Chip Race Consternation Causes Short Delay
As we entered the tournament room following the last break, we noticed the clock was still paused. All the players were already in their seats, and that's usually a sign something is holding up play.
Over on Table 6, Mario Lopez was talking to the floor staff. He said he was short 15,000 in chips following the color-up of the T500 chips that occurred on the last break. Mike McDonald was the player who had bought up all the chips, and they believed he might have had the extra 15,000. After discussions, it was ruled that indeed McDonald had to give Lopez the missing 15,000.
But that wasn't the only hold up.
Over on Jason Mo's table, there was consternation as well, as Mo claimed to be missing 50,000. To give further weight to his complaint, most of the players at the table agreed with him. The floor told Mo that the chips in the chip room were in balance with what had been taken out of play. Mo didn't agree, but the floor, now joined by tournament director Thomas Lamatsch, ordered the dealer to start dealing again.
Mo asked if they could check the cameras, and he was informed that there aren't cameras on every table in the room. The staff also informed Mo that because not every table is watched via a camera, the dealer remains at each table during a break. Mo then asked why there were no cameras, and Lamatsch answered that it was not feasible to install 120 cameras in the tournament room as to have one camera per table. Mo rolled his eyes and was a bit more upset after receiving the response. As part of his response to Mo, Lamatsch cited the cost implications, and Mo asked out loud why something like the bottom line of the organization would interest him. He and Lamatsch argued for a bit, but play continued nonetheless with Mo not reimbursed the 50,000 he claimed he was missing.
Jason Les, who was standing next to the table why the two were arguing, told us he thought he was missing chips too after an earlier chip race, but wasn't sure enough about it to mention it to the floor at the time. As the tournament staff pointed out to Mo, all players have the option to stay with their stack in breaks where a color-up is done.