Bellagio-Something I’ve Never Heard Of

So, a friend of mine, Russell Rosenblum, is playing in a rebuy poker tournament in the Five Diamond Poker Classic at Bellagio right now.

He called me to relay a story I’ve honestly never witnessed. I’m sure it’s happened before, but it’s a bit shocking.

There were 3 people in a hand, with the board showing 2c 6c Qd 8c (for those that don’t play poker, that’s the deuce of clubs, the 6 of clubs, the Queen of diamonds and the eight of clubs).

On the turn (after the 8 of clubs was dealt), one player started to turn his hand over. Everyone at the table tried to stop him, but he turned his cards over in the middle of the hand anyway.

Why, you might ask? Well, he had the 6 of clubs in his hand. Make that “a” six of clubs, since this deck apparently had two of them. The guy said he knew he had turned a flush, but wanted to double-check his cards to be sure. When he went back to look, he discovered the problem.

The deck was pulled from circulation, and was shown to contain 53 cards. Although Russell’s not 100% sure his table started on time, the deck was in play at least through one break, which meant it was ordered and shuffled at least once. Possibly twice, if the table started on time.

I’m sure this has happened before, but I don’t remember hearing about it. How do multiple dealers miss something like that?