Sorry for the title, but that's what this felt like. Pretty sure I know what the "technical" ruling should have been and I know what I did, but neither one felt like the right call.
Here we go:
I walk up to a table to what appears to be a 3-way all-in. Players A, B, and C have their cards face up in front of themselves. Player A has $85 past the line, player B has $25 past the line with another $130 or so in his stack behind the line, player C has $25 past the line with another $150 or so in his stack behind the line. As I'm walking up the dealer is putting out the turn and river. Player A (shortest stack) has a flush, Player B (2nd shortest stack) has missed higher flush draw, and Player C has a set. The dealer takes the $85 from B and C and pushes this along with the pot to Player A. She then mucks the cards and starts to wash the deck... Player C says "don't I get the side pot?" Player B says "I never went all-in, I just called the $85". Player C says "but I went all-in..."
I jump in and ask the dealer "was this a 3-way all-in?" She says "I thought it was..."
From talking to the dealer and players, it turns out the action went like this:
Flop comes out, Player A checks, Player B bet $25, Player C called $25, Player A check-raises all-in for $85, Player B says “call”, Player C says “all-in”, then they all flipped up their cards and the dealer ran out the board. At no time did Player B say “call” after C’s all-in. Player B claims that he thought C had less than $85 so there was no more money to call.
Options as I see them:
Option A) since action wasn’t complete on the flop, back up the action, player B can either call or fold. (except the stub and muck is not recoverable)
Option B) rule that the all-ins were inferred by flipping the cards and allowing the board to run out. Treat the outcome as if all 3 players were all-in and push side pot to C.
Option C) rule the hand complete as is, Player A wins the main, and there is no side pot because B never called C’s all-in.
I don’t like any outcome, and maybe there is a better one that I’m not thinking of. I’d like to hear your responses before I post how I ruled. Please no “why did the dealer muck the board” or “why didn’t the dealer put out all-in buttons or make the pot right” comments, I couldn’t change that, I can only rule at the time I stepped in.