...and speaking of folks having the propensity for being overly sensitive these days
On day 7 coverage of the WSOP Main Event a controversial ruling had to be made after the dealer miscounted a player's chip stack who was all-in. The rules are apparently very clear on this issue at the WSOP and when an official left the table with a parting comment to the player who would not let it go, and I'm paraphrasing a bit, here, 'a bet of 17 million is the same as 22', he was said to have 'needled' the player. The comment was a statement of fact, reiterating simply that the rules don't care what your intentions are when it comes to 'action', in this case the forward motion of the calling player's chips. Of course, and unfortunately predictably in these times, folks felt they needed to come to the defense of the 'victim', who in this case, was a professional player who should have known the rules, or at least, understood there would be no changing them mid-stream. To his credit, the player seemed to regain his composure after the break that followed shortly thereafter. I was a little disappointed, however, when one of the announcers whom I've already said that I liked, chose to pile on the official a bit with a remark about how the 'needling' remark was uncalled for. In fairness, this was after one of the players not involved in the pot also made a comment to this affect to the tournament officials that remained at the table after the lead official had left. My beef is that no one spoke in defense of the official to say perhaps it was not a needle but simply an attempt to deflate the argument raised by the emotional player by reducing it to its most simplest of terms--it doesn't matter how much you thought you were calling, the rules say that the responsibility is ultimately yours, and yours alone to determine chip sizing as long as they are clearly exposed, which they were in this case. The lead tournament official went on to say at one point prior to this that even if the dealer had said '3 million' instead of the actual amount of more than 22 million, it wouldn't have mattered. Yet, the emotional player continued to air his frustrations. Still, in the end it is easier for folks to pile on the official who was just doing his job.