When a Hand Is Not a Hand

When the dealer deals a hand of poker in a tournament, does it always count? During the 2005 World Series of Poker main event, on two occasions, hands were dealt during the break. Once, it happened at my table and benefited me. The other time, it happened at the table behind me. I made notes of both hands and intended to write about both of the decisions. Those notes got stashed away until recently, when I received an e-mail from Russ Holland of Detroit.

Russ saw a decision that he didn't think was correct. He stated, "The decision was so completely botched that it is worth sharing and educating other poker room managers."

Here is how Russ described the situation: "It was the final table of a minitournament. The table had just been given a 10-minute break. Everyone had returned and was seated, and the dealer shuffled up and dealt a hand that had four people go all in, with the chip leader winning the pot. The floorman came over to let the dealer know that it was OK to proceed, as the break time was up, and then he noticed that a hand had already been played and three people were leaving the table."

Here is how I described the two situations that happened during the WSOP:

At the end of the break between levels 13 and 14, the dealer at the table behind mine had started to deal a hand when he wasn't supposed to. With so many tables and so many people in the room, it was tough to know what was going on. In the hand, someone had moved all in and several players had folded. The floorperson came over to that table and made the decision that the hand had to play even though they weren't supposed to be playing and no one else in the tournament was dealing yet.

The next hand was dealt, the player in first position made a raise, and everyone folded to the button. You guessed it; at that point, we realized that no one else was dealing. The floorperson was called over (a different one from the previous situation) and he ruled that the hand was dead even though there was substantial action.

Two different floorpersons made two completely different rulings in the same situation. So, which one was right? In a tournament, all players play according to the same predefined circumstances. The clock starts, and everyone plays. The clock stops, and everyone stops playing. When a hand is dealt outside of that predefined time frame, it cannot count. A hand that is dealt when the clock is stopped simply does not exist.

Let's get back to Russ' story; here is how he explained the decision made:

"The floorman stated that because the official tournament clock hadn't started, the hand didn't count! I was playing live action and couldn't believe my ears. As I was watching it unfold, they actually stopped the tournament clock to pull the chips out of the chip leader's stack to give back to the other players. As they were doing this, I mentioned to the dealer at our table that they should have just run the equivalent amount of time off the tournament clock and let the hand stand. The dealer mentioned this to another floorman, and there was a heated discussion between players, bosses, and the dealer. The floorman then declared that his decision was final."

Based on what I said above, you would think I agree with the decision made in Russ' case, right? The answer is no! Although technically the hand didn't play because the clock wasn't started, this situation was decidedly different. In both of the WSOP decisions, there were several tables remaining in the tournament, and it was important that everyone was playing according to the same clock. In Russ' decision, there was only one table, and everyone at the table had the same advantage/disadvantage as the others.

The end result: There were two wrong decisions and one right decision for the same situation!

Michael O'Malley is the poker room manager for PartyPoker.com and can be reached at rzitup@rzitup.com. His website is updated regularly at https://www.rzitup.com/.