You are the Tournament Director: Does the Best Hand Always Win?

The Situation:
In a PLO final there are six players left. Two players are all in pre-flop with the same number of chips, let’s call them player A and player B. Player A is a well respected local player and player B is generally disliked and a known stroke puller. Player A’s hand is A, K, 7, 8 and player B has A, Q, 7, 8.

The flop came down 10, 10, 10. As the turn card was dealt player B rose from his seat and started shouting, ‘Queen, Queen, Queen’. The turn was a deuce. Player B continued, louder and louder, ‘Queen, Queen, Queen.’ The river card was dealt – it was a queen. The player started shouting ‘Yes, Yes, Yes’ and turned to some friends in the crowd and starting slapping hands and jumping up and down. The dealer pushed the pot to player B and player A got up and left the table.

About an hour later player A was in the bar telling his ‘bad beat’ story when a friend pointed out that he had had the winning hand, three tens with an Ace, King. Player A returns to the final table to find player B now three handed with a big chip lead.

Please comment about what you would say and do...

Matt Savage Matt:
Well obviously I would of loved to of been there to make sure that this didn’t happen and stop this type of thing and in this instance there is nothing you can do, its an hour later and there’s nothing you can do to stop that. You as a player are responsible to protect your own hand and in this instance he didn’t do that. He’s got to realise the fact that it’s Omaha that he had the best hand.

I don’t think that the player has any comeback to the casino. His cards were face up, right? I mean any comeback to the casino? Probably not. Again this is one of those things where you need to protect your hand, I mean obviously I wish I was there because you and I know when those cards come face up we know what’s happening. This guy tried to basically bluff the dealer and got away with it and obviously I would have something harsh to say to this player if this type of thing ever happened in the future you know there will be some penalty issued but it’s a dealer mistake, this is not something you can come back and fix at this point unfortunately.

Thomas Kremser Thomas:
This situation is a result of a dealer mistake, a “tricky” board and the fact that Player B caused confusion. If I am called to the table before the next hand has been dealt and I can verify the hands of both players, I will give the pot to the best hand. Both players made a correct showdown and the best hand shall win the pot. The dealer generally helps to read the hands to determine the winner of the hand but it is always the responsibility of every player to protect his hand at any time. If the dealer misreads a hand he/she/the casino will not be responsible for this. My decision would be that the pot remains with Player B who played several hands till the mistake has been discovered.

Jack Jack:
Unfortunately the player misread the hand. The dealer, floorman and spectators also missed it. If the mistake could have been caught at the time I would have recreated the pot and split it. At the later time there is no way to be fair to everyone involved. Player B could be issued a penalty for bad sportsmanship or enticing player A to throw away his hand.

Liam Flood Liam:
I’ve heard this story before, was he French?
a) Tournament director was wrong because he wasn’t there to rule on it.
b) The dealer should have known it was the winning hand.
You can say nothing or do anything about it as action has taken place since, also it’s up to the player to know what’s the winning hand in any game.

Mel Mel:
Tournament Director should have been paying more attention to the final table Tut-Tut! In Omaha high the 2 highest cards played i.e. the AK. If I had made that mistake I would have felt about 2ft tall. I’m not saying mistakes don’t happen but it’s up to the dealer to also be alert. Not a lot you can do after it has happened.

Marty Wilson Marty:
It’s up to the player to look after his own cards and chips. There’s nothing you can do about it, player B wins the pot as player A conceded. Once the chips have been passed and the dealer shuffled up for the next hand that’s it. Every tournament I direct are 6 handed so I am there for every hand, so it wouldn’t have happened if I were the director.

The Mob Verdict

This is unfortunately a true story. It happened at the Masterclassics of Poker at Holland Casino in Amsterdam a few years ago.

We have several interesting comments from our Tournament Director team but they all agree that players are responsible for their own hands and at that late stage nothing could be done.

Holland Casino has always been one of the Mob’s favourite venues for a number of reasons and we have been going to the MCOP for over ten years. The staff there are always very helpful and friendly and in this instance they actually, even though they didn’t have to, made an ex gratia payment to player A which was a very generous thing to do.

Your cards at the poker table are YOUR responsibility. Protect them at all times and make sure that you know how to read your hand correctly.

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