The hands here don't matter. I found myself in a very odd situation with a very unpleasant player, who had thrown cards at another player in an earlier pot and was given a "warning."

So I am heads-up against the unpleasant villain in a kill pot in a 4-8 game. I check the flop, he bets 8 chips, leaving him with 4 chips behind.

I say raise, and I put 12 chips out.

The villain then refuses to do anything, and he insists to the dealer that I have to put out 16 chips. I actually get confused here, and I ask the dealer if the villain has money behind. The dealer says he does not.

So I pause for a moment, trying to figure out what this guy is saying. Can he really be serious, that he wants me to put out 16 chips, just so the dealer can slide 4 of them back to me?

Before I can even figure out what is happening, the Villain starts to yell at me. Put the full bet! The raise is to 16! Make this dealer do his job! He needs to get his exercise, etc.

What would you do in this situation?

Push out the other chips and ask the dealer if the other player is calling you or not?

Sure it's silly but further delaying the game isn't worth it.

I would raise to 16 and if he calls pull back the extra 4.

I watched a similar situation unfold recently. Player bets $80 and has $50 behind. Opponent says raise and puts out $130. Dealer stops the game and tells the guy $130 is not a valid raise, and he has to put out $160. It's pointed out the only other guy in the hand has but $130 and the dealer says "it's for the cameras". So the player dutifully cuts out an extra $30, slides it out, and the dealer slides it back. W T F ?

Some stupidity isn't worth questioning, it's just easier to roll with it.

I'd do the technically correct thing and move on. There are a ton of terrible people in poker. Don't let things like this put you on tilt, just play your game.

If you really want to be nitty you can say you declared raise so how many chips you slide out is irrelevant.

Put a stack of 4 right beind the stack of 12 so the dealer can just grab the 12. And hope when I bust this jerk he goes off to find the atm machine (and of course never comes back)

Seems the guy is tilted. And being stupid. I'm sorely tempted to call floor for a ruling.

Don't try to fight stupidity. It'll only give you a headache. When dumb, infuriating players start making inane demands, just roll with it and quietly laugh when they stomp off as you are scooping their chips.

In a calm voice, like I was speaking to bratty child, I would reply, "Sir, what ever gave you the impression that you could speak to me in that tone of voice?"

If he kept it up, time to hit him with an Al Swearengen quote: "What a type you must consort with, to not fear beating for such an insult."

That's one of the perks of being over 300 lbs, nobody ever talks to me that way.

Special thanks to the OP for not giving us a detailed street-by-street recap of the betting and the cards that came, like everyone else who starts a thread does, whether that info is pertinent or not.

I believe you need to put out 16. Aside from the rules, cameras are rolling and if the 16 didn't go out it would be confusing to the house who saw it, if anything were contested in the hand. But getting back to the rules, technically 16 has to go out there at some point. Putting out 12 is roughly equivalent to you saying "I put him all in", which you can't do. You have to make a legal bet and let everything else sort out after.

The fact that the guy is a douche doesn't really have anything to do with it.

I've seen this all the time, everywhere in limit games, and the only times I've seen the full bet go in is when the person raising didn't realize the bettor didn't have a full bet behind. As far as confusing to the camera goes, this is so common of a situation that when an odd amount goes in, it's the first thing anyone looks for.

In this specific situation, you just say okay and put the rest of the bet in. People doing stuff like this are looking to get into a confrontation, and just putting the bet in and saying, "You're right." is the best course of action for a few reasons.

It's certainly no fun to be yelled at by an idiot, but I looked to the dealer, who said I should put out the full bet. I did.

The idiot called, lost the pot, reloaded two more times, and lost another $200 or so. Then he left the table.

I just now remember I had to deal with a similar idiot once when I was dealing. It was a tournament, Idiot in the BB has 7 chips left, and has to post 6 of them for his BB.

All folded to the SB, who had 100's of chips. SB announced, "All-in."

BB demanded a count. I swear. And when I wouldn't do it, he argued about it.