I usually go with intent, but in this situation, I think they did have to enforce it.

Candio recovered from this, hitting a runner-runner straight against pocket aces later in the episode to double up.

The hand starts at 2:00 in:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDW8RhjEO9Q

Here's a direct link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDW8RhjEO9Q#t=2m2s

I don't know what you think his "intent" was. But it's clearly a call.

I think his intent was exactly what Norman Chad said. He was hemming and hawing between calling and folding. His hand probably got ahead of his brain there.

That said, at some point, you do have to enforce the rule, especially with 3 tables left in a $9 million MMT tournament. And this was clearly a call under any reading of the rule.

But the dealer or the official standing there should have said something immediately.

Let him pull the chips back, think, and then muck (toss his cards forward). Then tell him he has to call?

Agreed, I thought this was yet another poor floor ruling at the WSOP. The pressure of the event and the money at stake should allow some bit of leeway from the strict interpretation of the rules. The opponent did not contest call/fold... floor should have let it go.

He mucked pretty quickly after fake calling. Rule is interesting, but at least it was the dealer and a TD standing there enforcing it.

He mucked quickly after he pulled his chips back. The dealer should have announced a call as soon as his hand went forward with chips. There was plenty of time for that to happen.

It was maybe 6-8 seconds after he pulled the chips back, plenty of time for the dealer or the TD to say something. What if he had fired his cards into the muck instead of just sliding them forward?

My gripe isn't with the ruling, it is with the timing of the dealer and TD stepping in.

It was maybe 6-8 seconds on TV but you really can't judge how long it was in real life. It could have been longer or faster depending on how the edited the shot.

That said I think it was clear that the dealer had time to say "Call" and he should have after the chips moved forward.

Funny how Candio proceeds to tilt like a mofo and suck out. LOLdonkaments.

Yeah, the floor/dealer has now queered the hand by not enforcing the rule immediately. They had plenty of time to force the rule before the poor bastard gave away more info about his hand (in this case, that he had a weak enough hand to consider folding, or perhaps in another case, that he had a strong enough hand to raise). Those WSOP floors make a lot of bad rulings and this is one of them. But only because of the timing.

Bad ruling. When it already happens and the opponent isn't contesting it and the dealer does nothing, it is over as far as I'm concerned. At least it happened to that annoying donk Candio, though.

I think it shouldn't have been a call.


Forward motion may be a call if there is action behind him. There wasn't, he clearly never released the chips. I think its a bad decision.

Yes, the dealer should have sad something as soon as Candio pulled the chips back. But that does not change the fact that the player did make a forward motion. The dealer did say something as soon as Candio tried to fold his hand.

Just because the other player did not protest is no reason to let a rule violation pass. Protesting here could have goven away the strength of the other player's hand.

Dealer's should be applying the rules whether a player protests or not.

This was a slow ruling but it was a good ruling.

Forward motion IS a bet in the WSOP no matter the action behind, ahead, or sideways. Psandman should know better.

Dealer can't say "call" because he can't clearly see the chips in his hand. It might be a raise. Only after he pulled back does the ruling happen that it has to be at least a call.

Got to disagree. Candio picked up the chips to call, extended his hand as far as it would go while watching the other player then pulled it back and after a short tank, pushed his hand in. IMO it's pretty clear that he got a read and tried to take back the call.