Ema Zajmovic Wins a Pot Against Spencer Mclean; No, wait, McLean Actually Won

Photo:  Ema Zajmovic

In the last hand of the level, WPT Champions Club member Ema Zajmovic raises under the gun to 3,500, and Spencer Mclean calls from the button. The WPT television cameras arrive, shining their lights on Zajmovic.

Both players check to the turn on a board of , Zajmovic bets 4,900, and Mclean calls.

The river card is the , Mclean checks, and Zajmovic checks behind. Mclean shows , and says something about the deuce on the river saving Zajmovic. Zajmovic says something about the nine being the card that saved her, and turns over . The pot is awarded to Zajmovic.

Ema Zajmovic  –  70,000  (44 bb)
Spencer Mclean  –  103,500  (65 bb)

The board is wiped clean, and most of the players leave for their break. Mclean seems a little stunned, walks away from the table for a few moments before he comes back and asks the dealer about the board and the cards Zajmovic showed. The end of the hand didn’t make sense to Mclean, and he was wondering what he missed — didn’t he have a straight?

Mclean spots a reporter who covered the hand, and asks to see his notes, which match Mclean’s memory — he had a five-high straight, while Zajmovic only had a pair of nines. Mclean asks for a floorperson, and they call security to check the camera footage during the break.

Within about 10 minutes, the cameras confirm that Mclean is correct, and the pot was pushed to the wrong player. It takes another couple minutes to confirm the betting amounts (the total pot size was 20,800), and shortly before play resumes, the situation is explained to Zajmovic and 20,800 is removed from her stack and awarded to Mclean.

It’s worth pointing out that nobody was angry during this situation, and it was treated as an honest mistake with no hard feelings. Everything was confirmed and corrected quickly, and because it occurred in the last hand before the break, it didn’t interfere with play.

Spencer Mclean  –  124,300  (78 bb)
Ema Zajmovic  –  50,000  (31 bb)

Photo:  Spencer Mclean