Mucking a hand whilst All-in!

November 17, 2008 by pod_sp.

Guys help me out with this one.

The most bizarre situation happened to me recently at my regular freezeout game at my local casino. Mid tournament I was chip leader. I raise it up with KQsuited late position. I get one caller who had limped from early position. I noticed that this gentlemen had been drinking heavily and was quite intoxicated. He was also the only player at the table to have a very healthy stack besides myself. Flop comes 7 high, 2 diamonds. He checks, i bet, he calls. Im thinking im pretty much done with the hand. Turn pairs the 7 on the board. We both check. River comes a blank and he goes all-in for 8000, into a pot of about 7000 - but then IMMEDIATELY mucks his cards. He then reaches to retrieve his cards. I tell him his hand is dead but call the director for a ruling. He rules that because he pushed all his chips in and declared all-in whilst doing so before he mucked meant his hand was still in play. Annoyed at the ruling I ponder why he did it in the first place. I came to the conclusion that the way he played the hand and that he had been drinking he had a busted flush draw. I could afford a call and the pot was huge so I make the call with King high. He says “im done, im done” and again mucks his cards. I slam down my cards thinking I have made an amazing call with King high. He again retrieves his cards and shows he had pocket 6’s and his hand is allowed to stand. I ask the questions:

1. What is the ruling on him mucking his hand after declaring all-in?
2. What is the ruling on him mucking when I called his all-in the retrieving his winning hand?

Posted in All-In Bets; Re-Opening Betting, Side-Pots, Split Pots, Showdowns & Pot Awarding, Mucking, Dead Hands, Etc | Print | 7 Comments »