LEAGUE RULES

1. HEAD ADMINISTRATOR AND ADMINISTRATORS. The Head Administrator (HA) and Administrators (Admin) of Canasta Masters will make all decisions for the league based on a voting process. The decisions will be final and not subject to review, unless overturned by the HA. The members from time to time will be given the opportunity to vote on certain items and/or rule changes, however, the final decision to make said changes will be left up to the Admin Team of Canasta Masters and the HA. If you feel there is a matter which needs attention please bring it to the attention of an Admin or the HA. We are open for discussion and will gladly listen to all ideas, suggestions and/or complaints.

2. GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP AND SHOWING COMMON COURTESEY. Please show common courtesy and good sportsmanship to your opponent. You begin each game with Hi and GL, as well as, after each hand you MUST say good hand (gh), or nice hand (nh), or even sorry, or thank you (ty), or good job (gj). We understand that at times you are having a really bad game, however, please remember that playing cards has a lot to do with the luck of the draw and that your opponent is only playing their hand to the best of their ability and is not out to get you. Saying something like gj even if you are losing by 5000 points can serve to relieve an otherwise tense moment. Also you MUST say good game (gg) after the game is over even if the game is lopsided.

3. NO HARASSING, DISRESPECTING, FIGHTING OR ARGUING. Any member harassing, disrespecting, fighting or arguing with a staff member or members or just people in the lobby will result in being boxed or removed from the league. This includes harassing members in the lobby, game rooms, or in instant messages. Members causing disruptions in tourneys or in the lobby that prevent staff from carrying out their responsibilities will also result in being boxed or removed from the league. If you have a problem with someone please take it private. If you are not able to resolve the issue please contact an Admin or put that person on ignore. Anyone found to be changing names in order to come into the lobby and cause a disturbance will be boxed the same as if in league name. It is the person, not the id that is a member. If a member withdraws to violate a league rules(s) and rejoins the league, they will be boxed. Remember that SL3 is our home but is also a public lobby and other people have the right to talk in our lobby and we have no control over what they say or do. The best approached is to not respond and place them on ignore.

4. NO PROFANITY, ABUSE OR HARRASSMENT. Profanity will not be tolerated nor will abuse or harassment of fellow players, TDs, HTDs or ADMINS. Anyone using profanity in our lobby, at our tables or in ims to another member will be given one warning. The second time the member will be boxed or removed from the league depending on the severity. Please remember that we are a league based on a family atmosphere and not everyone finds swearing appropriate. Please remember that SL3 is our home, however it is a public lobby. If you find that someone that is not in our league is using inappropriate language remember we have no control over these people. We have found it is best to ignore them, so please use your profanity filter or ignore button if you feel offended.

5. LEAGUE NAMES AND SEXUALLY EXPLICIT TALK. League names are not to contain profanity or sexually explicit content. If your league name is found to be in violation of Case's rules, you will be asked to change it to a more appropriate name. Masters is a family oriented league and based on that we asked that you refrain from sexually explicit talk in the lobby, our tables or in ims. Anyone using sexually explicit talk will be given one warning. This rule applies also when making team names for doubles. The second time the member will be boxed or removed from the league depending on the severity.

6. NO FORCE FORFEITING. Force forfeiting is not allowed. If you have to end a game and only after the TD has ok'd it, always click Quit and Cancel.
Force forfeiting will be handled as follows:
1st Offense Warning
2nd Offense Box 3 days
3rd Offense Box 10 days
4th Offense Box 30 days
5th Offense Kicked from league
Due to the new Yahoo there are times that a player is booted and it appears that it was a force forfeit because the ratings change. If a player is booted and the ratings change they will be placed on a 10 minute timer. If they return before the 10 minutes, the TD will take the scores from before the boot and have the players to continue playing and add the scores each hand until someone reaches 5,000 or whatever the end of the game is. When this occurs the players are to show good sportsmanship to one another as the fault of the boot was not either parties fault, but that of Yahoo.

7. BE RIGHT BACKS (BRB). You are only allowed 2 BRBs on the 3rd BRB you will be dq'ed from the tourney. You are allowed up to a total combined time of 10 minutes (i.e if you use 7 min on the first brb you only have 3 min left of brb’s or timer to use). A player should enter the time they leave on a BRB and if it is the 1st or 2nd BRB, i.e. 1st brb 900, b 903. All BRB time used will be added to the time clock of the game if necessary.

