Controversy on Table 17

Calum Grant

Level 11 : Blinds 800/1,600, 1,600 ante

A controversial hand on Table 17 captured the attention of most of the tournament room.

There was around 60,000 in the pot on the 3?2?8?7?J? board. Merijn van Rooij announced all in from early position, and his opponent, Maan El Hachem, called off his remaining stack of 17,200.

Van Rooij tabled his K?K? for a pair of kings. El Hachem kept his cards face down and pushed them forward, thinking Van Rooij had K?J? for a flush. The dealer then placed his cards on top of the muck, where they were still easily retrievable.

El Hachem then realised that Van Rooij had just a pair of kings, and he could beat that. El Hachem said he had deuces, which was good for a set, and the cards were taken from the top of the muck and turned over. It showed that El Hachem indeed had 2x2x.

The floor was then called over, and the initial ruling was that El Hachem's hand was dead due to going into the muck. El Hachem and a few players at the table then said his hand should still be alive because when there is an all-in and a call, the cards should go on their backs.

The floor went to EPT Tournament Director Toby Stone for a final say due to the grey area about hands going into the muck in this scenario. The decision was made during the tail end of the break, and the original decision had been overruled, and it was declared that El Hachem's hand was still in play. With that, he scooped in the pot.

"At all-in and call, it is the dealer's responsibility to protect the player's cards, so for this reason, the hand is still alive," said Stone.