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A confrontation between a dealer and a player escalated into a physical altercation during a $20 rebuy No-Limit Hold’em tournament at the Davison Poker Room, a charity card room in Davison, Michigan, near Flint.
Footage of the incident circulated in the Team Michigan Poker Facebook group. It shows a player identified as Eric Knopp, nicknamed “Bobby,” wearing a PokerNews hat, disputing the size of his big blind with a dealer referred to as “Mike.”
Knopp had posted 4,000 in chips as his big blind, but the dealer insisted the blinds had already increased to 3,000/6,000. Knopp argued that the deck had been cut before the increase took effect, meaning his original blind should stand.
The back-and-forth grew heated, with the dealer telling Knopp to “shut up” before standing up and approaching him. Knopp also rose from his seat, and the dealer grabbed him by the neck, throwing him to the ground before another player stepped in to separate the two.
After being pulled apart, the dealer shouted threats at Knopp, telling him he would “find” him and mocking him for being overpowered by an older man.
Notably, Knopp reportedly worked as a dealer at the 2026 World Series of Poker. While altercations among players at poker tables have occurred before, including incidents in Las Vegas and Houston, physical fights between a dealer and a player remain far less common.