8 MIA RULE AND SUBBING RULE:
1. Single elimination: 10 minutes and no subs allowed
2. One Handers: 5 minutes and no subs allowed
3. Doubles:
A. If, at the beginning of the game, a player is MIA, the TD will give that player 5 minutes to get back to the table before getting a SUB. If a player sits in for doubles at the BEGINNING OF THE GAME for a MIA player after the 5 minute timer is up, the player who is subbing for the MIA player will be allowed to finish that round unless they want to relinquish their seat to the original MIA player. If the player is missing at the beginning of the game the 5 minute timer will be set from the posted game start time in the lobby.
B. During the game if a player goes MIA a sub will be gotten right away. There will be NO waiting period if the player goes MIA during the game. lf the MIA player returns then the SUB will be required to stand and allow the ORIGINAL DOUBLES PLAYER to sit and continue with their game. When the player returns the td will stop the timer and announce how many minutes has been used.
4. BOTH PLAYERS MIA: When both players are MIA and they both time out the win goes to the upper bracket, then on the next round that player gets an automatic loss even if they are back.

9. NUMBER OF TOURNEYS AT ONE TIME. You are not allowed to be in more than 2 full games at one time, except for after midnight. You may be in a one-hander when you are in 2 full games, but you must be able to keep up. If you can't handle this then you may not be allowed to play in a one-hander when in 2 full games. If you are caught in 3 full tourneys you will be dq'ed from the last one you joined. (You may obtain permission from admin to be in 3 full tourneys at a time, however if must be in your player card prior to you joining a 3rd tourney and you must be able to keep up or it will be revoked)
NUMBER OF TOURNEYS AFTER MIDNIGHT. You are allowed to be in 3 full games at one time after midnight till 7:00 am if you can keep up. Please limit your games to 2 if you are in the midnight doubles.

10. 3800 RULE
3800 Point Rule - In both single and doubles games with either a dq or missing player(s), subs will finish the game out if present player (s) score is 3800 or more. All games with a score less than 3800 will be cancelled. (Doubles games that result in BOTH players MIA and timed out will require TWO subs.) In the case of a dq the non dqing player/team must have the high score over 3800 to continue. Missing player(s) will be timed out before sub finishes game

11. DQ'ED FROM TOURNEY.
1. A DQ is a DQ and game is canceled except when the 3800 rule applies (see rule #10). If you DQ and your Ops score is 3800 or better they may choose to continue game.
2. If you or your partner are disqualified for any reason the score will be your opponent 5000 you 0 unless the 3800 rule applies if it is the team that is losing. This goes for any 2v2, 3v3, 4v4 and so on.
3. If for some reason your partner is boxed while you are playing doubles you may get a p providing they are being boxed for actions that did not occur during your dbles game.

12. DOUBLES NO TABLE TALK OR OUTSIDE COMMUNICATION WITH YOUR PARTNER. When you are in a doubles tourney no matter what you will not instant message your partner, discuss the game at table, phone your partner or have any other communication with your partner about the game you are playing other than gh/gg, out p; anything that could affect how the hand is played is considered table talking. If the TD feels that someone has table talked they will issue a warning. If the player continues to table talk then the team will be disqualified. If you are found having outside communication it is considered cheating, see rule #12 for cheating consequences. The only tourney you are allowed to use instant message or other forms of communication is in the Cheaters Doubles.

13. Cheating.Cheating of any kind is absolutely not tolerated. If you are caught cheating (i.e. talking in IM during doubles, talking on phone/headset or any other form of outside communication, typing your cards at a table, using a cheat program, etc etc,) you will be immediately boxed for 30 days (for td’s they will also be removed as a td immediately). Your 2nd offense, you will be kicked from the league and banned from returning. This is a very serious offense and will never be tolerated. Keep in mind if you are on the receiving end of an IM or outside communication from your partner during a game, it is up to you to be honest and go to the td about it, to protect your reputation, credibility and character.

