How do we fix this mess.

[KenProspero]

4/8 Limit Canterbury

This is a rules question -- cards are mostly irrelevant.

Pre-flop.

One Limper, SB Completes, BB (me) Checks

Flop

Limper Bets, SB Folds BB Raises -- and here it gets interesting.

Limper puts some chips into the pot but doesn't call raise(BB is momentarily distracted) and when he looks up, thinks he sees dealer pushing 8 checks into the pot.

Dealer, then burns and deals the Turn. After the Turn hits the board, Limper says -- "He didn't call my raise". Dealer insists that the pot is right. Limper is insistent (though polite).

Possible rulings ...

1. Limper should have spoken up when dealer was collecting the chips -- too late to correct.

2. Count the pot, if it's a bet short, pull the turn from the board, reshuffle the stub, and tell BB that it's his action. (When I thought about it upon getting home, this is what I think should have been done.)

3. Require BB to make the bet.

What actually happened.

More facts. BB's bet was a bluff. What I would have liked to do is say "I wouldn't have called" and concede the pot.

However, there were meta game concerns. I was playing well, the table was loose and juicy (money to be made here) and my feeling is that a protracted argument often cools down the table. So, it was worth $4 to me to keep things happy (and not reveal that I was bluffing).

So I said -- "I thought he just called, but count the pot, and if it's short, I'll cover the bet." While this has to be wrong technically, it made Limper happy.

In fact, the pot was short, I made my bet -- got a free card on the Turn (which didn't help) and folded the river.

Any thoughts?