Was at a very reputable casino involved in a very big 3 way pot which I won. I was in the BB vs SB and button. After the river card SB raised $640. I had $410 left as the effective stack and I called with the nut flush. The button tanked and threw in 1 chip to call. I flip over my cards and see that I am the winner as there was not a pair on the board for the FH. This is when it gets interesting. I look at the dealer to check that the pot is not over raked. The max was taken out. Then the dealer gets confused "maybe, maybe not". The small blind then takes his chip back and puts in $410. which is correct, and gives me the chips. The dealer then starts chopping the remainder of the pot and tries to give me half and the button half. Me and a couple of people stop him doing that, and then gives me the remainder of the chips. About 1/2 an hour later the pit boss is talking to the button, he then calls me aside and says that he did not pay his $410 towards the pot. I didn't see but the pit took $410 from him and gave it to me. I guess the eye in the sky caught everything.

I was just wondering should the button player be penalized for his angling, and being such a slime? eg. barred out for a time period. And the way the dealer was not collecting all the bets and then trying to chop the pot with the losing button hand. It looks real bad from my view point.

The reason I am not mentioning which poker room it was is because they were above board and honest with me.

Just don't trust that particular dealer anymore.

Your story is a bit confusing because you say the Button called with one chip, but then the SB pulled his chip back. Did they both call with one chip?

Why wouldn't the dealer know whether the pot was over-raked?

The eye in the sky doesn't constantly watch poker. So unless the floor was watching the hand or one of the players reported the suspicion, it was the dealer who raised his concern.

I assume he meant to say the SB pulled his chips back and puts in $410 since the SB had put out $640 to begin with.

I am curious to know how the floor was informed that the BTN didn't pay up. Also curious how you failed to notice this. Maybe because you were too concerned about the rake on your $1,500+ pot? Sounds like a new inexperienced dealer to me. They made it right and not much to worry about except you hopefully learned to pay better attention when it comes to your money in a poker game.

How big was the game that you didn't notice that $410 was missing from your stack?

Right?!?! I've never once worried about too much rake being taken out in a casino game. Home games is a little different, I watch the rake much closer in those type of games. I LMAO whenever I see someone taken into account how much the rake is when deciding how much to bet.

There is a lot going on here ... including one that nobody has brought up so far.

1) Agreed, why is your first thought to check the rake? Most casino Dealers would've pulled the rake well before the River in this pot. And on top of that in most casinos the rake is still 'exposed' before the Dealer pulls the slide to let it fall into the box. I do have one casino who still pulls the rake into the tray and only drops black chips, but it's still 'not' in the tray until well after pot pushed and cards put in the shuffler.

2) What seats were you all in that the Dealer just let SB count(?) and slide chips directly over to you? I guess you were satisfied with the stacks ... Did the Dealer count your all-in?

3) Did the Button reach for 'his half' of the pot? Then we might have an issue, but sounds like the Dealer error was caught fairly quick ... but not quick enough. You should've asked the Dealer why he was chopping the pot well before the push ... or were you still checking out the rake and collecting chips directly from another player?

4) And now what you've all been waiting for ... WHAT ABOUT THE SIDE POT? SB pulls his chips back and pays you, right? He's not interested in doubling his $230? The B isn't interested in the side pot either?

This is a massive train wreck here ...

I'm with Suit ... who tipped off the Floor? I've never seen where the Floor looked into something 'just because' .. and I'm surprised that you didn't ask when you got your chips .. And I certainly hope you at least attempted to tip 'someone'. Most Floors aren't supposed to accept tips. GL

Maybe this is where the split part comes in. Did BTN and SB have a tie for the side?

My guesses:

Least likely: Button thinks he owes you money, got up from table, asked floor to look into it.

More likely: Floor knows this dealer is shaky, is keeping an eye on him when dealing bigger game.