14. SLOW PLAY. For slow play you will only get 2 warnings on the 3rd time you will be dq'ed. Slow play is considered to be not making a move for 60 seconds, and starts with your opponent discard, to your complete play (draw, meld and discard).

15. TIME LIMIT TO MAKE TABLE AFTER PAIRINGS. When pairings are called in lobby the top bracket invites lower bracket then has choice of seat. In a tourney players are expected to watch the lobby for pairings. After 3 minutes, second call is announced by the TD and the lower bracket may invite the upper bracket and have seat of choice. If pairings have to be spammed a 3rd time, a timer will be started on both players. After 10 minutes the top bracket gets the win then on the next round this player will get an automatic loss even if back in the lobby.
A. TIMING OUT IN DE AND SWISS: If a player times out in a round they auto lose the next round in a de(double elimination) and on swiss you need to take that player out for the reminder of the tourney.

16. TIME LIMTS FOR GAMES:
One-Handed Games 15 Minutes
Singles 40 Minutes
Doubles 60 Minutes
Speed 20 Minutes
All games will be called at the hand ending nearest the end of the time limit. If the game is not over the highest score wins the game.

17. KIBITZ.
Please keep kibitz off at ALL time and keep them off the duration of the game. (The rule will be exempt from the games that kibitz has to be on)
There will be times when you are in a doubles when you are asked to turn your kibitz on. Only Admins are allowed to do a random kibitz. Failure to comply with the Admins request could result in your team being dq'ed from the tourney.

18. PLAYING LEAGUE GAME. When playing a league game if you go MIA for 10 minutes then you time out and the opponent gets the win. It is your responsibility to report the loss. If you do not report the loss you are subject to being boxed or removed from the league depending on how many times this has happened. You have 4 hours to report a loss this includes a loss in challenges, however we do prefer they be reported immediately.

19. MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS AND MORE THAN ONE MEMBER PER HOUSEHOLD. Multiple accounts are not allowed in Masters. If you have 2 or more names in Masters please remove all but 1. If you are found having multiple accounts you could be kicked immediately. If there is more than one member in your household please let an Admin know so that your account won't be kicked for duplicates. Members of the same household/FAMILY (Family members or members of the same household - this is boyfriend/girlfriend (if live together), room mates, husband/wife, brothers/sisters, aunts/uncles, neices/nephews etc CAN NOT under any circumstances P up whether you are in the same place or 1700 miles away from each other.) may not partner in doubles except for Cheaters Doubles. They may partner in games such as a 2x2, 3x3 etc.

21. STARTING AND ENDING GAME. Please do not invite the TD until pairings are posted in the lobby. Please wait for the TD to get to the table before starting your game. Do not leave the table until the TD has said gg. They must be able to see the score and verify the win. Both parties are to stay at the table until the TD has said GG. Repeated violations of this rule could be punished by boxing.

22. RESTARTS: Restarts can only be done for the following reasons:
The table was made wrong
The rules posted at the table were wrong.
Even if it's the first hand and both parties agree, restarts are not allowed.

23. BOOTS: As a result of yahoo and how it boots players we do not dq players for a certain number of boots. When a player is booted the TD will put the player on timer. If the player is booted again the times mia will be added. At 10 minutes mia total they will be dq’d. Players please invite the TD when a player is booted for a timer.

24. PURPOSELY DQ'ING: Purposely DQ'ing from a tourney is a boxable offense and you will be boxed for this show of poor sportsmanship without warning.

25: STAFF: TD's and HTD's of Masters may be Td's or Htd's of other leagues. If you are an ADMIN IN MASTERS you MAY NOT be a staff member or owner of another Canasta league. If you are Admin or Owner of another CANASTA league you may not be a staff member of Masters. We feel if you are admin, that league is where your time and efforts belong.

26: GIVING WIN: If you are giving win during the middle of a round, you must leave lobby for 1 hour. You may give win in between rounds, however you must play the first round per Cases rules.

27: FORMAL CHALLENGES: When a formal challenge is given you have 5 days to play it out. The top seed gets a choice of either the seat or the name of the game. Not both. You have 4 hours to report a loss in challenges, however we do prefer they be reported immediately. You do not need a td at the table. If you play in a tourney and play against each other that goes toward the challenge and is taken care of. Days between formal challenge by same users is 7 days.