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You are the Tournament Director Series 2: We Should Check This Out

In a No Limit Hold-em tournament a player holding 9, 9 moves all-in for about 500 chips. They are called by two players each of who have about 1,500 chips in total.

They both check the flop and before the turn card is dealt one of them says, 'I think we should check this out'. The other one says 'OK' and they both expose their hands.

The all-in player protests but the dealer goes ahead and deals the turn and river cards. The nines were in front but the river is a queen, making one of the other players a bigger pair.

At this point you are called to the table.

This actually happened at the WSOP. The player with the pocket 9’s was Vicky Coren.

Danny McDonagh Danny
Hand plays out – time penalty to the other two players at end of hand.

Thomas Kremser Thomas
I would give the pot to the pair of Queens. Both players will be warned and will have to face a time penalty.

Matt Savage Matt
Easy one for me, both players receive a penalty and unfortunately Vicky is eliminated. My first penalty is generally 10 minutes but in this case I would go straight to 20 as I feel this is a severe infraction.

Roy Houghton Roy
I knew you were genna bring this up! Either the turn of the river's going to bring a higher card. If I'm called over to the table in that situation I'm afraid there's not a lot I can do. I do call it collusion and I would say to the players so, if you do it again you're out of the game. Joe - I think the two hands should be dead - Roy - it's very hard to make that ruling because you can't make them bet. I would say to the players if it ever happens again i'll deal you out of the game.

Luke Ivory Luke
Exposing their hands in this situation is obvious collusion and I would kill both exposed hands and enforce a time penalty to both the relevant players. It is bad enough to say ‘Let’s check it out’ but to further expose their hands is to make a mockery of the game.

Mel Judah Mel
I would have declared the hands dead of both players who exposed their cards. I would have given a penalty with a further warning because that is collusion and Vicky Coren would have got the whole pot.

Mob Verdict

We agree with Luke and with Mel. This is as clear a case of collusion as possible. Giving a time penalty is of no help to the victim in this case and does not serve natural justice. Had the players said nothing and checked it out then there would have been little Vicky or a TD could have done but by agreeing verbally to do so and then turning their cards over it is a strong enough offence to rule both hands dead and to award Vicky the pot.

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