Playing 2-5 at MS yesterday and this hand came up.

Button is the main villain. He is East Asian middle aged and definitely inexperienced playing at MS or in a casino. An orbit earlier he rivered a K high straight flush and checked. When the river checked around he said he had a high hand but unfortunately for him there was only $15 in the pot and you need $20 to qualify. He took missing out on a probable $2,000+ payoff in stride.

On to the hand, I have K 5 in the SB, 4 limpers, I complete and the BB checks his option.

($30) Flop is 9 6 5

Checks to CO, who leads for $20. He is shortstacked and has been playing a weak fit or fold style for the most part.

The main Villain tosses in 4 chips meaning to call but doesn't notice he has a dirty stack and actually throws in 3 Reds and 1 Black so he raised to $115.

Action is on me and I have around $500 and cover CO and Button.

When button makes this mistake, it is pretty obvious that he is weak and by CO's reaction he is pretty weak as well. Since everyone else already checked, I don't think that they're particularly strong as the board is pretty wet with a flush draw, straight draw and even a possible flopped straight so any strong made hand would lead out.

I could fold and let the Villain who mistakenly raise take the pot or else let someone else make a move on the pot.

I think flat calling is bad because I'm assuredly a little behind either CO or Button, probably both, and someone else may decide that $280 of "dead money" is worth going after or do I want to induce someone to shove and then call it off?

Shoving feels kind of bad, since this villain screwed up on probably getting the High Hand but his problems are his on creation. Of course if I'm wrong on my read and get called after shoving I'm probably either a little behind or little ahead.

Anyone be a nice guy and just fold?

If your opponent makes a mistake, why would you not capitalize on it? If you get coolered is anyone going to give you your money back? Of course not. Your line of thinking is flawed if you seriously consider making a play to be "nice."

His mistake, his problem, play your hand.

Sorry for noob question, but 'qualify' for what?

How sure are you that it's a mistake? Could it possibly be villain is raising to $115 (which is definitely on the high side, but it's not totally impossible).

I'm actually torn on the ethical decision. Should the dealer or ourself attempt to clarify his action and let him correct it we feel it was genuinely done mistakenly? Course this opens the doors for angles in the future, so I'm not really sure. Or we could just chalk it up to an expensive lesson learned and continue as normal. I think at the very least I would simply question the dealer "Did he mean to raise or call?" and then at least leave it up to the dealer / floor in an effort at fairness.

P.S. You might get better response to the ethical question / what should I have done / etc. in Brick and Mortar.

Qualify for a high hand jackpot, much like a bad beat jackpot.

Maybe you ask the dealer to clarify if you want to see the turn cheaply. However, you shouldn't do it to be nice. Imagine if you flopped quads and this happened...you should be racing to put your chips in the middle.

BTW, in nearly all instances the dealer will make the bet stand. I've screwed myself more times than I can count by throwing a black chip in the middle for a raise but forgetting to say "raise" resulting in just a call. No good player is going to go out of their way to be "nice" to you in that spot.

This would pretty clearly be an angle and unethical. It shouldn't matter if we're sitting with the nuts, a draw, or nothing.

The fact that there are other scumbags at the table that wouldn't let us get away with an obvious raise / genuine honest mistake doesn't mean we should stoop to their level. If everyone at the table played in the spirit of sportsmanship, none of this would be an issue; that's what we should aspire to, IMO.

I would still ask the dealer to clarify, and then just live with the dealer / floor decision and be content with my attempt at fairness.

I don't see why ethics should come into play at all here. You should acting in your own best interest as long as it does not violate a rule. The rule is pretty clear that this man made a bet. Any argument of that is an angle of sorts, so I don't see why you would attempt to clarify it unless it was in your own best interest to do so.

The only thing you should be thinking about is if hes angle shooting and meant to raise that much but acted like he didnt anytime this happens. Then with that information make the best play in that spot. Your hand here is not a question your not folding and your not calling, so ship it, and next time hell pay more attn. Theres a difference between being friendly in a live game, and being stupid. Its a good idea to be a friendly person, but its more important to win every penny you can assuming of course the money means something to you.

If we accidentally see an opponent's hole cards due to his carelessness of looking at them, do we bring it to his attention? I'm not 100% sure that it is against the rules to not do this, but it is fairly clearly unethical to not give a warning at the very least.

Ditto for speaking up to correct a dealer mistake. Again, I'm not 100% sure of this, but is it in the rules that players must correct dealer mistakes, or do we only correct them if it's in our best interests? (I kinda get the feeling this one might be in the rules, but I might be mistaken)

I'm not sure what this statement says about the state of poker sportsmanship. It's sad to think the only reason one should speak up / clarify a bet / etc. is whether it's in one's own best interest.

Gredandblackchipslookvirtuallyidenticaltothosewith manyformsofcolorblindnessG

Id toss in 5 black chips and say "thats a raise". Up to the dealer whether the old guy's "bet/raise" stands and I wouldn't argue whatever their decision.

I probably shouldn't have gotten into an ethical discussion since I am a nihilist. However, if you are a "do gooder" that wants to do what is right and fair then you should NOT clarify the bet because by rule this player made a bet and by changing this decision you could be screwing other players over who should have had the opportunity to capitalize on this player's mistake (perhaps one of them has a set for instance).

The dealer immediately said it was a raise. I thought about it for a few seconds and then shipped it.

Everyone folded including Villain who raised to $115 by accident after showing a 6.

And just to be clear I didn't ask for clarification, I was paying attention and I was 100% sure he wasn't angle shooting.

Just shove. His mistake. He wouldn't be nice to you if you make this mistake. You could have saved him money.

I don't see how we can do anything but raise. It's not our fault he made a mistake. Sucks for him, but giving away the equity we have in this pot is silly, just so we can be "nice".

It is a clear raise. It is multiple chips and no clarification is necessary. If anything, he's cheating because he's hiding his big chips in with his redbirds. If you feels sorry for him, explain that it is better for him and the rest of the table that he keeps his chips in clean stacks.

As Canada Bill Jones once said "It's immoral to let a sucker keep his money."

I don't think there's anything you can do but ship here. In general I do not try to take advantage of a situation like this (I wouldn't ship with air), but I think you have to play your hand.

I remember playing PLO8 when I called down a guy with a 9 high flush on a four flush board- it was his first time playing the game and he should only have had the nuts there. But his bet was small relative to the pot and since it was his first time playing the game I wasn't sure he knew what he was repping. I called and he had the naked A. I honestly felt bad for the guy (he's a solid NlHE player), but I made the call precisely because he might make that sort of mistake, and folding my hand would have been a major error- he certainly didn't earn the pot. On the upside, it's a mistake almost evey Omaha player makes at one time or anger and not one he'll likely forget (it was a $100 bet).

In general, I do not try to punish casual players for string bets or other minor infractions (unless I think there is an angle shoot), but sometimes as nice as I want to be, I have to play my hand.

I think most people having made a mistake like that would blame themselves for playing a game without knowing how to read their hand, and not be upset at the guy for calling at all. I mean he's not going to think he got hustled, he's going to KNOW that he hustled himself.

I've been in omaha games where there are lots of 1st timers who are used to nothing but hold em, and the host is constantly saying things like "now remember! you HAVE to use 2 cards from your hand!!! you can't play 4 from the board!!" even on the turn and river when the pot has already exploded. Nobody including me minds as the game is great anyway.

I'm not going to play soft, but at the same time I don't mind if others offer a little education.