Dealer miscalls the action - cards get exposed

[Brian Vickers]

Heads up on flop.  Player A announces "all-in".  Player B says "hmmm" (or "oh" or "ah" just some sort of audible thinking reaction).  Dealer mishears player B and says "player calls, turn 'em up".  Player A auto-exposes cards, following dealer instruction, faster than Player B can say "woah, wait a minute, I didn't say call."  Other players verify that  Player B did not say call and mearly said "hmmm."

Now what?  Player A's cards are exposed due to dealer misinformation.  Can B still call the bet knowing what he's up against?  Can the hand reasonably be played out still?

[Tristan]

Weee...that's a tough one! 

I think I'm about 60/40 in favor of pushing the all-in bet back and allowing the play to continue as if they were both all-in with no more action allowed.  This protects both players, although one will obviously come out better.  I like this because neither player will have their tournament life on the line because of a dealer error.

The other option is to allow B to call.  There are a few angles that can be exploited if the players are under assumption that we would make a call like the one above and Player B did nothing wrong.  You could argue that Player A did not hear the other player say 'call' either, and they should be sure of something without acting on just the dealer's direction. (Mistakes can and will be made)

I could support either decision.

For the others that will chime in, I want to add one more question.  Would your call be the same on the river as it is on the flop?   

[Nick C]

This is a good one. It's unfortunate for Player A that the dealer called for both players to turn over their cards but, I would allow Player B to call or fold only. I would also suspend any further betting.

 I would hope that this dealer error is so rare that you never have to face it again.

[Nick C]

Tristan,
 Taking another look back, I'm not disagreeing with your decision, I just prefer your second choice. As far as the same incident on the river...hmm, that might be a better time to push back the all-in and the best hand wins.

[K-Lo]

I prefer the second option as a default.  This is a really terrible situation where even if you allow the last bet to be taken back, the player has already lost the chance to get the other player to fold -- he may not even want a showdown so he may be screwed anyway.

However, at the end of the day, I think you have to stick to the letter of the law here - A has to protect his or her own hand, and needs to be sure that his bet is in fact called before turning cards over - even in the face of dealer misinformation. 

That being said, I wouldn't protest to applying the first option if the amount to be returned is significant.

I cannot remember where I saw the clip, but there is a video out there where the announcer (l think it may have been Linda J) said something that made the player reveal his hand prematurely - that was an interesting situation showing that the misinformation need not only come from a dealer!  I would like to find that clip....

[Tristan]

Ok, you two swayed me.  I'm now 60/40 in favor of allowing the call. 

[Brian Vickers]

I prefer the second option as a default.  This is a really terrible situation where even if you allow the last bet to be taken back, the player has already lost the chance to get the other player to fold -- he may not even want a showdown so he may be screwed anyway.

However, at the end of the day, I think you have to stick to the letter of the law here - A has to protect his or her own hand, and needs to be sure that his bet is in fact called before turning cards over - even in the face of dealer misinformation. 

That being said, I wouldn't protest to applying the first option if the amount to be returned is significant.

I cannot remember where I saw the clip, but there is a video out there where the announcer (l think it may have been Linda J) said something that made the player reveal his hand prematurely - that was an interesting situation showing that the misinformation need not only come from a dealer!  I would like to find that clip....

I remember this, it was a WPT event IIRC, and the player stuck out a raise (possibly Scotty Nguyen perhaps?) and Linda announced "player calls" when the amount was a raise.

[Brian Vickers]

Do we not think that allowing the call in full really puts Player B at a significant advantage?  He sees if he's beat or not, so calling or folding becomes a no-brainer in most cases. 

Would you guys still agree if this action took place on the river?

[Nick C]

Brian,
 I gave my answer for the river...all betting suspended and the best hand wins!