BTW, I simply MUST pile on about you worrying more about the rake than the $100's being awarded at that moment. I watch dealers carefully when I'm in a hand (on guard to prevent burn-n-turns, etc), but from the showdown until the pot is being pushed my way, I'm on hyper-alert. Don't worry about the rake, unless the game is short-handed, it's almost impossible for a dealer to over-rake a pot (it happens short-handed because the dealer is unconsciously raking the "usual" amount, it's not easy to switch back to the conscious thought required to alter your routine--ask anyone who's used to driving a stick-shift, and is still reaching for the stick that isn't there in their new car).

this is weird, how did the floor know is the only part that Im concerned about. worry about what you want I guess, but the rake amount should be the least of your worries.

as far as the dealer beginning to split the pot - confusion happens for sure, this shouldnt be an issue as far as this story goes

the story here to me is how the floor got the info, this will give us what we need to examine what happened and if there is an angle at play, until we get that its hard to make a judgement

maybe a player got up confidentially and went to a supervisor who called surveillance to confirm.

I don't think we can really punish the button since he was never asked for the money from the dealer, yes he's a shady idiot, but I don't think there's enough evidence to penalize him. He will just say he didn't realize he never put the money it.

As for the dealer, we need to be our own floor supervisors and watch everything ourselves, especially when we're in a big pot. The ironic thing about it in the end is the OP was checking to see if he was short a dollar or two on the rake, but he didn't realize he was short $410 from the pot

which some have said this is possible, I have seen some un-attentive players before that this was exactly the case

Ya that's right, the small blind did do that.
I don't know who informed the floor, but 2 pit bosses were hanging around the table at the time. They did phone someone about the hand as they showed me a detailed note, about all the bets, calls, and raises from the start of the hand.
I just assumed at the time that the button put his call in when the dealer was taking the rake out of the pot.
Also there was no side pot paid out that I remember, between the button and small blind.

Ya quite the train wreck here, Didn't notice if the side pot was corrected by the pit, didn't see it paid out. Actually it is difficult for me to get involved in conversation as I am very deaf.
Rake is 5% to a maximum amount, and put in the chip tray. I guess I trusted the SB more, to put in his call. I was checking the rake being taken out by the dealer. And after that with the dealer trying to chop the pot everything got out of hand. The pot ended up being over 3K. I was pretty excited cause I have never won a huge pot.

Yeah your priority here shouldn't be on the rake, but on making sure that your pot is right by making sure that your river bet is correctly paid by each player, especially when a player made a verbal call instead of a physical call.

How could there not be a side pot unless button was AI for less than $410. And that doesn't seem like the case from the OP. But it is confusing.

1. How could there not be a side pot unless YOU covered the BTN. Which based on your own words, " I had $410 left as the effective stack and I called..." is unlikely. When BTN tossed in a single chip to call the $640 of the SB, there would be a side pot.

2. Also the SB again based on your words, did not owe a call since he was the one that bet. "After the river card SB raised $640..."

So I am definitely convinced there was a true cluster. But so has been your description of the events. Also, when you, prematurely flipped over your hand, strongly contributed to the cluster. In fact, if you don't recall a $460 side pot being pushed (especially since your were admittedly focused on the dealer's actions) I suspect even after the review, someone else may have been "screwed" (to your advantage possibly.) This is a clear example why pots need to be made right before proceeding in all but the simplist of pots.

Surveillance does in fact monitor poker tables on occasion. The way the information was delivered - via a hand-written note with street-by-street details - suggests that's exactly where the information came from.

When I first started playing poker, one of my first casino sessions was at Binions in LV back in about 2005. I remember a player selling chips to another player at the table and then pocketing the cash. I noticed but was so new to the game that I didn't even know that going south was a thing or that it wasn't allowed. A few minutes later the floor came over and told the player that security notified him of what they had seen and the money must be put back into play. The player didn't know about the rule either, in his defense.

I'm certainly not saying they can or will catch every mistake, but they absolutely do watch tables in real time from time to time. How often or how well will obviously vary greatly.

Actually the note indicates to me they specifically reviewed the action and wrote it down as part of they review. Even if or when security is monitoring a specific hand, I doubt they are writing everything down initially. Once there is an issue or a question, then yes. But not initially.

I would guess that the side pot was split and never brought in .. so the players keep their own bets ..... and that is when the dealer forgot he had to bring in the bet for the main pot....