Did I get owned?

[smittymatt]

Friday $280 Noon tournament at the Borgata in AC. I could tell from the getgo that our dealer would be trouble as he dealt very slowly and didn't seen to be paying full attention or really caring about the action. I really thought he was new, but I was suprised to be informed by an apparent regular that he had been dealing several years.

Anyway, a bit over an hour into the tournament I posted my big blind. Our dealer dealt the cards out at his regular slow pace. I usually take my cards right away to protect them, but this time I was distracted by either the TV or a borgata babe... either way I hadn't grabbed my cards by the time UTG and UTG+1 folded.

As he did, the dealer mucked their cards as well as mine and the SB's (who had just gotten to the table)! The action stopped at this point when we informed the dealer of his error, but the cards were already mucked. Only UTG and UTG+1 had folded but the dealer insisted that there would be no redeal and that the muck stands. The floor was called over after my request and he agreed with the dealer's decision, simply saying "protect your cards."

Since the blinds were relatively small, I didn't argue any further, but I really felt it should have been a redeal. I didn't even have 2 seconds to react before my cards were folded. I mean, my cards were right in front of my chips and nowhere near the muck and the only action thusfar had been folds.

So what's the verdict, is this standard or did Borgata just own me?