Dealer error at Excalibur

When I played Pai Gow Poker at the Excalibur last week, the following happened:

There were three players at the table including me. The dealer arranged his hands a certain way. I forget exactly how, but I he had high cards in both hands. The dealer reached for the first player's cards and before he saw them the other player told him "You have a flush." So the dealer re-arranged his high hand to a flush and the low hand to a high card.

Then the dealer turned over the first player's hands, which ended up in a push. The first player was upset about this, claiming the dealer had set his hands and had started to reach for the player's hands, therefore he couldn't change it, and if he made a mistake then too bad.

The pit boss came over and ruled in favor of the dealer. I really didn't mind, even though I also pushed when I'd have won, but I figured sine no players' cards had been revealed it was still ok for the dealer to rearrange his hands. For the record we all pushed on that round, and we all would have won if the error had gone uncorrected.

What do you think?

BTW the first player accepted the pit boss' ruling with a minimum of arguing, but he got nasty towards the second player. So nasty, in fact, the other guy left shortly after.

About an hour later the first player and I were still at the table, but other players had joined. I don't recall why I told the dealer about that time, before he saw his cards, "Watch out for a flush!" The First player then said "Man, he should have kept his mouth shut!"

The same situation has happened to me several times. I absolutely believe the pit boss made the correct decision.

If the dealer sets his hand wrong and it helps me, I will not say anything.

If he sets it wrong, and it hurts me, obviously I will correct him. I've gotten yelled at several times for this. I usually bet $10 a hand. A player next to me was betting $50, and got upset that I saved $10 by correcting the dealer, but he didn't get the $50 he was going to win. "I would have given you the $10 if you would have kept your mouth shut" Sure he would have...

I've spotted flushes/straights dealers haven't seen, but if I'm going to say something, I say it while they are still looking.

Quote: FinsRule

The same situation has happened to me several times. I absolutely believe the pit boss made the correct decision.

If the dealer sets his hand wrong and it helps me, I will not say anything.

If he sets it wrong, and it hurts me, obviously I will correct him. I've gotten yelled at several times for this. I usually bet $10 a hand. A player next to me was betting $50, and got upset that I saved $10 by correcting the dealer, but he didn't get the $50 he was going to win.

That's my take, too. It's me against the dealer, if he makes a mistake that favors me, that's his lookout. As to the other players, they're on their own.

I did correct a dealer error in my favor in 3 card poker. The dealer paid me the play bet when her hand didn't qualify. It was reflexive, too, as when I complained for not being paid the ante bonus. Fair is fair.

the dealer has to set his hand the house way......even if he has paid every one out and then notices he has set his hand wrong......the money must be returned then the proper house way set up.......so the pit was correct here.

I don't play Pai Gow Poker, so I can't really say, but it would seem that correcting errors is proper. Its not as if someone had drawn cards based on the error or relied on the error in some fashion. Dealers lose concentration or make simple mistakes. Nothing wrong with speaking up about it. Keeping the house honest is a good thing irrespective of its effect on the outcome of a particular hand.

The pit boss did the right thing. As did the player that pointed out the mistake.

The rules clearly state that the dealer must set his hand according to 'house way'. If the error is discovered at any point prior to reshuffling, it must be corrected.

End of debate.



Did you ever notice that in Pai Gow, as well as many other games, when the dealer takes your chips, he puts them in the rack, but at the top of a row where it's easy to tell whose was whose?

The reason for that is two-fold:

1 - To know what was bet in the event a player banks the next hand.
2 - In case an error is discovered and things need to be backed-up.

Seeing all these replies, I'm glad I didn't say anything.

Still, if the dealer had rearranged his hands after looking at the first player's cards, I might have complained about it.