you forgot to make a side pot? ok. you dropped the deck too? >:|

[tyler_cracker]

4/8 limited texas hold them.

a woman is all in for a full bet preflop ($4) in a limped pot. the bb checks, and the dealer raps the table and begins dealing the flop. he announces, "5 players, 1 all-in".

the flop comes out 8[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]4[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]3[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. i lead the flop, a guy on my left raises, everyone else folds, i call.

turn is the 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. i donk and the other guy folds.

i look up and the dealer is pushing me all the chips. i say, "where's the sidepot?" dealer remembers the all-in player, who is still sitting there holding onto her cards.

i say, "that's ok, let's see the river and then if i win we won't have to worry about it." i table my hand (9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]). the woman follows suit and tables her hand (J[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]7[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]).

however, at some point during the proceedings, the dealer has dropped the stub onto the muck. there are two cards sitting on top that are probably the other dude's mucked hand, but it certainly isn't clear what is what.

dealer calls the floor. floorman gets the story and says, "hang on," and goes to get another floorman. floorman #2 listens to the story and rules that i get the sidepot, and that we'll chop the main pot.

i suggest that we could instead shuffle everything and burn and turn the river, but he says that's no good.

questions:

1. is the decision correct?

2. is the decision fair?

3. is there a better way to do it? something i though of a little later was to figure our pot equity (i'm not quite a 3:1 favorite in this particular case) and divide it accordingly. ignoring the practical and table image complications, is this a reasonable approach?