There I was, sitting in the #8 seat of a perfectly fine $3/5 no-limit hold'em game somewhere in the Bay Area. We were playing a $20 bomb pot and I was in the hijack position. The flop was K-9-5 rainbow, and the action checked to me. I glanced down at 87o, and checked, willing the two players behind me to check as well. Because if a six peeled off on the turn... They did check. No six on the turn, and it checked around again. The river was something else inconsequential, but now the UTG+2 player, in the #6 seat, bet. I had eight-high so tossed my cards toward the dealer.
This is where things went sideways.
The #9 seat called. But he had a bad habit of leaving his cards unprotected, and a bit forward. Nothing good ever comes of that, particularly when you're in the #9 seat. I'm not sure of the exact sequence of events, but somehow he reached out and scooped up his cards, and one of my cards. Now he had three cards in his hand, and my other card was sitting by its lonesome.
Ruh-roh.
The player who had bet said, "You're good." Then somebody at the table said, "That hand (pointing to the #9 seat) is dead." Nine discarded a card (presumably mine) and said, "No, this is my hand."
"Floor!"
Before I go further, what's your ruling? Okay – you have your answer written down?
The floor came over, and scooped up the four cards. He asked Nine to whisper in his ear what his cards were. Then the floorman turned to me and said, "Lee, what were your cards?"
Honestly, I was so shocked by this turn of events, that I couldn't particularly remember my cards. I was absolutely sure that the hand would be ruled dead and nothing would come of it. But then he pulled out the two cards Nine said were his, and showed me the other two. "These two?" Then, I did remember the "8-high missed gutshot". "Yes, those are mine."
"Okay, then the hand is live, the call stands." Six said, "It's fine – your hand, whatever it is, is good." Nine turned up A4, which had made a wheel on the river, and collected the pot. The hand was over, but we sure had a lively Sixth Street...
Can that possibly be right?
Everybody at the table agreed that, by a strict interpretation of the rules, Nine's hand would be dead. Certainly that was my understanding over the past 3-4 decades of playing casino poker. But I thought I should look it up. I went to the TDA rule book and was shocked to read Rule #65:
Accidentally Killed / Fouled / Exposed Hands. A: Players must protect their hands at all times, including at showdown while waiting for handst o be read.If the dealer kills a hand by mistake or if in TD's judgement a hand is fouled and cannot be identified to 100% certainty, the player has no redress and is not entitled to a refund of called bets. If the player initiated a bet or raise and hasn’t been called, the uncalled amount will be returned. B: If a hand is fouled but can be identified, it remains in play despite any cards exposed.
Of course, TDA is for tournaments, but for issues such as this, there's no difference. If it's a good rule for tournaments, it's a good rule for cash games.
Sure, there are some angles that could come from this. But once I got over my initial shock, I was persuaded that this floorman made the right call. Not only was it TDA-correct, but it was good for the game.
If you're the floorperson, what's your ruling?
