With tens of thousands of players all desperate to play the WSOP, it’s no easy job catering for them, and that of course includes attracting enough good dealers to service the 100-bracelet summer shindig.
Nevertheless, some basic standards need to be met and it seems that we are quite far from achieving that, if recent evidence is anything to go by!
Poker vlogger Lexy Gavin-Mather found herself in trouble when her pocket 7s were at risk against pocket 10s. Fear not, as the dealer first made an almighty mess of the flop, and then the floor allowed Gavin-Mather to choose the card to save the day!
THE WORLD SERIES OF FLOPPING A MUCKED CARD. https://t.co/Q9oDDsuFVV
— 🃏 David Lappin 🃏 (@dklappin) June 30, 2025
For those who can’t watch the vid, after the dealer tried to much the as-yet-unrevealed flop, the lucky seven appeared on the resurrected (but now 4-card) flop.
However, that seven ought to have been the mucked card, not Gavin-Mather’s saviour. As bad a piece of dealing, floor involvement, and player involvement as we have ever seen!
Gavin-Mather came in for a bunch of criticism:
- World Series of scummy players
- She manipulated to her favour that’s for sure
- I cannot imagine letting the lady with pocket 7s scam me with a mucked 7 lol
However, after the clip went viral, she admitted she was at fault for her part in the shit-show and offered a gesture of conciliation…
If anyone knows the person who had the tens in the hand I mistakenly won, please have him contact me. I would like to buy him into next year’s gladiator or pay at least $300 of his next World Series of poker. I feel bad about this hand.
— Lexy Gavin-Mather (@LexyGavinPoker) July 1, 2025
Meanwhile, poker pro Ian Simpson had some positives to mention about the WSOP, but the state of the dealing was definitely in his ‘Cons’ list:
“The WSOP does not retain nearly enough of the good dealers. It’s a bad joke that every year they bring in thousands of untrained staff. It’s not fair on those staff that they get thrust into important financial situations without enough training, and they receive a lot of flak for it.
Pointing to the huge rake taken from each event, Simpson stated: “Not investing a portion of that money on improving the dealers, and thus improving the experience for everyone is atrocious. More hands per hour is good for the players and for the festival!”
There was more to come, though, as Demetrius Campbell found out to his cost. Campbell bagged 272,000 chips on Day 1 of Event #83: $2,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em.
However, when he arrived at his table a mere minute after shuffle and deal on day 2, his stack was somehow 60k short.
An investigation ensued, including reviewing CCTV, and it transpired that the dealer had mistakenly given his bag to his Ukrainian neighbour Mykola Kostyrko.
That might not have been a big deal except that Kostyrko had already doubled up with kings against AQ on the first hand of the day, which also meant his opponent, Ran Ilani, had paid too much.
By this time, a few hands in, it was too late to recompense all those affected, though Kostyrko reportedly offered Campbell the chunk he’d lost with the bag mix-up. Thankfully, all three players involved went on to make the money.
Well, that’s just a selection of the WSOP dealer errors this year. What do you think? Let us know on our socials!
