I don't use a personal chip protector but this situation surely gives a good reason to use one.

Ok, what would happen in this situation:
One guy is late returning, someone has sat in his place and busted his stack. I assume he'd get the empty seat's stack, but its 15k less. Does he then get 15k added to this stack? How can they prove it was 15k, and not 50k?

formulating stack hopping scame as I post.

I normally never make nitty posts like this.

But the case where you knew for certain you had been given 3 extra 500 chips and you kept it anyway you were very much in the wrong.

Keeping those chips when you know there was a mistake is essentially stealing equity from all the other players in the tournament.

If you knew for certain he had made a mistake it is absolutely your responsibility to make sure the problem is corrected.

Poker players in general need to be more vigilant about enforcing all rules fairly.

This is what I was wondering when the other guy posted the story about the dude laughing at the seat next to him auto folding AA/KK/QQ... guy was sitting in, and likely playing in the wrong seat.

At the ACF the procedure fo tournaments is to count yourself, have verified by the dealer and to put a stick note on top of your chips before the break. The dinner breaks are two hours there sometimes, so I can definitely see how they could forget if they were drinking lots of wine at dinner. :-)

Not to sound to much like a jerk, but you really thought that EVERYONE at the table including the DEALER didn't notice that two people were sitting in different seats than they were just a short while ago?

The quoted part above might actually be believable.

i don't disagree, which is why i said i full volume to floorman with dealer and other players to hear, 'are you sure that's correct?' had the floorman been less concerned with his EGO (being questioned by a girl no less) and more concerned with correct chip count, he would have easily seen his mistake. he did restack and supposedly recount before he stomped off in a huff. what am i supposed to do, chase after him and demand he take the chips back?

normally when somebody makes an honest mistake, even in my favor, i will bring it to their attention. and i DID give him the opportunity to recount.

i do understand your position though, which is why i always try to stay during the counts of all the stacks and have caught mistakes several times.

Different thing though thomas. Hard gaming mistakes are just casino v player, so the casino are just giving their money away when they make a goodwill gesture, however any judgement in poker also affects other players (and of course doesn't affect the casino at all normally) so there's much more to it than your analogy.

Here I would rule that first of all [B] has to pay the entry fee to [A], because he took his chips, so he has to buy them.
(This can't be enforced by law, but if [B] refused, he should be banned from that specific tourney for life).
[A] should then in addition be allowed to go on in the tourney with [B]'s original stack. If his stack is much smaller now, I guess there is nothing to be done about it; [A] should have been on time.

By far the most fair ruling possible

Probably already mentioned, but I only read the OP... Not only did he get busted by his own stack, he also got busted by his own cards. I have no idea how I would have ruled this... Is there precedent for this?

Both disqualified seems fair.

Disqualification is certainly not fair if the staff makes a mistake when moving stacks. adanthar's ruling seems best imho.

i played in a 2nd chance event at the world series two summers ago. we went on break with 5 or 6 people left at the final table and were told we had 15 minutes. i get a drink, take a piss and go outside to smoke a cig. i see one of the other 5 at the FT outside and chat with him a bit while we finish our cigarettes.

when we came back in we were shocked to see that play had resumed and we were in fact 3 or 4 minutes late from the apparent 10 minute break. so i hurry over to my seat when i realize that the australian guy to my left was sitting in my chair. im like wtf buddy and he and the table soon realize his mistake. here is where things get awesome. i was obviously getting blinded out while smoking my cig, but apparently the aussie had taken the blinds twice before i got back. so these chips were added to my stack and he actually stole from himself. the guy went ballistic and demanded that the chips be placed in his stack or he would leave. the td basically said don't let the door hit you on the ass. he bitched for a while longer and said "this is bullocks" over and over and over again while my brother who was **** faced mocked him from the rail. the guy busted a few minutes later and i took 3rd. the end

Wow this is pretty bad, there is no right answer really that will please everyone 100% of the time but If I was a TD I would split the 15k between the other players at the table, Put a penalty on the winner of the pot and keep the other guy busted.

Adanthar has it pretty close to fair imo. Although I don't think disqualifying them both would be unjustified.

I like Adanthar's solution.

gboro's story is a good addition to the thread.

lol live poker.

I'm sure they stop the color up and send out a search party when they get to your stack?

lol at threatening to leave...hahahahaha

also, I really hope your bro noticed this and said nothing although prob not if he was crunked up

I don't make it to NVG that much, but this thread (and the mention on the 2plus2 pokercast) drew me here. This has to be one of the funniest things I have heard in a long time. Thanks to the OP for posting it.

ASSUMING for a moment that both players got disqualified -- would you agree that all the chips should be taken out of play (not blinded off)?

I think so.

Had the guy who got his stack stolen on my table in day 1 of the Barcelona event, it was WPT finalist Jan Bubli (about 99% positive I just spelled his name wrong but too lazy to look it up.) His English isn't great but the guy on my right translated for us. Basically he didn't notice he was behind the wrong stack until it was too late, and both him and the guy who translated (who is a regular at Aviation) think the other guy noticed but didn't say anything because he's a scumbag. Both think the ruling that there was no penalty was bull****.

agree