Right in front of their noses
Maurice Hawkins won the World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event at Horseshoe Baltimore this week to earn his 18th career ring, tied for the most all-time with Ari Engel. Controversy has erupted around his victory, however, as it turns out that a mistake by the dealer gave him a key pot and elimination near the very end of the tournament.
According to PokerOrg’s live reporting, the Main Event was three-handed when Divyam Satyarthi moved all-in from the small blind with Q♣-T♥ and Hawkins called from the big blind with A♥-3♠.
After the turn, the board was K♣-2♠-T♣-4♣, giving Satyarthi the lead with a pair of Tens. The 5♣ on the river gave Hawkins the wheel and there it was: he won the hand, was shipped the pot, and Satyarthi was out of the tournament in third place.
But wait, for whatever reason, nobody noticed that the river also gave Satyarthi a flush, so he should have won the hand.
As seen in PokerOrg’s video below, the dealer quickly mucked Satyarthi’s “losing” hole cards, called for a payout, and Satyarthi congratulated his opponents as he walked away.
Nobody hesitated, nobody said anything. Satyarthi clearly believed he had lost, likely not realizing he had a club, and was just hoping to avoid a straight.
Caught too late
Had the hand been called correctly, odds are Satyarthi still would have finished in third – he would have had about 2 million chips, while his two opponents would have had about 8 million each. But that’s beside the point. He would not have been eliminated, he still would have had a chance to make a run, and Hawkins would not have had the extra chips. The hand still had a significant impact on the proceedings.
So, what could have been done to fix the situation? Nothing, really. Reporters finally noticed what happened hours later and alerted tournament officials, but it was too late. They can’t just go back and rewind the tournament. Maybe if they found it one hand later, they could have corrected things, but even then, I don’t know the exact rules.
The simple fact is that neither the dealer nor Satyarthi read the hand correctly. It is possible that Hawkins saw it, but with a $76,000 difference between third and first place plus the ring at stake, he would have had a reason to keep his mouth shut (one can argue the ethics of not speaking up, but he did not have to say anything if he noticed the problem). Similarly, Dan Chalifour, who ended up in second place, was likely happy he just made at least another $30,000, so if he noticed, he had a motive to stay tight-lipped. Note that’s an “if” – we don’t know if anyone was aware of the issue.
Even reporters and onlookers were not necessarily obligated to say anything, as they are not parties to the tournament. It is most likely that everyone, both players and onlookers, was blissfully unaware of what happened.
The post Dealer Error Leads to 3rd Place Elimination in WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Baltimore Main Event appeared first on Poker News Daily.
About The Author
