A Mess

Before the last break, three players got it all in preflop in what would turn out to be a huge mess of a pot.

Elio Fox was the shortest of the three players with 248,000, and he shoved from the button with {8-Spades} {10-Spades} . Etienne Archambeaud was in the small blind, and he asked the dealer how much it was. The response was "Two hundred eight thousand," and Archambeaud reshoved with {A-Hearts} {8-Diamonds} . In the big blind, Richard Loth spent a long while considering, and he eventually made the call with {A-Clubs} {K-Clubs} and a chance at the double knockout. It looked like Archambeaud had about 450,000 to start the hand, and Loth had a bit more than 500,000, a fact which would become important in a few minutes.

"I like my chances," Fox said as he sweated his all in.

The {6-Hearts} {Q-Diamonds} {7-Hearts} flop gave him another four outs, and the {4-Spades} on the turn added another four to the chop, too. He needed a five, nine, or ten to stay alive, and the {10-Hearts} river was just what the doctor ordered. Loth was livid with the bad news, letting fly with a short barrage of swearing and feet-stamping. It was a triple up for Fox, but the hand was just getting started, really.

The dealer pulled 208,000 from Archambeaud's stack... then he pulled another 208,000 from the same stack and began to push all those chips to Fox. There were two problems with that. First of all, it was supposed to 248,000, and Archambeaud had now paid twice. And Loth's chips were still untouched. Chaos ensued. Fox was upset that he was about to be shortchanged, and Archambeaud was livid that the dealer had announced the wrong amount. "It's a f***ing different thing!" he yelled. The dealer finally realized that he pulled 208,000 from Archambeaud twice, so he slid it back and tried to fix the chips, now in several clumsy piles. He made it look like 248,000, then got the 248,000 from Loth and gave that main pot to Fox. Settled.

But there were still a bunch of chips in between Archambeaud and Loth, and nobody seemed to know exactly where they belonged. We're fairly certain Archambeaud was covered, but he was given a 50,000-chip rebate and allowed to play on. In an instant, his mood changed from irate to thankful. It appears he's been the recipient of a second lease on life here thanks to the dealer's error, and it's still unclear exactly what happened over there.