Hi all,
I run a 18 player points league that plays 8 events over 8 months with the league championship at the end. This past weekend we played a league favorite, a NLHE Short Handed Shootout.
With three tables going, I was at the main table when I was called over to make a ruling at an outer table in another room.
This is what I was able to recreate from dealer/ player accounts. Playing 6 handed. Pre-flop, action is folded to the cutoff who pushes all in. Button folds, small blind takes a minute and then says "take it" and mucks his cards. Original raiser in the cutoff mucks her hand thinking the hand was over. The dealer, obviously running on auto-pilot, pulls those hands into the muck. Meanwhile the Big Blind, who had yet to act, protests saying "whoa whoa what happened? it's my action!" He then throws his cards into the muck, thinking since he had the last live hand on the table the pot is his. He never declared his intent to call or fold though he claimed to have AJ.
To make matters far worse, the dealer takes the entire muck and stacks it neatly in front of him is if about to shuffle a new hand.
Of course this is when I get called for a decision to be made on a table that looks like it's getting ready to deal a hand yet there are chips in the middle. Beautiful.
I obviously cannot pull the all in or big blind hand out the deck.
At this point what to I do?
Can I declare a misdeal? I don't think I can with action pending, even though there is really only one action from the cutoff's all in.
Do I award the pot to the cutoff player since her action was never answered?
Do I award the pot to the big blind since he was technically the last player with cards at the end of the hand?
Thanks!