tourney/dealer question

[chao22mien]

playing at Planet Hollywood in their 2pm $60 tourney.....pretty decent workable structure for the value...

anyhow, with 2 tables left i m in a 3 way pot all in. i have the short stack with 8500, but win the main pot.

i get shipped my chips but realize during the next hand that i m short. i have 18K and should have 25K+.

i say something to the dealer but she says that it s too late b/c the hand is over...she apologizes

i m upset but the thing is IT IS my responsibility to make sure the chips are right.

anyhow, the guy who had me covered was really nice and threw me a 5K chip....said he didnt wanna get screwed by karma.

so 2 questions...

1) i m 99% sure the dealer is right and i couldnt do anything to retrieve the chips i lost. or is there anything i could have done?

2) when the nice guy threw me the 5K chip, was this even legal and could another player at the table called floor to prevent the "exchange"


thanks for any input in advance.