Dramaha, and Dramaha 49. For instance, an odd chip in Dramaha 49 would be awarded to the player with the best draw point value hand, not the best Omaha high hand.

  • In Sohe (Simultaneous Omaha and Hold’em), where the players split a six-card hand into a four-card part used for Omaha and a two-card part used for Hold’em, the Omaha hand is treated as the high hand.

For any unusual situations that are not explicitly covered, the decision of the tournament floor person would be final. The tournament staff will likely use TDA Recommended Procedure 14 (RP-14), which states that “randomness may be applied to special situations”.