Dealt from wrong deck

jldecarlo · #1 (**permalink**) 07-10-2006, 02:36 PM

A problem from last night's tourney:

About 3 hours in, about 6 players left. On player goes all-in with a single caller. The cards are turned face up and the dealer (me) deals the flop, turn, and river. The winner beging scooping his chips, and then I turn over all of the face up cards (two pairs of down cards, flop, turn, and river) only to realize that I had dealt the community cards with the wrong deck. I usually deal most or all of the hands, and someone had finished shuffling and placed the second deck near me. I put down the cards to count the chips for the all-in, and picked up the wrong deck to resume dealing.

Since the correct deck was sitting undisturbed, and no decisions had been made based upon my misdeal, I decided that it was possible to replay the hand and "make it right." A few people voted for a chop, but most agreed including the two players in the hand. The results of the hand changed, and the new winner went on to win the tourney. The looser busted out almost immediately. He was really very nice about the whole thing, but, of course, I felt terrible.

I think this is the worst dealing mistake I've made in our game, but I think I made a correct call. Any comments?

L

panthershutch15 · #2 (**permalink**) 07-10-2006, 02:41 PM

Happened to use once too a few weeks back.

The person to my right was dealer, when it was time do deal the flop I laid them out in the center of the table, someone bet a small amount and the dealer (involved in the hand) called, before the turn we both realized what had happened, I was wrong by dealing and he was also not paying attention....The 2 agreed to just let the real flop be re-dealt with the correct deck and just ignore what had already happened.

Since the flop had already been dealt in our situation and betting had already taken place, the right thing to do may have been to just chop it and move on, but we are laid back and nobody gets pissed at our game about rules and such (only $10) so we just switched decks and continued without a problem.

I think it's really just a judgement call and if everyone is willing to continue the hand just do that, but if anyone is against it, I would just re-deal or chop the pot and move one...

JM · #3 (**permalink**) 07-10-2006, 03:04 PM

Sounds right to me. The original outcome of the hand was not compromised since all betting was done pre-flop and the correct deck was undisturbed. It would suck to going from thinking you won the all-in to losing it, but the true outcome was not changed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jldecarlo

A problem from last night's tourney:

About 3 hours in, about 6 players left. On player goes all-in with a single caller. The cards are turned face up and the dealer (me) deals the flop, turn, and river. The winner beging scooping his chips, and then I turn over all of the face up cards (two pairs of down cards, flop, turn, and river) only to realize that I had dealt the community cards with the wrong deck. I usually deal most or all of the hands, and someone had finished shuffling and placed the second deck near me. I put down the cards to count the chips for the all-in, and picked up the wrong deck to resume dealing.

Since the correct deck was sitting undisturbed, and no decisions had been made based upon my misdeal, I decided that it was possible to replay the hand and "make it right." A few people voted for a chop, but most agreed including the two players in the hand. The results of the hand changed, and the new winner went on to win the tourney. The looser busted out almost immediately. He was really very nice about the whole thing, but, of course, I felt terrible.

I think this is the worst dealing mistake I've made in our game, but I think I made a correct call. Any comments?

L

Matthew · #4 (**permalink**) 07-10-2006, 04:09 PM

If I read right - all the betting occured pre-flop.

If so, the correct flop, turn and river should have been re-dealt from the correct deck.

If players acted after cards from the "other" deck were flopped - should be a dead hand and everyone (including blinds who may have folded and any antes) should get their chips back and begin a new hand with the same button position.

Captn_All_In · #5 (**permalink**) 07-12-2006, 08:56 AM

This happened one time in our game. Myself (third place) and another guy (fourth place) decided to each deal out of a deck so that we could speed things up and get another game going.

Well it was my turn to deal, betting occurs, I deal the flop, then more betting. Baseball game interupts the action. I turn around to get a drink, turn back and I hear "ALL IN!"... "I CALL!" and I see that I didnt turn this card over the other guy flipped one off of his deck. I start to make the correction by turning over the card and showing the backs. Everyone else now realizes what has happened and the bitching starts. Chip leader has Pocket 3's with a 3 on the board (flop 3 4 10). 2ND in chips has a straight A2 in hand, with the turn (5). I tell them we should redeal the turn and river to make it right. Everyone agrees. Well I deal the turn its a blank, and look at everyone, nobody says anything. The river is also a blank, and again, nobody says anything.

Everything is fine right. Wrong. At the end the chip leader says well that's good for me because I have you covered. We all look around at each other for a second. He says, "Well he did move all in, and I called. His chips are mine."

I say, "Wait a second we redealt the turn card which would have affected his bet and yours. After I dealt it nobody said anything so I dealt the river, and you still didn't say anything. I don't think he would have gone in with a busted straight? Do you?"

Well all hell breaks loose. I was pretty certain it would end up in a fist fight, but luckily it didn't.

It took about 20 minutes to get the guy to somewhat calm down. Even after we agreed to give him the chips that were in the pot before the misdeal he still wasn't happy. So I say to him in as few words as possible: Its my garage. Go home.

I chopped the last of the prize money and sent him on his way. Needless to say I have never called him to come back. The one time he did call me to get into a game I reminded him of the last time, I apologized for the screwed up deal, and said that because there was a possibility it could happen again, he shouldn't come back.

The misdeal was a big mistake, but it didn't need to end up the way it did.

Jambine · #6 (**permalink**) 07-12-2006, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jldecarlo

........I think this is the worst dealing mistake I've made in our game, but I think I made a correct call. Any comments?
L

I think you made the right call in treating this as a “fouled deck” situation. The closest thing I can find to address this is in Roberts Rules under IRREGULARITIES:

#17. If the deck stub gets fouled for some reason, such as the dealer believing the deal is over and dropping the deck, the deal must still be played out, and the deck reconstituted in as fair a way as possible.

I think that last bit confirms you made the right call

ky70 · #7 (**permalink**) 07-12-2006, 03:04 PM

I'm not sure if the correct ruling was made or not...this is also from the irregularities section of Robert Rules v. 7:

3. If a card with a different color back appears during a hand, all action is void and all chips in the pot are returned to the respective bettors. If a card with a different color back is discovered in the stub, all action stands.

Jambine · #8 (**permalink**) 07-12-2006, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ky70

I'm not sure if the correct ruling was made or not...this is also from the irregularities section of Robert Rules v. 7:

3. If a card with a different color back appears during a hand, all action is void and all chips in the pot are returned to the respective bettors. If a card with a different color back is discovered in the stub, all action stands.

That also seems to apply. This could be a question for Bob Ciaffone.