Dealer Error Saves Waxman's Tournament

An interesting and somewhat controversial hand just went down at Table 447, one that cost Angel Pagan and saved both Matt Waxman and Jason Koon a lot of chips.

It happened Koon opened for 21,000 from the cutoff and Pagan moved all in for right around 174,000 from the button. As Pagan was grabbing his chips to slide them forward, the dealer mistakingly grabbed his cards and pulled them into the muck. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," several of the players said in an attempt to stop the dealer, though it was too late.

The floor was called and ruled that the hand was dead and Pagan would be require to call the bet before him but would keep the remainder of his chips. A few of the players disagreed, but the floor's ruling was consistent with the Estelle Denis ruling in the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

"It's alright," Pagan said even though he still seemed a bit miffed. Matt Waxman was in the small blind and asked the floor if Pagan could take all his chips back if the table agreed, but the floor told him it wasn't an option. Eventually the hand progressed with Waxman calling from the small blind and it was heads-up action to the flop.