[budblown]

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Thanks for the thoughts everyone. I am still not completely sure what resolution is best. I know that just killing the button's hand leads to the least amount of chaos (only one player is upset), but that seems grossly unfair. I don't like setting a precedent of allowing someone to get a card out of order, but at the same time this was the first time I had ever seen this sequence of events so I am not too worried about being consistent in this spot.

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You are not ruining the integrity of the flop by giving the button his fourth card. In fact you are actually protecting the integrity of the flop, turn and river that would come up thru the random shuffle - which should make everybody happy.

I don't know how you can justify a dealer mistake and penalize the button by killing his hand(who actually gets the short end of the stick of this whole thing - and judging by your responses to earlier posts, it sounds like he told the dealer once he realized he didn't have his fourth card) Killing his hand just sounds like a very bad decision regarding the integrity of the game.

How can you be setting a precedent for a card being presented out of order. Sounds to me like you need to train your dealers better.

If anything you might want to question the dealer and the player who flipped their cards over to see if they are cheating as the dealer gave him the button's card "by mistake"- I realize that may sound dumb but thats exactly how killing the button's hand sounds.

Also, you are a floorman, you should embrace chaos - if its the right decision. Just because you want to keep the least amount of chaos doesn't mean you should break the integrity of the game. This is how different floorpeople aren't consistent in similar situations - because they don't want people yelling at them, berating them etc.

It also sounds like you might be using "killing his hand" as a scapegoat because you wanted to get off work (not justifiable but understandable). Just a few thoughts.