I was reading about this crazy cash-game ruling at the WSOP where the first player in a four-way pot threw his cards into the muck face-up after the river was dealt with the obvious intention to fold, but then jokingly said "I'm all-in" and was held to the all-in call for $7K in a pot of a few hundred (as his cards were still technically live) by the floor. Subsequently, a player with the second nuts called, and received the $7K windfall. This seemed, at least to me, such a blatantly unfair ruling, given that it was obvious that he was joking and that there was no intent to call. On the other hand, you can see what happens when floorpeople are inclined to blindly go "by the book", and there were some observers who of course simply responded that the player who was joking around "deserved it".
This got me to thinking though of some other situations in tournament play where you just know that the player in question did not intend to do something, but you might feel obliged to rule "by the book" anyways. Some TDs recommend always ruling "by the book" while others feel that a player's intention is paramount and that Rule 1 should be freely applied. Here is a very common situation that I think fits into this "intent" or "by the book" discussion, and would be curious to know how others would deal with this situation:
You are called to the table. Blinds are 25/50. Player A has raised from UTG to 125. Player B threw in (without verbal) a 25 chip and what he claims to have thought as a 100 chip, but was actually a 500 chip, which like the 100 chip is dark in color. He claims he intended only to call the 125, not raise to 525.
a) What do you rule?
b) Do you rule differently if you know that Player B has a history of playing angles with this type of move?
c) Do you rule differently if the mistaken raise was different and a more significant amount, e.g. the player mistook a 1000 chips or a 5000 chip for the 100 chip? Assume that the colors are such that it is not surprising that players are mixing up the denominations. Does it matter if the raise would or would not be a significant portion of Player B's stack?
d) Would the situation be any different if Player B was the first to act (Player A folded), and put out two chips, but indicated after that he meant to raise only to 125, and not 525/1025/5025?