This Never Happened to Me Before - Ruling

[Kevin J]

Folded to me on the button and I raise. I'm in the 9 seat and the 10 seat has his cards on the other side of his chips where I can't see them. I look up and see the BB fold and the next thing I know the dealer is pushing me the blinds. Thinking its over, I release my cards and take the chips.

My cards are already in the muck (and the chips in my stack), when the 10 seat (the sb), say's WAIT A MINUTE! It's then that everyone (including the dealer), realized he still had his cards! When the dealer pushed me the blinds I assumed the 10 seat must've mucked already. But obviously, he didn't.

What happens now?

Result: I gave the 10 seat his sb back and everyone was happy. The floor never got called right away. But eventually someone did come over and we explained the situation to him. He said he would've ruled that I got to keep both blinds. His reasoning was it is the 10 seat's responsibility to protect his hand. I actually disagreed. He DID protect his hand! Granted, they were slightly to where I couldn't see them, but nothing intentional (he had a lot of chips). So yeah, the sb wasn't paying attention (he was talking to someone behind him), but neither was I and neither was the dealer! NO ONE noticed he still had cards! What if he was simply thinking about what he wanted to do? Is it his responsibility to stop the action? Why should he have to do that? If anything, I think he should've got both blinds and my hand should've been declared dead, cuz it's now in the muck. But then you have the problem of making a player take chips out of his stack after they've already been awarded to him. What a mess.

I'm curious to how an experienced floor person would've ruled here. Thanks.

[ncpokeresq]

I would agree with the floorman because he should have spoken up before the pot was awarded. While I think the solution informally arrived at was best, and reflects that no one was angle shooting.

[Ghazban]

[ QUOTE ]
Is it his responsibility to stop the action?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes

[DesertCat]

Its his responsibility to protect his action, which is different than protecting his hand. But the floor could rule the action happened too fast to allow him to protect his action. My guess would be you both chop the pot in that scenario.

[pfapfap]

"Protect Your Hand" means more than just putting a chip on them. It really means "Protect Your (Interest In The) Hand". This includes keeping your cards visible and speaking up if action skips you. Basically, if you're paying attention (as you should), this sort of thing should never happen to you. "You" being Seat 10, that is.

It boils down to the idea that you can't control others, but you can control yourself. If you protect your hand at all times, you will be shielded from the errors of others, and avoid a lot of problems.

[Sevenfold]

His hand is dead.

But like civilized people you made a compromise. Nice job in finding an amiable solution quickly.

[DrMega]

Agreed you did the right thing in terms of keeping the game civil. But the "talking to someone behind him" observation says to me he wasn't protecting his interest in the hand, as pfapfap suggests. You're a gentleman for returning the blind, but it was rightfully yours.

[PantsOnFire]

This all went down as it should have. You giving him back his SB was unnecessary which makes it a good karma move.

[davidlong14]

All Things Considered, an equitable solution to a f-u situation.

[Kevin J]

I'm sure you guys are right, but I guess I misunderstood what I thought was the golden rule: The player who still has cards at the end of a hand wins the pot. This guy still had his cards and I didn't have mine. When I realized this, I freaked for a second thinking I just lost 3 1/2 small bets! -lol But then I realized I had been "awarded" the pot by the dealer, so I felt pretty safe about it. I've never seen anyone made to unstack chips and give them to someone else.