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You are the Tournament Director Series 5: Only One Player At The Table

I was playing in a big live tournament in Dublin and my table was broken up near the bubble. I was given a new table and seat number but on arrival I found that the table was empty and that I may have been given an incorrect ticket.

I sat at the table for a several minutes until the bubble burst and then called the TD over and asked if anyone else was coming to the table.

It was suggested that I had pulled a stroke to make the money but I only did as instructed by the TD.

The player who just busted on the bubble saw this and objected.

How would you rule?

Jack Effel
The TD made an error by issuing the wrong seat card, but the player should have immediately got the TD’s attention as soon as he realized there were not any players at his table. Typically, new tables are not opened that far into a tournament. But more importantly, the TD should have been tracking every bust out that close to the bubble and this probably would have never happened. My ruling would be to disqualify the player who went to the empty table, remove his chips from play, and pay him last place prize money from the house. This was an error made by the TD (employee of the house), and the other players should not be punished for it. The rest of the tournament should play out as it stands.

Thomas Kremser
A fair decision can only be made with the full facts of the situation. Did the player sit down on an empty table with no dealer? He knew that it can’t be right and that a mistake happened. Tournament chips must always be in play and in this situation they weren’t. It would have been his responsibility to inform the floor manager right away and get a new table and seat. It looks to me that he clearly took advantage of the situation but it is also a mistake by the floor manager. There is nothing that you can do at this point and I would treat the situation the same as if a player is dodging the blinds when a table breaks. He would lose blinds and antes that he would have to pay if he took his correct seat right away. Because it is a special situation I would also give him a penalty as it was clearly unfair and he took advantage of the situation.

David Lamb
The minimum action has to be a one round penalty for missing the blinds. The responsibility to make the TD aware of the error shifted to you as soon as you saw or heard another hand being played. The TD did not instruct you to take unfair advantage of a mistake with the seat cards. The real question for me is: Do I allow you to continue and be in the money risk–free If I was convinced you could hear and see the hand for hand process and did nothing, I would feel justified in disqualifying you and having you split last place money with the player eliminated as the bubble.

David Luzago
The player has the obligation to report the mistake to the tournament direction to be remedied as soon as possible. Failure in doing it deliberately for own purposes may incur on a sanction, including disqualification from the tournament.

Matt Savage
Several minutes is how long? I would be objecting also as the TD and would likely penalize you if you did not make it known about your situation sooner. It is definitely the tournament staff’s fault as well for giving you the wrong card and then worse for not noticing you were sitting at an empty table.

Thomas Lamatsch
Very curious situation and never heard this before. In respect to my colleague this should not be happen! Especially when we are playing for the Bubble, tournament has to be played hand by hand, TD has to check the remaining players to prevent any mistake!

And the player didn’t make any mistake, he sat down, waiting for a decision and for the bubble, but I can’t penalize a player for taking advantage of a TDs mistake! I would give him a warning and a penalty, because of not playing fair, but Bubble won’t change.

JP McCann
I find it hard to believe that any player can honestly think they should be seated at a table that has no dealer and no other players. In tournament poker, players moving from a broken table fill in the empty seats on the other tables, they don’t make new tables.

I also find it strange that he waited until the bubble was burst to inform the TD that he had been given a wrong seat card. Assuming the tournament was playing “Hand for Hand” the player would have also heard the TD making announcements instructing the dealers to deal.

I would strongly suspect that the player knew what was happening almost immediately and intentionally decided not to say anything until the bubble was burst. I would give him a 2 round time penalty. If the blinds and antes were at such a level that he would be eliminated during this time penalty I would deem him to be knocked out and I would split the lowest prize money between him and the player who went out on the bubble.

FIDPA (The International Poker Rules) Ruling (Marcel Luske)
I see the word CONVINIOUS is missing in your explanation when you were sitting waiting several minutes on that empty table until the bubble burst .;)

It appears your statement is clear , you were waiting UNTIL the bubble burst first and then called the TD !

Even when it was at first NOT intentional, the following up clearly was and that was not very sporting was it ? I can imagine that the player in question did not have a big chipstack him/herself and so used the opportunity to avoid getting back in action asap.

3.4 The sport of poker relies on the integrity of an individual to play in a fair manner and to abide by the policies, procedures, and rules of the tournament. Players should conduct themselves in a disciplined manner, demonstrating sportsmanlike behavior at all times.

45.1 A player must go directly to their new seating assignment as to not miss a hand.

4.1 Players are responsible to report any errors, discrepancies or violations that promote an unfair game.

5.1 Poker is an individual game. Actions, statements and/or behaviors that compromise the fairness of the game, whether knowingly or unknowingly, are considered unethical play and unsportsmanlike behavior.

5.2 Tournament Directors and Floor People will penalize any player who acts in an unethical manner.

9.1 A player will receive a penalty when they, knowingly or unknowingly, violate a rule that compromises the fairness of the game. Actions, statements and/or behavior that may take advantage of the procedures or technical rules of a fair game will incur a penalty. All infractions shall be brought to the immediate attention of the dealer before the start of the 'new deal'.

2.2The “tournament staff” has the sole authority to resolve the situation in the fairest manner. On occasion, unusual circumstances may arise that could dictate decisions in the interest of fairness and will take priority over the technical rules. The decision of the highest authority in the room will be final.

That is clearly not allowed and can not be accepted or bring any disadvantage to other remaining players that are still in the event!

This case should be penalised with disqualification of the dodging player because the player him/herself was using the opportunity to stay out of the tournament to make sure he/she was in the monney avoiding being back into any fair competition!

David Flusfeder (IFP – International federation of Poker)
The TD is the ultimate arbiter, but even God can’t undo His mistakes. Our friend here is in the money.
 

Mob Verdict

Two things happened here. Firstly the TD made a mistake. Secondly - and this is pretty clear from the wording of the question - the player took deliberate and unfair advantage of that mistake against the interests of every other player in the tournament. Nearly all the TDs are in agreement about this and it is not surprising, given what an unusual situation it is, that they offer a range of penalties and solutions. The harshness of the penalty is a function of the extent to which this was deliberate cheating and Thomas Kremser is right to say that the full facts are needed for a fair decision. Our verdict is based on the reasonable conclusion that the player deliberately waited for the bubble to burst before bringing his situation to the TDs attention. Under these circumstances Jack Effel is not being overzealous in suggesting all his chips should be removed from play. However, bearing in mind that the situation was created by an error for which the TD bears responsibility, we think - if the TD judges it be proportionate - then it should also be open to him to take the approach suggested by JP Macann. We are in agreement with David Lamb that the minimum sanction would be a one round penalty and the maximum would be disqualification. And as JP Macann says, if the penalty removes all the players chips then they should be deemed to have gone out before the bubble. In this case we would in one respect go further than the TDs here: We would not split the lowest prize between the offender and the last player out. We would simply deem the offender to have gone out on the bubble and award the prize in full to the player who has just gone out.

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