[psandman]

There are many number 1 rules in poker.

As for shifting the blame from player dealer to player I don't think that is the point of the rule. And I don't think the blame needs shifting. I believe that almost everytime a hand gets "mistakenly" mucked it is combination of the fault of the dealer and the fault of the player. Some instances the fault is more on one side then the other, but it usually a combination.

As for rescuing hands from the muck. I don't have a problem with rescuing identifiable cards form the muck. But once the cards get mixed into the muck to the point that they can not be identified this is not an option.

I certainly never want a hand to be killed because of an error I made (even if a significant part of the error was the fault of the player).