Controversial Situation Makes TD Improvise

A player opened to 2,300, and another player made the call. Toby Lewis then squeezed from the button to 8,000. The initial raiser folded, but the third involved player shoved all in.

Lewis asked for a count, and the dealer started counting the big chips. As soon as it was clear that the player had Lewis covered, the Brit said "OK, that's fine" to indicate the dealer didn't need to count any more as the situation it was clear that Lewis had to decide for his tournament life. The Russian-speaking dealer misinterpreted Lewis' words as an indication that Lewis was folding, and announced "Pass."

The Russian-speaking player who had just pushed his stack forward, thought Lewis had folded, and proudly showed his .

And Lewis just sat there, with his cards still face down.

The floor was called over, and several players on the table tried to explain what happened. A Russian-speaking floor came over as well, and eventually the man in charge was made clear of what exactly had happened.

He thought about it, made sure it was a mistake by the dealer and not of one of the players, and then decided that he couldn't penalize any of the two involved players, as it wasn't their fault that the situation existed. He ruled that both Lewis and the all-in player had to take their stacks back (the 8,000 squeeze from Lewis, and the 56,500 push from the other player), and that the two would divide the 7,000 in the middle.

Lewis showed his and was fine with the decision made, though he said he would have most likely called.