The thing is, you need to pay attention BEFORE it's a pile of chips. Pay attention to the other bets as the dealer is counting them and bringing them in. It sounds like probably the guy who bet $200 didn't put in chips for the rest of the bet.

I'm not being critical. This stuff is hard, especially at a new game. When you're all-in your heart is pumping and you're full of adrenaline and it's hard to pay attention to everything. Mix in that most dealers have crappy procedures and aren't as clear about things as they should be, and going way too quickly, and it's nigh impossible to keep up.

Don't worry, it gets easier. Just try to pay attention to every action. Do it when you're not in a hand, so you get used to everything. This will also help your game overall, as you'll become more aware of betting patterns.

$840 (pot you got) - $340 (your stack before hand started) = $500 / two other players = $250 each.

If they put in $40 each preflop, then they put in $210 on the flop ... the amount of Cutoff's total raise. Maybe dealer put in that amount x2 instead of your stack x2.

Who knows. Pay attention. Complain if you see something wrong. It's not brain surgery. I wouldn't recommend second guessing your neurosurgeon in the middle of an operation, but I would interrupt/stop/question a dealer that I think is messing up my pot.

There's also a chance that the dealer just flat out made a mistake when counting your stack when you pushed your chips in so he took less for the main pot from the other players than he should have. There's a non-zero (albeit unlikely) chance you didn't push all your chips out since you had some chips to your left and some chips to your right. I like Angus's theory of:

Makes sense to me.


It's on you to make sure it's all done right. Dealers shouldn't, but they can and do make mistakes. It's your money in the middle. I often wonder if people would be so relaxed and assuming that everything is correct if everything was done with cash instead of clay chips

I've got death stares a few times when involved in a big pot with a main and sides and the dealer gives the ol' "Ok, keep your chips and cards in front of you, lets deal out the board then figure the pots" and I object: "Dealer, can you figure the main and sides before proceeding". I know you're fast and can do spreadsheet calculations in your head while juggling meat cleavers, and breaking out all the pots can waste valuable minutes of your down, but I'm a bit slow following and prefer to see it done long-hand and (and I can't emphasize enough) it's my freaking money.

If you are a serious poker player, you have to know the rules and procedures of wherever you play. Basically, you've got to be just as competent as the floor and the dealer and know when they are doing their jobs correctly.

The reason is simple, mistakes cost you money.

I'm a stickler for procedures. If I'm in the pot and its multiway with all-ins from short stacks, I will stop the action and demand the dealer break everything down. Of course, someone will say, "Well, just do it after..." and I say, NO, i'm in the hand, I want it done now so there are no mistakes.

I try to be polite but firm.

Practice in hands you aren't involved in. Watch how the dealers break it down and separate everything. Eventually, it will become second nature...

I was in a tournament and had something similar happen.
When I was given the chips it looked like it wasn't enough but had to do some calculations in my head to make sure.
Then I work out I am short by quite a bit and tell the dealer.
By this stage the cards had been dealt and one player had acted.

I was told that "I had to raise any concerns before the next hand is dealt".
This would require me to stop the dealer every time I won a pot - I don't think that would be too popular!

Eventually after calling the floor and another player verifying I must have had more chips, the losing player agreed to give me half of the missing chips...
Still about 15% of my stack missing when we were on a final table though.

I guess the solution is to make sure the dealer puts all the chips in at the time as then it's easier to check it's right.

It's amazing how lazy both players and dealers are on this point.

had a hand yesterday, its the flop, 4-way action, V1 bets, V2 calls, I call, V4 "short stacks" goes all-in, V1 says "call" but doesn't put his chips in, V2 says, "call" and doesn't put his chips in, I then turn to the dealer and say, "they need to put their chips in". Dealer pauses a bit and motions to both players, they put their chips in then I call...

What was amazing was that we were in a 4-way pot with 2 streets of action left and dealer was trying to take short cuts.

On the turn, V1 goes all-in and the dealer throws him the all-in placard, V2 says call and again I have to tell the dealer to have them BOTH put their chips in the pot and make a side pot because I still have money left and their is action pending. One of the players in the hand says, "we can just do it later so we don't waste time in case someone wins it all.." I shake my head and say, "I want it done now to avoid mistakes and human error which can easily happen in spots just like this one"..

Once you make it a habit to insist on it, it becomes second nature.

I'm sorry I just don;t understand why you think the dealer is lazy for not making a sidepot before the action that street was completed. You still had money (and apparently were in the pot) why would the dealer make a sidepot before you acted?

The only reason to insist on the players putting in their chips before act is if you are playing in some joint that thinks they can't enforce a verbal call (i recommend not playing ta such places).

Now once you call the dealer can make sure that everybody puts in the right amount.

My point being that what you described as happening is something I would do .... not because I wasn't going to make the pots right, but because its not necessary for me to make each bet right during the action when the verbal action is clear.


BTW the likely reason for the players not moving chips was that they had made the decision to call without concern for the exact amount of the bet. They didn't ask and therefore didn;t get a count .... so they are waiting for the end of the betting round when the dealer counts down the bet so they can move out the correct amount of chips.

See laziness is not the only explanation

Paying attention to what's going on during the hand is how to avoid almost every problem brought to this forum.

This is absurd.

^^ Exactly.

It is completely fine for you to tell the dealer to make everyone put their chips in and make side pots before they bring the next card, but telling them to do it before action is complete for a given street is silly.

The first scenario is what I think is most likely the case, if in fact it wasn't just me being an idiot. I'd say it's 80/20% me vs. the house.

In a way it's 100% me, even if it wasn't my mistake, but that scenario is how I think it could have gone wrong if it did. Lesson learned, and just that much more motivation to practice counting visually in hands I'm not playing.

Appreciate all the input.

This is the happiest ending to a thread I've seen here in a while. Way to be a rational adult.

Since you were the SB and BB is right next to you and won the side pot, it's really obvious what happened:

Main pot: 3 x ~$350 stacks
Side pot: 2 x ~$150 stacks

You win main pot, BB wins side pot.

Dealer is grabbing stacks and hands you 2 x $350, and 1 x $150. Thus you have $850.

Perhaps the BB even grabbed the $350 incorrectly, or the dealer put it in between you both somehow. Either way, I'm amazed you did not call the floor and explain the hand and ask them to review the tapes. They should easily be able to get you the $200 missing.

Also, why if the BB and CO both had ~$500 to start, did you not check their stacks? CO should have $0 and BB should have $300. Instead BB was sitting with $500 which would make no sense.

You're right, in that this is probably what happened. But it's my job to check the stacks and count and I didn't, so it's my fault for being too mild about it.

Keeping tabs on stacks (especially after large hands where I'm counting my own) is clearly not my strong point. Or it wasn't - it's going to be from now on.

OP are you sure you didn't forget about the rake and/or dealer tip?

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