Even more chips!

It's bad enough that no one at the Rio seems to be able to count chips -- the total in play changes by hundreds of thousands with each update -- but with six players left the totals are consistently over 90 million. Since Harrah's is basing the prize pool on 8773 paid entrants, there should be only 87,730,000 chips in play. That is a difference of almost 2.2 million, a difference representing real dollar value. It is also an increase of 1.7 million from the reported total with 27 players left.

What does it mean? There is still a small chance that whoever is reporting the chip counts is consistently wrong. To my knowledge there has never been an official count. That in itself is somewhat cavalier, I think.

If the chip total is accurate, either this is the biggest cheating scandal or the grossest incompetence in the history of tournament poker. The gaming control board should be brought in immediately and videotapes examined, particularly during chip races, to see if evidence can be found.

Pretty much every player in the event is affected by this (including yours truly who got knocked out just before the money, money perhaps won by someone with extra chips).