Did Thomas really discard the best hand or was there a card display error? [Image: Shutterstock.com]

Was it an awful misread of the hand or a technology screw up? Either way, the audience watching the Hustler Casino Live “Million Dollar Game” on Thursday got quite the shock when a player mucked the winning hand in a $543,000 pot.

With blinds at $500/$1,000 and a $2,000 ante, the hand started with Michael “Texas Mike” Moncek raising to $4,000 pre-flop with Q♥-9♥. Tom Dwan then called with 5♦-5♣, a previously unknown player named Thomas called with 8♣-7♦, and then Steve re-raised to $22,000 with K♦-K♣. That slowed nobody down, as Alan Keating, holding A♥-3♥, called, as did everyone else.

The flop was 4♣-9♣-T♥ and Moncek made the first move, betting $56,000. Dwan folded, Thomas and Steve called, and Keating folded.

Steve, still leading, made an odd lead bet of just $1,000 when the 2♠ came on the turn, clearly allowing the two other players to remain in the hand. The J♣ on the river gave Thomas a straight for the best hand, though flush and better straight possibilities were still out there.

WTF JUST HAPPENED?!?

Thomas rivers a straight, bets river, gets called, then mucks?!? In a $543,000 pot!!

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Steve and Moncek checked, Thomas bet $130,000, and then Steve thought for a couple seconds before making the call, prompting Moncek to fold. So great job by Thomas, right! Oddly, no.

Thomas quickly said something inaudible and pointed to Steve, who was sitting directly to his left, and then mucked what appeared to be the winning hand. Steve showed his Kings, the dealer pushed him the pot, and it wasn’t until Steve started stacking his chips that the announcers realized what happened.

never for a moment looked like he finally re-read the community cards and realized he made a mistake

They guessed that Thomas misread his hand and thought he was bluffing, considering how quickly he acknowledged that Steve won the hand without even seeing Steve’s cards. But the camera stayed trained on him as he looked at the table and he never for a moment looked like he finally re-read the community cards and realized he made a mistake.

So either he really misread his own hole cards completely and never knew he had 8-7 or, as many in the poker community are guessing, Hustler Casino Live’s RFID scanner read the cards wrong and displayed a card or cards that Thomas was not actually holding. But maybe Thomas figured out he misread his hand and just a REALLY good poker face.