Controversy at Table 2 Leads to Carnage in Successive Hands

Richard Hayes

Level 20 : Blinds 6,000/12,000, 12,000 ante

Absolute bedlam ensued here at Table 2 in successive hands.

Hassan Nashar opened to 25,000 from early position and faced a three-bet jam from Frank Reichel to 207,000. As Reichel announced he was all in and before anyone else behind him had acted, Nashar said, "All in."

The floor was called and Nashar stated he was just repeating what Reichel had said and it wasn't intended to be a declaration of his intentions as to his action. It was ruled that the declaration would stand if the action was not changed.

Nashar was playing around 700,000. Andre Marquardt was next to act after Reichel, and he called Reichel's all-in. He did not change the action, so Nashar's declaration was ruled to be binding.

Marquardt was initially confused by this ruling after making the call, but ultimately he called off for the rest of his stack versus Nashar, who had him covered.

With a crowd gathering due to the commotion, a bizarre three-way all-in scenario had been created, and no one seemed particularly happy about it.

Frank Reichel: A?K? All in
Andre Marquardt: A?Q? All in
Hassan Nashar: 8?6?

Reichel was ahead and his triple-up was confirmed by the J?5?4?9?K? runout, giving Reichel a pair of kings. Marquardt was consoled with winning the side pot against Nashar for his remaining 394,000 stack.

Nashar was fuming and before the dealer had even shuffled the deck for the next hand, he announced he was all in and shoved his last 149,000 into the middle. The dealer had to call the floor again, and Nashar told the dealer, "Call the floor, I can do what the f*ck I want."

The cards were dealt after Nashar's verbal declaration of all in was ruled to stand.

With 149,000 in the middle blind, the other players smelled blood. Santiago Nadal was next to act after Nashar, and he moved all in for 220,000. Action folded to Reichel, who moved all in with the covering stack, to create another three-way all-in scenario.

Hassan Nashar: Q?10? All in
Santiago Nadal: A?8? All in
Frank Reichel: A?A?

Reichel had woken up with rockets and must have thought he was in dreamland. Although Nashar flopped top pair on the Q?6?2? flop, the 4?2? turn and river were bricks, and Reichel scooped another big pot.

Nashar exited the tournament area still raging and the other players sat silently, stunned by what had just transpired, while Reichel more than quadrupled his stack in successive hands.