Revised Seven-Deuce rules

These rules supersede the previously published rules.

* The Seven-Deuce game is on by default for the midweek Hold'em game. It is optional at any other time.
* Any player may opt out of playing. They would not owe anything if losing to 7-2 nor would they win anything if they win with 7-2.
* It is not necessary to have unanimous participation for the game to proceed. If there is not unanimous participation it is the individual player's responsibility to know who is or is not playing. In accordance with the "one player per hand" rule no one else may assist a player asking if an opponent is playing 7-2 while in the middle of the hand. If a player asks his opponent directly the opponent may answer with whatever response he wishes regardless of its accuracy.
* In order to win the Seven-Deuce game, a player must show hole cards consisting of a Seven and a Deuce (off-suit or suited) and be the sole winner of the main pot.
* Any player who played their cards in the same hand that 7-2 was shown owes the bounty to the player holding 7-2.
* The bounty for scooping a pot with 7-2 is $2 from each person.
* Winning an uncontested pot with 7-2 due to the rest of the table folding qualifies as winning the hand.
* The procedure for a 7-2 hand is the following: After all betting action has completed, if a player with 7-2 qualifies for the bounty and shows the hand to the table then every player who is playing the 7-2 game and took action in the hand puts the the $2 bounty in front of them. The dealer will sweep the bounty chips to the winner(s) first then award the pot. Do not throw the chips or splash the pot with the 7-2 bounties.

[The rule below is effective as of January 10, 2011]
* If a player loses to a 7-2 hand they owe no more than the balance of their stack at the end of the hand. In other words, a player who ends up with .25 to $2.00 after losing to 7-2 just owes the rest of their stack - they will not need to go in to pocket or owe any of a rebuy. If a player completely busts out to 7-2 they owe nothing.

Seven-Deuce game payoff in split pots

This topic has come up multiple times recently so let's hash it out. Given that a person winning a pot outright and showing 7-2 gets $2 from each player, the question is how much a person holding 7-2 should be paid when the pot ends up being split. I believe the amounts and rationales on the table are listed below.

$0 - The player did not "win," they tied so they deserve nothing.
$1 - The player only won half of the pot (in a two way chop at least) so they should only get half the bounty.
$2 - The player did not lose any of the pot so they deserve to get the full bounty amount.

There are also fringe cases of two or more players winning with 7-2 and/or chopping with other players not player 7-2.

Do we also want to stipulate that at least one of the cards must play? That would prevent 7-2 from collecting a bounty when everyone is playing the board.