WSOP Updates – The Tale of a Mismarked Chip

August 01 2006, Haley Hintze

Even perfection isn't perfect. In the later stages of play on the last of the four Main Event opening days, a player discovered an oddity in his stack --- a chip marked with $25 on one side and $100 on the other. So what happens in a situation such as this?

In this instance, that table's play paused for a moment as the chip was passed up the supervisory scale, until the discovery reached WSOP Assistant Supervisor Nick Gullo. Gullo was also the evening shift's "keeper of the chips," having the keys to the locked cabinets at the hall's back wall where surplus chips are stored. Gullo quickly made the determination, based on color. The chip itself was green, the normal $25 denomination; the chip itself was then pulled from play and replaced with one with normal "$25" markings on both sides.

Mismarked chips happen in the industry quite often, but are a rare sight at an event with special minting requirements such as the WSOP. As Gullo, the evening shift's keeper of the chips, explained, "It's not at all uncommon with the regular ones, but these are printed up special, and sealed and stored away. That's the first time I've had one of these," referring to the error chip, "in this year's Series." And thus explained, Gullo's decision was easy. Since the chip itself had likely been sorted and distributed based on its edge color, then its value as a $25 green was the only logical choice.

Little quirks like this occur with limited frequency, though finding errant chips on the floor happens a handful of times every day. In those cases the chip is usually returned to the player most likely to have dropped or knocked the chip from the table, but if it's not obvious or a dispute arises, then the errant chip is often pulled from play. Gullo wryly noted that it's only the small chips that seem to make their way to the floor. As he added, chuckling, ,"They [the players] seem to guard the larger ones a little bit better."

Ed Note: Guard your large chips carefully when playing at Noble Poker

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