Have just read issue 33 of Poker player. Nick Wealthall wasn"t whinging as such in his column for a change, but I think the claim he makes in his column is wrong. It concerns a hand he played in a cash game in the Bahamas.
Nick and a mateyboy get all their chips in on a flop of Ace-9-4. Nick holding Ace-King thought this was a good flop for him, but the mateyboys instacall made him think otherwise.
Mateyboy was indeed in better shape with aces up. Both players then table their cards face-up and wait for the dealer to deal 4th and 5th street. This is where it all goes bandy.
The dealer for some reason decides to take mteyboy"s ace-9 and plonk it in the muck. Obviously consternation is then expressed via some colourful language from mateyboy followed by a request politely to please fish the cards out and deal the remaining community cards.
The dealer apologies, fishes them out, deals and no help for Nick, the pot is shipped to mateyboy.
Nick in his article suggests that once the dealer took the cards and mucked them, he then should be awarded the pot as technically mateyboy"s hand is dead. But surely this is wrong..surely this only applies if the hand is face down and mucked accidentally.
How can his hand be declared dead once it has been tabled face-up for all the players and dealer to see, just because they touch the muck, either by the dealer mucking them accidentally or some freak gust of wind blowing them onto the muck?
If both players are all-in and the cards have been tabled face-up and everyone knows what the cards are then they can just be fished out if they"re mucked accidentally no?
The hand is essentially over as far as play is concerned; the chips are in, the cards have been passed to the dealer, everyone"s waiting for the dealer to deal the final cards...the end is over no?
Cards can only be mucked when the play is still continuing I assumed. It seems farcical that a card could then be blown onto the muck after a show down and your opponent can claim the pot on such a tenuous technicality.
--Let"s assume Nick the casino was operating under the same rules as you would expect in a UK cardroom.