Misdeals and Irregularities
During the DealIf a card is exposed during the deal, or a card is found face up in the deck during the deal, a misdeal is declared. The same dealer deals again.
Wrong Number of Cards
If ONE player has one too few, or one too many cards after play has begun, the option is on the opponent. They can choose to have the hand redealt, or they can allow the player to "correct" his hand. This would involve drawing additional cards from the stockpile, or discarding extra cards to create a hand of ten cards.
Once a hand is corrected, that player cannot immediately knock. He must wait until after the opponent has taken their turn before he can knock.
If BOTH players have the an incorrect number of cards in their hands, play stops and the hand must be redealt.
Exposed Cards
There is no penalty to a player for exposing a card in their hand.
If a card appears face up in the stock pile, it is shuffled back into the deck.
If a player accidentally exposes extra cards during a draw (to himself usually), those cards are placed to the side face up. The non-offender can then choose from them as he would choose from the discard pile. Once the non-offender passes over those exposed cards and takes a card from the stock pile, the offender is free to choose from them on their turn. Once the offender passes over them to choose from the stock pile, those cards are shuffled back into the stock pile.
Illegal Knock
If player knocks without having less than 10 points, and exactly 10 cards, it is an illegal knock.
If the player has the wrong amount of cards, the opponent can demand a new deal. Or, they may require the player to correct their hand. After correcting the hand, if the knocker qualifies for knocking legally, he may do so.
If the player had too many points to knock legally, the opponent may require him to play out his hand exposed. Additionally, he must knock when getting below 10.
The opponent of an illegal knocker may decide to accept the knock as legal, provided his own point count is 10 or less. In this case, the opponent is also allowed to lay off in order to reach 10 or below. They will, of course, be undercutting the knocker.
Looking Through the Discard Pile
According to Hoyle, if both players agree before the game, they will be allowed to look through the discard pile during the game. The World Series of Gin Tournament Rules are silent on this issue.
