Ethics and Rules Revisited

by Mike O Malley | Published: Feb 28, 2003

I received several e-mails and compliments about my Jan. 3 column regarding ethics and rules. I was surprised that every response I received was positive, and supported the idea that it is every player's responsibility to ensure that the pot is awarded to the best "tabled" hand.

One e-mail I received particularly caught my attention. Dan Lovegren described a situation that happened in a game he was playing, and then gave some advice about things to do as a player in this situation.

Here is his story:

It's a $30-$60 hold'em game and the pot is approximately $1,000. Two players tie, but one of them is distracted by his "sweater" and doesn't notice until after the chips have been pushed to and stacked by the other player that he hadn't been given his half of the pot.

Other players support the distracted player's claim. The floorwoman comes over, and a request is made to review the tape for the hand. The floorwoman agrees, advises that it will take a little while, and instructs the dealer to resume the game.

A few hands later, the floorwoman returns and advises that, yes indeed, there was a mistake, and it showed up on the tape.

Here comes the good part.

The announcement by the floorwoman was directed at the player to whom the full pot was awarded - that is, the player who was awarded more money than he was entitled to receive. That player replied (and I am paraphrasing, as I don't recall his exact words), "Fine. The dealer made a mistake. But it's my money now, and it is the casino's responsibility to make good!"

The floorwoman then walked away, causing much speculation at the table that there was no way the casino would pay, that security would probably be called to throw the guy out, that he would be barred, and so on.

But, indeed, the floorwoman returned and paid the distracted player with money from the cage! The player who received the errant pot was not harassed or escorted out (which, I concluded after much thought, was the right thing to do).

Two lessons were learned here:

1. Never be afraid to insist on having the "eye in the sky" review a hand. Not only is it in your best interest to do so, it is also in the casino's best interest. To avoid the problem of having to determine who should pay if there is a mistake, the pot should be placed in "escrow" until the dispute is settled.

2. Always protect your hand. I have never been a floorperson, but I think the player who had been distracted was at fault for not waiting until he was pushed his share of the pot. He failed to protect his hand, so "tough luck."

Thanks, Dan, for the great story. In my opinion, a few things went wrong here.

Obviously, the player who was distracted should have paid attention long enough to collect his part of the pot. Had he done so, the problem never would have happened. But players do get distracted, and he had a right to get what was his. I don't agree with your "tough luck" theory on this one.

The floorwoman who was called to the game should have taken the entire amount of the pot and placed it in "escrow" while she looked at the tape. It is possible that the player who held the chips would not have released them to her anyway, but getting those chips is often easier before there is a decision.

As for the casino paying the money, that is a nice thing to do and shows appreciation for the player. But, I question why a poker room would want to set itself up to have to pay in all situations. This situation was clear-cut. The player who mistakenly received the entire pot was given chips that were not his. He should have been told that he had to give them up, and if he didn't, the cardroom could have taken action either by calling gaming control (who can oftentimes talk a player into giving money back) or expelling the player from the cardroom. If a situation like this comes down to expulsion, the manager can decide whether to pay the player who was robbed of his half of the pot.

Dan left me with a final thought from which I think every poker player can learn. He said: "I know I would have trouble sleeping at night if I were to win in such a manner." Me too, Dan.