While poker dealers are there to push the pots, police players, and keep the square working, the responsibility ultimately rests with each individual player to protect their hand, and that includes knowing how to read the board.
No one learned this lesson more than Germany’s Pierre Cower, who was at the final table at the World Cup WSOP Circuit Main event at King’s Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic and play for a jackpot of €182,150.
There were five players left in the €1,700 buy-in tournament, and Kawer found himself in possession of J
10
against dominant K. j A player named Lobo.
A board is sold out s
6 j
6, and both players made jacks and sixes using an ace kicker to apparently split the pot. Except that the merchant had not seen the seal, and mistook Cowhert for bankruptcy.
The rest of the table didn’t notice the mistake either, and Kauert took the “loss” in stride, wishing his fellow competitors well before walking off. Incredibly, not even the commentators caught the error, despite the graphics on the live stream.
Watch the hand below, taken from the King’s Casino Twitch stream.
Had someone spoken before the next hand was dealt, the situation would have been resolved and Cower would have taken half the pot. But since it continued to play before anyone realized what had happened, it had to be liquidated.
Said the co-founder of the Union of tournament director and WPT Executive Tour Director Matt Savage on Twitter. The only reason it was discovered is because [was] on stream. tough to see [the] Player, but it’s too late. “
The rule Savage is referring to is TDA rule no. 2, which states in part that “players must … speak up if they see a bug”. In addition, the rule of no. 12 says that “Any player, whether in a hand or not, shall speak if he thinks an error has been made in reading the hands or calculating and awarding the bet.”
while ruling no. Number 13 indicates that “dealers cannot kill the properly placed hand that was clearly the winner”, rule no. Rule 22 clearly states that “the reading of a scheduled hand may be contested until the next hand begins”.
Since no one spoke in time, Kauert had to settle for fifth place and €58,350 (about $63,000).
King’s Casino Poker Director Federico Brunato released a statement saying he wanted to raise awareness about a situation that happens more often than people might realize.
“I would like to point out one of the most important rules of poker – always read your hand,” Brunato wrote. At the end of the day, we are all human and we can all make mistakes. [The dealer] No exception. Although she has dealt with thousands of successful hands in her life, she unfortunately misread this one. However along with [the dealer]Mr. Pierre Couer and all the other competitors sitting at the table misread their hand and which of course is very unfortunate. The hand was supposed to be split and we can now only guess how it will turn out in the course of the main event for Pierre Couer, perhaps now crowned champion with a gold ring, and perhaps eliminated in the next hand. I would like to point out WSOP Rule #76 which states, “The right to contest a hand ends when a new hand begins.” This applies not only to WSOPbut also for all the regular poker games that are being played.”
Savage agreed, saying, “People shut up on the kicker, and I’ve seen things like this often missed by the kicker in question.”
While this was certainly one of the more high-profile incidents of a mishap, it also happened in WSOP The main event.
As stated by poker author Jim McManus in his iconic book Positively Fifth Avenuewhich was detailed in the year 2000 WSOP In the main event, a similar situation occurred between Hassan Habib and Anastasi Lazaro with 14 players remaining.
Habib grabbed A-9 against Lazarou’s A-6, and K-5-5-8-J went down. While fate should have been divided, Lázaro was instead sent to the railroad.
As McManus recalled, “a commotion broke out from all along the rail and Lázaro burst through the crowd and arrived, breathing heavily, on the table. ‘Fate was divided,’ he shouts. ‘Give me my money back!'”
McManus, who was sitting at the table, did not see the seal. Neither the other players, nor the dealer, nor even the tournament director.
“Only Phil Hellmuth, who was sitting and chatting with Andy Glazer two rows behind the action, caught him,” McManus wrote. As Helmut later explained, he “saw the rift coming” and felt he had no choice but to mention it to Lázaro.
Since Lázaro was able to contest the hand before the next hand, he was allowed to return to the tournament. He went on to outlast three other players and take another jump in salary, missing out on 11th place.
