Re: This Never Happened to Me Before - Ruling
If the cards weren't hidden from the dealer, then the dealer made a big mistake in not at least prompting SB that he should start playing poker and save the chatter for later. However, its not the dealer's job to babysit players and if SB doesn't want to pay attention, he doesn't have to. However, if he makes that decision, he can forfeit all rights to action, which is what it sounds like he did.
As its been agreed, you did a gentlemanly thing giving SB his blind back. Hopefully he'll pay more attention to the game after that incident. I don't think the dealer is blameless in this mixup, but that doesn't change the fact that the key rule is that SB didn't protect their action. All they have to do is speak up at some point before the hand is over and they're fine. They didn't, they lose. They should be happy it was only a small blind in a small pot.
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