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DJ MacKinnon Returned From Dinner To Find His Chip Stack Missing

Jan 27, 2014

When DJ MacKinnon returned from dinner to take his seat at Table 37, something was missing — his chip stack.

Uh oh.

Tournament Director Tab Duchateau was quickly called over, as murmurs of a missing chip stack spread out into the rest of the tournament room. Amazingly, MacKinnon himself was relaxed and fairly calm, stating his case clearly rather than getting angry or excited.

MacKinnon had been in seat 1, and in the last hand before the dinner break, Allison Schultz (seat 4) played a hand against Robert Merulla (seat 2). On the river, Merulla moved all in, and Schultz went into the tank. The level had already ended to start the dinner break, but some players — including MacKinnon — stuck around to watch the conclusion of the hand.

Eventually, Schultz called with A-A, but Merulla turned over 2-2 to win the pot, and Schultz was eliminated. (No word on what the board was.) At this point, MacKinnon and the other players left for their dinner break.

Everyone agreed on the action to that point. Of course, at that point, MacKinnon still had a chip stack.

The initial assumption was that when the dealer pushed the stack to Merulla in seat 2, the dealer may have accidentally pushed the pot too close to MacKinnon’s stack, and it may have mistakenly been mixed in with the pot. But Merulla resisted, claiming he took a photo of his chip stack at the dinner break on his phone, and his chip stack is exactly what it should be — 143,000.

It was explained that the photo could represent Merulla’s stack after MacKinnon’s chips had accidentally been pushed his way.

[Photo Removed]

As you’d expect, T.D. Duchateau put in a call to Borgata Security as soon as the basics were explained, so much of this debate occurred while Security was reviewing the footage from the overhead security cameras. Eventually, he returned to the table and described what was seen on the security footage.

Duchateau said that MacKinnon had stood up behind his chair to watch the end of the hand, and when Merulla showed the winning hand, MacKinnon left for dinner. At that point, the dealer pushed the pot toward Merulla, but when he pulled in the chips, MacKinnon’s stack was pulled in with the rest of the pot.

Duchateau made no accusations about intent, but said the situation was clear, and so was the resolution — 61,500 would be taken out of Merulla’s stack and returned to DJ MacKinnon in seat 1.

Merulla accepted the ruling, and said that if he pulled in the chips, it was only in the excitment of winning a big pot. He counted out 61,500 and gave it to MacKinnon.

All of this took place while the rest of the field continued playing, and Table 37 didn’t play their first hand of the level until a full 30 minutes in.

Robert Merulla  –  76,000  (152 bb)
DJ MacKinnon  –  61,500  (123 bb)

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