Monday, December 14, 2009

Misdeal - how should this one be ruled?

I was playing in a $25,000 self-dealt regional freeroll tournament when the following situation came up. Any ideas on what the correct ruling should have been?

When dealing cards to all players, one flipped over and that player received his card last with the exposed card left face up as the first burn card. The first betting round was completed with an EP raise, MP call, Button call and both blinds folding. 3-way to the flop.

It was a long table and the dealer was at one end, with the exposed card at the other. He’d forgotten and dealt a burn card and then the flop. The first player checked, second to act checked and the dealer who was third to act bet almost pot. The flop was A34r. At this point, the second to act noticed the exposed card and said that the flop shouldn’t be the flop. It was agreed by everyone the order that the flop came out, so the 3rd card was obvious. It was the all important Ace.

The Tournament Director was called, what should the ruling have been:
- Misdeal and declare the hands dead? If so, how are monies re-distributed?
- Add the first burn card to the flop and declare the Ace as the second burn?
- Place the burn card and the flop into the deck, shuffle, re-burn and flop?
- Another ruling?

Is it relevant that all 3 players had an opportunity to act did? That said, the betting round wasn't complete. If the mistake had been noticed just after the Turn card has been dealt would that have further complicated things? I'm surprised that I haven't seen this before and would appreciate advice on the correct ruling.

2 comments:

The blindman said...

I don't know the correct ruling in this situation, but I would have thought the flop would have to stand.

TiocfaidhArLa said...

Correct ...

If the dealer fails to burn a card or burns more than one card, the error should be corrected if discovered before betting action has started for that round. Once action has been taken on a boardcard, the card must stand. Whether the error is able to be corrected or not, subsequent cards dealt should be those that would have come if no error had occurred. For example, if two cards were burned, one of the cards should be put back on the deck and used for the burncard on the next round. On the last round, if there was no betting because a player was all-in, the error should be corrected if discovered before the pot has been awarded.