I guess what I miss in this is how can the guy count his chips infront of everyone and make a $1800 mistake. If you ask someone for a chip count, and watch him count, you usually have a idea the total. If he counted them in full view then the caller should of had a good idea what he had.
How many chips were being used and how piles were they in.

Outside of what I wrote, I would need more info to give a answer. I began to see the point that it was a crappy angle shot but would need more info.