Money deal blew up! You judge

The last three players at a recent tournament decided at the table to set aside and play for $2000 plus the trophy and the split the remaining $42,000 prize money on the basis of the number of chips each player had. They counted down the chips $52,000 (43%), $40,000 (33%)and $28,000 (23%).


If they had played on without a deal the prizes would have been 1st $24,400 2nd $13,000 and 3rd $6,600.


The very next hand everyone went all in and the chip leader won. They all shook hands and the photographer took the winner's picture with the trophy. End of story, right. WRONG.


While the winner was off getting his picture taken a group of folks were over deciding on the prize split. Here is what they came up with. Give each person second place money of $13,000 and split the remaining $3,000 based on the chip count. Here is the tally.


First place: $13,000 plus $1,300 (43% of $3,000) plus $2,000 for the final winning hand = $16,300


Second place: $13,000 plus $1,000 (33% of $3,000) =$14,000


Third: $13,000 plus $700 (23% of $3,000) = $13,700


The winner reminded everyone that there had been no mention of giving everyone second place money before prorating the prize money.


This would make it 1st $18,200 2nd $14,000 and third $9,800. Plus the winner would get the extra $2,000 for a total of $20,200. That's $4,000 more than this other calculation.


The only thing agreed to was a split based on chip count. All the spectators and the tournament director agreed that that was the verbal agreement. The second and third place players got hot and said to forget about the deal and play on. The chip leader said he would comprimise by starting with giving all players the third prize and then prorate the rest but the other two would not hear of it. Play on was the call! Then he said he would accept the split the other two had wanted (with the second place money awarded each) rather than play on but the others still would not agree. They dealt the cards and the tournament was back on.


Of course, the inevitable occurred and the previous winner went out first and ended up with $6,600 in third prize money rather than the $16,300 he could have accepted.


What do you think of all this? (Of course, the players should have seen the actual dollar split and agreed to it before stopping the tournament the first time and the director said that will always be the case in the future.)


If I was the chip leader, I would not have sat down and continued playing. That is for sure.

Size,


I think this situation was handled very poorly by the people running the tournament. The outcome of the tournament had already been determined on a 3-way all-in hand. Why in God's name would a decision to play on be made when two of the participants do not have chips left to wager? How could the officials in the tournament declare the winning hand null and void? I assume nothing technically was done wrong during this hand?


In this case, I think it should probably be agreed that no equitable deal was reached and the winner should get his full prize money. 2nd and 3rd still get more $$$ based on a chip count division so I don't see what their problem was.


If I were the chip leader, I'd get a good attorney and sue.


Mike

This is a big reason why deal-making sucks! In reality I don't think that the tournement director can or should get involved here. The split is up to the players. (The winner would get the $24,000 and pay the others the agreed amount) It's not for the house to get involved.


You said "a group" of people decided on the split while the winner was away.Who the heck were these people? I think the other 2 players were jerks and should stand by their verbal agreement.


We should all learn something from this. Either cut no deals, or make sure the actual amounts are spelled out including, tips, taxes etc.


I for one will never be on the wrong side of anything like this.


Keep playing hard!

I did not want to mention the tournament but I have received so many emails that it looks as though I should.


It was at the Linda Johnson Celebrity Challenge in Costa Rica Central America last month. The event was the final day showcase event.


The original winner was a young guy from Vancouver. I started beside him. He was a recreational player that bot in for the $500 entry and said he would do no rebuys or add ons because he was new to all this.


The only celeb that was watching the final table was Andrew Glazer.


I hate to mention the site because the rest of the tournament was great. The locals were universally pleasant and the casino tried its best to host a fine event. I would go back in a minute. I expect the officiating will be much better after this screw up. It was just experience in my view.


This is the only card room in the country and they are trying their best to promote the game and as everyone knows, Linda is a great for the game too.


I also don't want to minimize the situation because I truly believe it was the worst ruling in tournament history.


P.S. I also feel terrible because the original winner was going along with the deal until I told him he was being shafted. I feel responsible for costing the guy $10,000.