When thousands of poker players from all over the globe converge on a relatively small casino, there are bound to be problems. That was certainly the case at the Barcelona stop of the European Poker Tour (EPT) earlier this week when a ruling at a nosebleed table left players fuming.

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Poker Pro Danny ansky451 Stern (pictured) was sitting at a €100/€200 PLO game when the following hand went down, according to a post on 2+2:

Two players limp in EP, I make it 1100 with KhKcJd9d in MP, Juha Helppi calls in the CO, Bullitos calls after him in the SB, and an older Spanish guy pots it to 5900 from the BB… Limpers fold, I call, Juha calls and Bullitos does as well. The pot is roughly 24k.

The flop is Ks9s7x. Bullitos checks, BB shoves for slightly over 10k, I jam for around 40k, Juha folds, and Bullitos calls all-in for around 4k-5k.

At this point, the active players asked the dealer to stop while they discussed running the board twice. Stern was adamant that he made it very clear they would run it twice for the entire pot and that everyone was in agreement. He repeated himself several times because he wanted to be very sure that everyone understood what was happening.

The first board ran out Ks-9s-7x-As-4x, while the second came Ks-9s-7x-7x-6x. When all was said and done, Stern believed he should’ve been chopping the side pot and the main pot with the local Spanish player for around €18,000 each.

But, the local player claimed the casino had a rule which states that running it twice is only allowed in heads-up pots; therefore, only he should claim the main pot and only have to chop the side pot. The table erupted with players screaming in English and Spanish until the floor manager was called. He ruled that because everyone at the table agreed to run it twice, the decision was valid for the entire pot.

Just when Stern thought he would be receiving his share, a higher level poker room employee was called and overturned the ruling, deciding in favor of the Spanish player, whom the table claimed was blatantly lying about the agreement to run it twice.

In the 2+2 thread, some thought that card room employees were somehow in on the scam, helping the local player to exploit an obscure ruling. But as others pointed out, in a large tournament such as the EPT, casinos are often forced to bring in dealers from other locations or ones who might have less experience. While the dealer in question should have known he wasn’t allowed to run it twice in that situation, he might not have been completely clear on the rules for that card room.

Other EPT players chimed in, noting that the dealers were not enforcing the rules to the letter during cash games at the event, sometimes allowing a play while other times prohibiting it. While the dealer and the first floor manager seemed to side with Stern, when the issue was escalated, the higher level employee had to refer back to the original written rule.

“Once management does get involved, they will rule to the letter of the rules and often be forced to ignore the intent of the rule if a situation is not standard because they need to back up their ruling in the event it is taken to a higher authority,” explained *TT*. “Is this wrong? Was Ansky angle shot? Yes… but it also helps to have an understanding why the ruling occurred the way it did even though I agree it’s unfair.”

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