A dealer error may have played a major role in the outcome of the $500 Colossus at the World Series of Poker this week. In the first hand of heads-up play, Miles German and Justin Smith were battling for $550,000 and the gold bracelet.
German, who sat on the short stack, picked up 8♠8♦ and announced all in for his last 190 million chips. Smith had 585 million chips and looked down at A♠K♥. He made the call for a 400 million-chip pot. He then began packing his bag, apparently in an effort to swing some luck his way and hopefully have his pocket eights hold up.
It wasn’t meant to be, though, as Smith rivered a flush, cementing his victory.
However, social media users later realized the dealer mistakenly dealt to the player on the dealer button first, who was German. If the deal had been correct, the hands would have been reversed and German would have won the 400 million-chip pot.
That would have brought German almost even with Smith, who would have been left with 415 million.
Error Possibly Costs Player A Gold Bracelet
“Call me old fashioned but shouldn’t the button be dealt last?” Nicholas Rigby said on X/Twitter. “Crazy the ‘last’ hand would be reversed and the shorter stack should have doubled in the WSOP Colossus.”
Instead, German collected $367,000 for runner-up and was left considering what might have been. The error could have potentially cost the player from Boca Raton, Florida, $183,000 and a gold bracelet.
From an ICM perspective, the hand was worth nearly $100,000. If German won the hand and the final two players chopped (which can’t happen in a WSOP event), Smith would have received $460,184 and German would have won $456,815.
Watch the hand play out below:
Call me old fashioned but shouldn’t the button be dealt last? 🤯🤯🤯
Crazy the “last” hand would be reversed and the shorter stack should have doubled in the WSOP Colossus pic.twitter.com/IinOnmHjuq
— Rigby (@GTO_Diaper) June 17, 2026
Despite the scenario, this marked the biggest cash of German’s career. He now has $405,998 in tournament winnings. Smith topped a field of 16,269 entries and now has $598,996 in tournament winnings.
Mixed Reactions
The episode resulted in some mixed views among poker players and fans on social media. Some felt the misdeal was not a major issue because the hands were still effectively random.
“I don’t really understand why everyone is making such a big deal about this Colossus dealing error heads up,” poker pro Michael Gagliano noted. “Random cards are random. Let’s just always deal the one seat first. This already happens in all the stud games and it’s not an issue. Why are flop games special; it just causes more unnecessary misdeals?”
David Williams generally agreed with that assertion, adding that nothing could be done once the hand was complete.
Bc people are dumb and results oriented. 3 people should have noticed. Dealer and both players. And how do we know one of the players (or both!) noticed but liked their hand so didn’t speak up. It’s why you can’t do anything after the hand. Also random is random.
— David Williams (@dwpoker) June 17, 2026
Some were astonished at how things played out with a major swing in winnings and how much EV (expected value) changed hands.
unbelievable 200k+ swing cus the cards got dealt to the wrong players sounds like a @larbnosaj post https://t.co/maXJJGwKw3
— Jesse (@d0wnsideofme) June 17, 2026
Sam Greenwood pointed out that mistakes are commonplace at the WSOP and nobody should be shocked.
https://t.co/3LL0DWXBT2 pic.twitter.com/NtYnHOjsfY
— Sam Greenwood (@SamGreenwoodRIO) June 17, 2026
Poker Pro Blames WSOP
English poker player Patrick Leonard said the issue should have been spotted and corrected by WSOP staff. It’s not simply the dealer’s fault.
He pointed out that neither player noticed and didn’t think there’s any game integrity issues at play since the hands were still random.
“For me it’s not (just) a dealer mistake,” he said. “It’s a floor mistake. It’s the first hand of heads-up, I think the floor should always be around to administer and oversee. What else can they be doing at this point? If it’s 60 hands into heads-up and he needs to go get a water or whatever, sure, but [it’s] always strange to me how floors aren’t super present at a final table catching any error, etc.”
Gabriel Ramos rebutted that view with a World Cup reference. He didn’t think it should be necessary for a floor to watch every moment of heads-up play.
“This would be the equivalent of FIFA overseeing referees during or at the start of matches,” he said. “It’s expected that the person put in the position is a seasoned officiant/dealer.”
As of Thursday morning, WSOP officials hadn’t commented on the misdeal.
