There are many ways to bust a poker tournament. This is one of the ugliest we've ever seen.
With just 22 players remaining late on Day 3 of the $10K GGMillion$ at the WSOP, Ricky Landais found himself primed for a double up.
Bobby James had raised from the cutoff with 
and, with less than ten big blinds to work with, Landais peeled 
and moved all-in over the top. James made the call.
Only a few hands prior, Landais had doubled through Max Neugebauer. Now he had a shot at a playable stack, but he wasn't greedy. When asked if he would take a chop, he nodded and said "I would."
And then it all went horribly wrong for him.
'A bad omen for Landais'
Under the bright lights of the feature table, the dealer spread the 
flop.
Yes, you're reading that correctly. The dealer put four cards out and the floor was summoned.
"This is really bad," said Joe Stapleton from the commentary booth. "This is a bad omen for Landais."
The table assumed the deck would be shuffled again and a new flop put out. Instead, after some deliberation, it was ruled that the four cards would be shuffled and a new burn card selected.
It was, of course, the – leaving a new flop of .
"This is a real sweat," said Randy Lew as the dealer rolled over the 
turn. "Don't do it to him."
And the river card? The 
– an absolute dagger finish to a train wreck of a hand.
"This is one of the worst things I've ever seen," Stapleton declared. "I mean look, it's poker. Mistakes happen, things are randomized. But that was ugly."
Landais, to his credit, took the brutal beat with dignity.
As the players at the table absorbed what had just happened one of them asked James if he was surprised by the ruling.
"Yes, I am," he replied. "Because in WSOP Europe I think it would be different. I think the ruling would be different."
Images courtesy of World Series of Poker.
