06- 9-05, LearnTexasHoldem:

Playing The Board After Mucking Hand

Question: I was playing at a 3 / 6 limit hold'em table at a local casino. I had K 10 unsuited, and the flop was K Q 10, rainbow. I felt pretty good with my 2 pair as I initiated betting and no one raised me. The turn was an A, and the betting weeded out everyone but me and one other guy. Yes, I was worried about the straight, but before the turn, the guy wasn't betting, just responding, so I figured him for 2 pair at best, too, and possibly only a pair of As. The river was a Jack, putting a A-high straight on the board, no flush possibility. I grinned and bet & he raised & I called him. He flipped over an A and a 10. I laughed, didn't turn over my cards, but pushing them, face down towards the common cards saying "my best hand is on the table".

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Note that they didn't touch any other cards / the muck pile. The dealer said my cards were mucked and awarded the pot to the other player. Is that right?

Later, a friend I described the situation to said I should have called for the pit boss to make the call if I disagreed with the dealer.

Yes, the smart thing for me to do was flip my cards over & keep my hand on them (which would have avoided the whole problem) but I was just wondering what the correct call was for the dealer to make.

Thanks, Quin

Answer: Yeah, unfortunately the dealer made the correct decision. When you throw your hand face down, that constitutes a muck, and a mucked hand is considered dead and can't be awarded any part of the flop. The lesson here is never to take anything for granted and always hold on to your cards until the pot is awarded to you.

What I do is wait until after the pot is pushed to me, then I put the toke chip (tip) on my cards and scoot it over to the dealer. Then there is no mistaking that I was the winner of the hand. Also, preflop, I make sure to always hold on to my cards until I put a chip on them. Usually what I do is to grab them, then in one motion while I'm betting, first place a chip on my cards and then put my bet on the felt.

At no time are my cards just out there unprotected. It is very easy for a dealer, who is rightfully trying to keep the game at a good pace, to muck your unprotected cards by accident.

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