Don't release your cards until you get the pot!

Always protect your hand!

Don't let go of your hand until the pot is either pushed to you or you are sure that you are beaten!

I've seen this happen several times in the past few days, and it irks me. I've been dealing B&M for about 5 months now.

There are two players in a hand - drunk guy in the 8 seat, experienced player in the 1 seat on my left. Drunk guy makes a river bet, the 1 seat calls with a marginal hand. Drunk guy doesn't see the call. I nod at him to flip his cards over since he made the last action. He pushes his cards towards me - FACE DOWN. 1 seat says "Kill that hand!". I gotta kill it, and 1 seat gets the pot. Drunk guy had the winner, but killed his hand. ~80 dollar 4/8 pot.

Another 4/8 game. 3 seat makes a bet on the river, 8 seat calls. 3 seat asks "Do you have the King?". 8 seat thinks he said "I have the King." and mucks his hand - a pocket pair of JJ which would have beat the 3 seats 2nd board pair. ~$50 pot.

3/6 game, kid is on a flush draw but also has bottom pair of 3's. On the river, he whiffs the flush draw, but doesn't even notice that the river brings another 3 because he is so focused on his suit. The river gets checked through, and someone shows top pair. He realizes his mistake just as the cards hit the muck. ~40 pot.

At showdown, flip your cards over and keep your hands on them until you get the pot. If you are beat, double check the board to make sure you are reading your hand right. If you are drunk or a little confused, flip your hand over and let the dealer read the hand for you.

Don't flip your cards in face up at showdown so that they land near the board. If one of them flips over face down - MUCK. If they get intermingled with another players hand - MUCK. Showdown is not the time to get cute.

Nice post. This is good info. I'll remember that. . .unless I'm completely outplayed and embarrassed by my river call that is.

Very interseting, very harsh too.

Very interseting, very harsh too.

Yes, it is harsh. Everyone's friendly until they get a chance to steal your pot. Be careful with those f'n cards!

It's funny, when this happens to an opponent, you try and kill their hand, but when it happens to you, you get your hand back somehow. Case in point, a player shows KT with QJ9 on the board giving him the nut straight. He shows it because he thought K high was good not knowing the river. 2 players down have 9s and were gonna split the pot, and the dealer didn't notice and mucked the KT... BUT me and another player noticed this and said he showed a straight and didn't muck therefore the hand counted

I got stung by this too. It was my own fault but it sucks losing a huge pot b/c of a dumb mistake like this.

I was playing 2/4 with a 1/2 kill and it was kill pot. The pot was raised in EP and several cold callers came in and I called for one more in the BB. At showdown, I call UTGs bet and he announces two pair. I automatically give him credit for the A on the board and muck my hand. He turns over some junk and plays the pair on the board with his 2 in hand and I bang the table realizing I mucked top two and would have raked in about a $70 pot.

Just another reason to hold onto your cards until the dealer sorts everything out.

I have frequently seen players show their hand by flipping their cards into the middle of the table, on top of the board cards. Technically this makes their hand dead even though the cards are shown.

I doubt I would steal a pot on this technicality, but I would hate to have it happen to me.

He shows it because he thought K high was good not knowing the river. 2 players down have 9s and were gonna split the pot, and the dealer didn't notice and mucked the KT... BUT me and another player noticed this and said he showed a straight and didn't muck therefore the hand counted

This is a little different situation. The dealer mucked the hand AND there were two witnesses that attested to what the hand was. This is usually good enough depending on the floorperson/cardroom. Yet another reason to hold onto your cards and doublecheck what you have. Dealers can and often do misread hands, especially when there are a lot of hands to read at a checked-through river. Good example.