Ruling 12# Asleep at the Table
A player falls asleep at the table due to his medication and cannot be awoken. He is in the big blind, and there has been no raise pre-flop. What should happen?
Kelli’s Ruling
Wow, that must be some heavy medication! In this scenario, the player would be treated the same as someone who walks away from the table after the cards are dealt. Once he does not respond, the dealer should muck his cards and sell the community cards. If the player continues to be unresponsive, the floorperson can rule that the player be treated as absent, meaning don’t even deal the cards to the player. However, most dealers will typically keep selling and mucking the cards in case the sleeper finally wakes up.
