Dead hand In Texas Hold'em What Is
Judged As A Dead Hand
Dear
Mark, I have a question concerning a dead hand in
poker. Here's
the scenario: I'm playing Texas Hold'em heads up till
the river card.
First position bets, I call and turn over my cards.
First position is
excited he won, slams his cards on the table face
up, but one card
falls on the floor. What is the correct ruling? Isn't
it a dead hand
when the card leaves the table? Larry R.
There
is nothing better, Larry, than when you've dead meat
holding a crappy hand, and an opponent hits a straight
flush on the river and
slams the hand down in excitement yelling, "Beat
that, Sucker!" only to have one of the cards
bounce off the table and onto the floor. Too bad,
so sad, you're now glad. He just lost all interest
in the pot. The hand, Larry, is forfeited once that
card falls off the table.
According
to the rules of just about every poker room you'll
ever play
in, any card not in play, or one that cannot be
played for some
technical reason, like a card being dropped on
the floor, by either the
dealer or an overly excited player, creates a
dead hand. The player
must "have it and show it", meaning
to complete the hand, the player
must present two cards, and it wouldn't have mattered
if the card that
flew off was or was not needed to complete the
straight flush. Once any
card leaves the sight of fellow players, there
is no way to verify that
the card that comes off the floor was the same
card that left the
table. Calling it dead, Larry, protects the integrity
of the game.
There
is one exception. Say for instance that nobody
called first
position's hand and everybody folded, and first
position in his
exuberance slams his cards on the table. Even
if one card flies off the
game, the winning pot would still be his.
Good
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