Tournament Placement with 2 equal all-ins

[mrmookid]

In 9 years of weekly tournaments the scenario below has never happened before - but it almost happened last week.

Here is what almost happened. Anyone care to chime in?

5 players left. Places 1-4 pay.

3 players are in the hand.  Player 1 has most chips. Player 2 and 3 have equal number of chips.

Player 2 and 3 go all-in. Player 1 calls and wins. 

Normally if 2 people bust out at the same time the knocked out player with most chips is awarded better place and, if paid place, the prize.

In this scenario should Player 2 and 3 both be awarded 4th place? Split the prize and we have no 5th place?

[nutN2Lewz]

A tie is a tie.

Good luck, nutn

[Martini]

I would list them as both tying for 4th place and giving each of them half of the 4th place money. No 5th place.

[Nerre]

You should always make sure that you can either handle ties, OR make sure you have tie-breaking rules that can never fail.

I think that if stacks are equal the two possible tiebreakers would be:

1. Best hand (but if both play the board it fails)
2. First acting busts first (hands are read in order)

The second one might seem unfair, but if a tie needs breaking what other rule could be used if both stacks were equal and both players have the same hand?

[Martini]

Another thing to consider is how to distribute points if the game is part of a league. A while ago IIRC there was a league with scoring software which didn't support fractions of points or something like that so the league "couldn't" have a tie.

If you need an arbitrary tie breaker, Nerre's "bust in order" starting left of the button is fine by me. Beats high carding or coin flipping if a distinction must be made. It also handles more than two players busting at the same time. Depending on how multiple table bust outs are handled you could even use table number as well.

[Tex Rex]

I agree with others -- split 4th place $ equally; split the points equally.  If the point system won't accommodate that, then apply Nerre's tie-breaker.