I got kicked out of game for speaking up!

[warboat]

I got kicked out of pub poker last night!
What happened was one of the most disgusting thing I have witnessed in live poker.
It was a 888 poker league event held at Melton's Tabcorp Park.
$20 entry with a single passport (rebuy/addon). $1000 guaranteed prizepool. 1st and 2nd place will also receive a qualification seat to the state finals to be on Sunday 29 April.
I hung around to watch the final table with interest as the 1st and 2nd place winners of seats may not be able to play on sunday or, as in the case of one player, already qualified to sunday's event. This means they could potentially offer the seat to the highest bidder and I was an interested party if this was to occur.
Anyway, down to 5 players remaining, they made a deal to chop the $1000 prizepool equally 5 ways. They were playing for points and entry into Sunday's event.
There was pressure to finish the tournament quickly as they had a deadline of 2.30am to conclude the event set by the venue. With only a few minutes left to 2.30am, the Tournament Director (who was also dealing the final table - which is standard) decided that the 2 seats be decided by chip count at 2.30am.
They were down to 3 players.
SB ~600k+ (already qualified to sunday's event but definitely not selling extra seat to me)
BB ~20k (wants the seat and not selling)
BTN ~250k (will not be playing in sunday's event but willing to sell it off)
Blinds were 50k/100k with 5k ante IIRC.
In this situation, the BTN should just fold and the SB & BB goes to showdown.
However, the BTN limped in for 100k.
In this spot, the SB would strategically check it down with the BTN to maximise the chance of knocking out the shortstack.
Instead, SB pulled out a large stack to put the BTN all-in!
BTN folded.
Instead of flipping his cards over for the all-in showdown with BB, SB tossed his cards facedown towards the dealer. The dealer was about to pick up the cards when SB reached for his cards and flipped it over on the felt to show everyone Ah3h. The cards had not hit the muck and were technically tabled face up. The dealer flipped the cards over facedown and declared SB's hand folded. SB had no objection to this. The dealer then pushed the whole 200k+ pot to the BB!
I was watching this from the rail and jumped in and questioned the dealer how this could be folded? I was told by the dealer it was "accidently" folded, to which I argued that he cannot fold as this is an all-in tournament situation. I argued that this is collusion if the SB folded after forcing BTN to fold out of the pot. I was berated by the dealer and a heated exchange ensued where I told the dealer he is wrong and was breaking the rules and facilitating collusion.
While the heated exchange was ensuing, the dealer declared that was the final hand and chip counts will now be taken to determine the seats! BB started the hand with around 20k and now has over 200k!!!! BTN now has the smallest stack and missed out on the seat!
Even if the SB fold was enforced, there should be a side pot of around 170k which goes to SB after BTN folded. This would leave BB with a main pot of around 60k and missing out on the seat as he would have the smallest stack!
I did not relent in speaking up and was eventually told to exit and was escorted out by a venue manager which I did not resist and willfully walked out with him. As we were at the entrance of the venue, I apologised to the manager for the heated exchange at the tables and explained what happened. He seemed to understand my point of view and held no malice. However, he seemed disinterested in the integrity of the game and more interested in getting everyone out so he can close up the area.
The dealer and tournament director in question was Ernie who is well known by players in the 888 poker league in the western suburbs. I was threatened with a ban by Ernie for questioning his authority and arguing over the rules that applied in this situation. He promised I will be receiving a call from 888 poker (which I will be glad to receive!). I vowed never to play 888 poker league again if this farce is allowed to occur. I promised him that I will take action with this with 888 poker league.

[bennymacca]

double post, all replies to go in the thread linked below

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7037&p=144074#p144074