Basic rules sometimes bear repeating

So last night I was playing in a live tourney. We were at the final table (final 8) and I'm about mid-stack and in the big blind. I look down at KQ, both spades. Everyone folds except the small blind who makes a standard 3x raise, and in this position I just call. Flop is Ah - Jh - 6h. The small blind bets about 2/3 the pot.

I look at the dealer and say "you had to deal all red?" and toss my cards face-up.

We all stare in disbelief. I tossed Kh-Qh. In my mind, for some reason, I was certain they were spades. So not only did I make a most stupid move, but I displayed it to all present.

Basic rule - NEVER MUCK without making a final check of your cards!!

Worst thing was, small blind showed his cards - he had 3h-5h, so I probably could have gotten him all-in.

Ah well... ended up finishing 4th, so it wasn't tragic, but damn I thought about that hand all night.

nice information.

Good to remember. Sometimes you just get caught up in the game and your not thinking straight. I think this has happened too all of us atleast once.

If your sitting near the dealer place something ontop of your cards so when someone else mucks they don't get mixed in with yours.

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Originally Posted by scooster34

If your sitting near the dealer place something ontop of your cards so when someone else mucks they don't get mixed in with yours.

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This wasnt a card protection issue, it was a bone headed issue where he didnt dbl check before folding

How did you mistake hearts for spades =/

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Originally Posted by BearsFB

How did you mistake hearts for spades =/

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No idea... only had had 2 beers in 2 hours at that point, so I can't blame alcohol. Just had it firmly in my head that they were spades.
I'm sure I'll be hearing about this at the bar for months to come.

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Originally Posted by HopsnBarley28

So last night I was playing in a live tourney. We were at the final table (final 8) and I'm about mid-stack and in the big blind. I look down at KQ, both spades. Everyone folds except the small blind who makes a standard 3x raise, and in this position I just call. Flop is Ah - Jh - 6h. The small blind bets about 2/3 the pot.

I look at the dealer and say "you had to deal all red?" and toss my cards face-up.

We all stare in disbelief. I tossed Kh-Qh. In my mind, for some reason, I was certain they were spades. So not only did I make a most stupid move, but I displayed it to all present.

Basic rule - NEVER MUCK without making a final check of your cards!!

Worst thing was, small blind showed his cards - he had 3h-5h, so I probably could have gotten him all-in.

Ah well... ended up finishing 4th, so it wasn't tragic, but damn I thought about that hand all night.

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Wow that is pretty fucking retarded. But it just goes to show you, the mind sees what it wants not what the eyes tell it to.

I was doing really well in a tournament one time.. thought I had 2 spades, nope it was a spade and a club. It cost me most of my stack and I didn't recover.

I did the opposite once: Called a big bet on the river and confidently flipped my cards up only to realize I was thinking I had the cards from the previous hand and had nada. Red face lasted for at least 10 minutes.

We have all made this type of mistake in a live setting (as well as a few blunders like the spade club fiassco thinking they were suited). Even I have made this mistake and I should know better after playing as much as I did and for as much as I have in the past (up to 10k buy in main event as well as 10k wpt event). Luckily my blunders were not in the bigger tournaments I played in.

One time I thought I had As Qs when I actually had As Qc. I realized my blunder but only after putting a fair portion of my stack into a pot, getting raised, and taking a quick look at my nut flush before I was about to reraise -oops- never mind- of course I mucked).

In regards to protecting your hand in the seat next to the dealer, sometimes even that does not help. I was at final table of a 220 buy in super satellite for a chance to win a 10k buy in at the Jack Binion WPT event. we were 7 handed and top 4 won a seat with 5th receiving $5,400). I had the second largest stack but the stack to blind ratio at this point in time was extremely small. Anyway, two players with very small stacks had pushed all in in early position. I am in seat 9 next to the dealer and was in the cut off and look at my hand. It was the Ad Kd. I had a chip on my hand and the hand was in between me and both my stacks. I grabbed the chip and put it on top of one of my stacks and as I am pushing all in the dealer grabs my hand and mucks it. The muck was not squared up and my two cards were sticking out of it still. I told her not to square up the muck and to call the tournament director over. I also had told her I was not folding my hand and she should not have grabbed those cards as I did not grab them and fold them as I normally do. I told her I was pushing all in. Even after telling her not to touch the muck and to call the Director she listened to two other players at the table who said it was a dead hand and she squared it up anyway. I told her to stop twice and she still did it. I then asked again for the floor. Finally I just stood up and called for the floor myself.

The tournament director then came over and said there was nothing he could do at this point in time but she had made two mistakes in this situation and not just one. The hand is still live until the muck is squared up. But if you can still identify your two cards in the muck and you can tell the Tournament Director the two cards you held they are retrievable. At least that was the rule at this tournament and at many other major tournaments I had played at. I knew the rules better than the dealer. My Ad Kd would have knocked both of the other players out too. I ended up getting two big hands beat after that to end up winning the $5,400 prize.

The next night I ended up winning a seat anyway so her double blunder only cost me about $4,900 instead of the full $10,300 prize I should have won that night because there was no way no how I would have played the rest of the Super Satellite the way I had if we were on the bubble and I had the chip lead as well. Also there was a difference in the chip counts and it was still 7 handed because the 2 all in players tied for the pot.

One other point with regards to my situation is to voice your intent before you are going to push all in. I almost always did this. I also usually had a coin to place on my cards too but had forgotten to bring it to the poker room that day.

Did you retrieve your Kh Qh out of the muck? You can retrieve them back as long as they are face up as they do play when they are exposed. Some places take verbal binding over exposed hands though. It just depends on where you were playing!

go home u are drunk :D
it have happened to me too