Hows this for the worst casino rule ever!!

A mate and i were in the Berkley in Edinburgh playing in a Friday night tourney ( £10 re-buy ), He was sitting to the dealers right and we were in an action hand.

The girl on my left went all-in ( two before him ) and the action folded to him, he called with the nuts ( only the flop was out, and it only cost him about 1/4 of his stack ) and the action went around with two other callers.

When the dealer ( one of the players, in the £10/£20 the casino doent take a buy-in fee, so no casino dealer ) went to collect the mucked hands he accidently picked up my mates hole cards. As you can imagine he shouted straight away and the card room manager was called over.

In the Gala casinos i have played at this has happened before, they take the player to one side and ask him to whisper what his hole cards were, as long as the EXACT cards are in the muck pile the manager will return them to the player - no real harm done, mistakes do happen.

The Berkley is a Stanley casino and the card room manager explained that their rules were that "the cards are dead, no exceptions". My mate then reached out to reclaim his 1/4 stack................. Oh no, apparently the chips stay in the pot and all his rights to both the hand and his chips invested are waved!

Obviously he was super-pissed , but the managers could only say it was his fault for not protecting his hole cards.

The moral of the story? Make sure you know all the house rules before the game.

Sounds like the Casino pulled a fast one on you here. Id be calling for the dealer's head.

thats rule is god dam retarted, id be super pissed too. it amazing all the different rules out there. there needs to be some regulations set for casinos and online

I would be pissed but you now see why people place objects on top of thier hole cards

I don't really blame the guy dealing, he is doing us all a favour and putting himself at a disadvantage, playing and dealing does my nut in.

Its a Stanley rule aparently, UK i guess. If anyone else goes to another Stanley casino you could always ask for me.

I never mentioned it before but that was the last tourney he went to at a casino, shame really. The week before he caught some out of order table talk that caused him to be knocked out, a casual " you should call, great pot odds" made a guy that was halfway through the action of throwing his cards call my mate bluff ( good bluff too )

We still play a few differant cash games so it's not all bad.

Protect your cards.

Don't remember where I read these stories but it was only a couple days ago. I think it was an article about players protecting their cards.

Some guy flopped a full house, stands up to stretch (or something) puts his cards in front of his chips. Dealer grabs them and puts them into the muck. He, of course, freaks. Result - his hand is dead.

Another guy mucks his hand but accidently throws them so that they are touching another player's cards who was still active. Result - both player's cards were considered dead. (I believe the player who threw the cards tried to pay the other person what he had lost but the dealer wouldn't allow it.)

I never really understood why some players put a couple chips on top of their cards when they are playing but now I know. Protect your cards.

Geez, I can't remember where I read those stories....anyone??????

I found it.

I found where I read the particulars.
http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-tournaments/event.php?id=2301&screen=logs
It's from this year's wsop.




Date / Time:
2005-07-08 16:04:00Title:ALWAYS PROTECT YOUR HANDLog:This tournament has just had two simultaneous, brilliant examples of why you see players putting chips and various other objects on top of their hole cards. It's not just for show.

Instance #1 - With the board showing A-J-8-J-2 a player with a made full house (8-8 in his hand) decides to posture for a bit. He stands up, and acts as if he's got a difficult decision to make. Finally he sits back down, picks up his cards, puts them in front of his chips, and starts to count out his bet. As he's counting, the dealer takes his cards and slides them into the muck. The man disputes the call, and the floor is called. The floor reinforces the dealer's explanation: it is the player's responsibility to protect his or her hand. Once a card has been mucked, it cannot be retrieved. The hand is dead.

Instance #2 - Meanwhile, on another table, just as the dealer is explaining to the player in seat #1 that he should always protect his hand, the player in seat #2 attempts to fold, and accidentally tosses them on top of seat #1's cards. The floor's ruling is the same: always protect your hand. If your cards touch mucked cards, your hand is also dead. The player in this case was forced to leave his $200 call in the pot. In a show of remorse, seat #2 attempts to reimburse the man for his lost $200 bet, and although the floorman respects the decision, he also states that chip exchange is also illegal, and cannot occur.

In both instances, all parties involved handled themselves with dignity and respect for tournament staff, despite the potential for emotional outbursts.

So just out of curiosty, what would happen if you marked your cards with whatever and the mucked cards still hit them?

they would still be "dead"

So then what's the sense of marking them?

And whats to stop some jerk who doesnt like you from throwing his 2 7 offsuit onto your pocket aces by 'accident'?

Wow, I've never played in a casino so I wasn't aware of the rules regarding mucked hands. Glad I read this cause now I'll make sure to bring a marker and keep my hands close to me. Thanks for the info.

This is a standard rule in all poker houses I have ever been in. I have never heard of the whisper one, which is quite amusing in my book. If your cards are not protected at all times, the dealer has every right to take them. Also, if any cards touch your cards, it is a mucked hand. So, the moral is, don't go pissing off dealers because they will and have taken cards that they shouldn't have.

Case in point, last nite, was at a casino, a guy was being a SUPER a-hole to everyone, and asked atleast 3 people to "step" outside w him. Well before long he and the dealer got into it, and while he was waiting for more chips to be delivered to him, he was dealt pct jacks, and of course had no chips to protect his hand, the dealer took his cards as soon as he looked away. It was a huge ordeal, but as stated, if cards are not protected, the dealer will always have the casino on their side.

As for Bubbasbestbabe, if your cards are protected by a chip, or whatever else you have, and cards touch them, then nothing happens. As long as the cards have no way of getting under your protected cards, then the discarded cards are removed, and the game continues. It is not considered a dead hand.

i'm not a fan at all of the no cell phone rule. i mean, i get it and all, but it'd be nice if they found a way to relax it some way.

i also have to agree that it was on the casino's side to do what they did. there's no way for them to know what your friend really had. it's a known rule in poker to protect your cards. if they're not marked, they're fair game to a dealer. i've had my cards mucked by dealers. it sucked, but now i know to protect them.

I completely agree with the cell phone rule. I dont want a player being called by their friend who saw someone's cards while watching from the rail.

Thank's to everyone for their great advise. You've saved me from having to learn this the expensive way.