June 3rd: Curious Case of the Four-Card Flop
If you’re reading this article, you know the basics of poker. Flops have three cards.
But in Event #11, the $10,000 GGMillion High Roller, the flop had four cards. Commentator Joe Stapleton didn’t hold back, calling it “one of the worst things” he’d ever seen.
Here’s what happened in the GGMillion High Roller:
- 22 players are left in the tournament. First place will win $1,089,964.
- Ricky Landais was all-in against Bobby James, dominating with his against .
- The dealer laid out four cards ( ), giving Ricky top-top on an abnormal flop.
- The floor staff ruled that the flop had to be mixed up face down and remade into a typical three-card flop.
- Of course, the was the card that was randomly chosen as the burn card.
- The and then runout gave CoinPoker’s Bobby James the straight.
- Ricky busts in 22nd, cashing for $41,942.
Taking Running Bad to the Next Level
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 4, 2026
A floor had to be called over when a four-card flop was spread while Ricky Landais was all-in and at-risk against Bobby James’ worse ace deep in the $10K GGMillions.
The ruling was correctly decided.
The four cards were scrambled face-down… pic.twitter.com/1Qhd14jDCP
Calling it "Taking Running Bad to the Next Level" seems like a bit of a needle from the WSOP.
If the runout had kept Ricky in the lead, this hand wouldn’t be so egregious. But since his lead was taken away from him, this is a true catastrophe. One can only imagine how the dealer feels after taking away a player’s shot at a huge double-up, and potentially, a WSOP bracelet.
Still, Landais reacted with Dalai Lama-level acceptance later, saying he had “no issue with the dealer” and chalking it up to human error.
June 17: Dealer Delivers the Final Hand in Reverse Order
Not everyone is familiar with heads-up games, but the button always receives the first card. Most of us are more familiar with full ring games.
In Event #34, the $500 Colossus, the dealer wasn’t familiar either, despite it being their job to know.
A few things made this error extremely tragic.
- It would end up being the final hand.
- The winner rivered a flush and won the event and the bracelet.
- The error was not exposed by anyone until after the event was finished.
So here’s what happened:
- The dealer began sending cards to players, in the wrong order.
- Justin Smith was given , and Myles German was given .
- All the money went in preflop, with Myles German at risk of elimination.
- The flop was .
- The turn was a , giving Justin a straight and flush draw.
- The river was a , completing Justin’s flush draw.
Some people in the poker community have stated that the board’s outcome was random and could have gone either way. This is true, but it’s not the point.
Pocket eights and Ace-King are all-in hands in most preflop heads-up situations. If equities were 50/50, then this case would not be worth splitting hairs over. slightly edges out , with about 54% equity, meaning that this dealer error introduced an inequity (despite the results favoring the ).
If the dealer error changes the odds or the outcome, that’s not something that can be ignored.
June 18: Suspicious Situation of Identical Hands
While this isn’t technically a dealer error, it’s still on the list.
In the $10,000 Mystery Bounty (Event #51), a very strange set of hands played out. One hand was identical to the hand that came recently before it. Completely identical in (almost) every way.
Here’s what happened:
- In the first of the two hands, the board ran out . The second hand was .
- The player in the big blind received offsuit.
- The player in the cutoff received offsuit.
- The player on the button received suited.
- The next time the red deck of cards was used, the exact same distribution of cards repeated itself (except for the flop difference).
As the whistleblower Dario Sammartino pointed out on Twitter, the chances of this happening in back to back hands is not 0%, but it’s basically impossible.
Loni Harwood Hui later clarified an important point (she was also at the table). A red deck was used for the first hand. After that, a blue deck was used, and that hand was normal. When the red deck returned after the blue deck, the distribution was exactly the same as the last time the red deck was used.
The automated shuffler is definitely the culprit here. Whatever happened, whether it was not shuffled or it had a software problem, this was not the human dealer’s fault. Still, it does make us question the game's integrity slightly.
Are errors happening to a lesser degree that we don’t notice? Is true randomness present in every 2026 WSOP hand? We’ll probably never get an answer.
June 24: The Dead Hand That Was Given Life Again
Patrick Leonard is a CoinPoker ambassador who created the CoinMasters tournaments and is a beloved member of the community. His reputation is similar to Phil Galfond’s, with a slightly less mythical aura. So, seeing him wronged in the 2026 WSOP is naturally going to turn some heads.
It’s Event #62: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em. Patrick Leonard is all-in, and one player is left with a decision.
- The opponent spends 6 minutes thinking it over.
- The floor is called, and a 30-second countdown starts.
- The count reaches 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1, before the WSOP staff says “dead hand.”
- Two or three seconds after the dealer declares the hand dead, the player announces “call.”
The video is 100% clear on this issue. Patrick’s opponent said “call” after “dead hand” was announced by the dealer. Still, the ruling went against Leonard, and the hand was somehow not dead.
Here’s rest of the video btw, floor says he said call just as he said dead then dealer corrects floor and said he heard him say dead first.
— Patrick Leonard 🫡 (@padspoker) June 24, 2026
Dealer was great btw, told the floor they were wrong and came up to me 2x afterwards apologising saying it was wrong. Forgot to give him… pic.twitter.com/zB6hsf2HvP
This ruling from the floor to “revive” the dead hand goes against the 2026 WSOP rules:
80. Calling-for-clock: Once a reasonable amount of time has passed and a clock is called, Floor People may, in their sole discretion, give the Participant an additional 0 up to 25 seconds to make a decision. If action has not been taken when prompted by the Floor Person, there will be a 5-second countdown followed by a declaration or stopwatch alarm. If a Participant has not acted before the declaration or alarm sounds, the hand will be dead.
A declaration was made. A hand was ruled dead. Then, a hand was ruled live.
This is the most recent travesty that floor staff has caused at the 2026 WSOP, and it’s also the most flagrant violation of their own rules.
Stay tuned in as we track other dealer and floor errors in the 2026 WSOP.
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