I was stuck in a game where two stiffs were playing LAG and taking every pot from the rocks.

A player waiting for a seat in the game came by the table.

SEAT 4: I'll let you have my seat, for $50!

SEAT 7: I'll let you have mine for $40!

YTF: I'll *give* you $20 if you take mine!

My cardroom doesn't have a specific rule on this, so I'd like to hear the general consensus on here.

In showdown situations, when should the dealer declare hands/highlight board cards?

If one player tables his hand and the other player(s) don't, I've generally just been bringing his cards in near the board so people can see them. Generally I will announce his hole cards, but refrain from saying what hand he has.

If multiple players are tabling their hands, I have been declaring and highlighting the strongest hand.

Is this procedure deemed correct? Or is the preferred method to just announce and highlight hands immediately in order to speed the game up?

Announce all tabled hands. Don't move them. Anyone who can't see them can stand up and walk down to the other end of the table. Muck the losers. Only move the winner if it's in your way of pushing the pot.

Announce the hole cards or the actual hand?

Also, why shouldn't I move the cards?

The actual hand.

Why would you? When the dealer touches the cards he is saying "I am taking these away now."

There is a thread on 'this' as well, you can try to search for it ... I tend to complicate things but ...

If the 'in turn' player does table their hand first, then I would like the Dealer to either announce the hand or push the Board cards in use somehow. If it's the OOP player who tables the hand first, I would prefer that the cards just sit there until the in turn player also tables or mucks.

I think we've pretty mush confirmed that part of the Dealer's responsibility is to announce/show tabled hands. There is a stance that this should be 'delayed' until there are two hands tabled and thus one can be eliminated. The thinking (from a player's perspective) is that if a player hears or sees a 'confirmed' hand result then they might have a 'revelation' that they hit a hand they weren't aware of as of yet and table their cards that were on their way to the muck otherwise.

As far as not touching/moving the cards, I think most Dealers, IF the players are far enough apart, will pull in the cards closer to the Board to help move things along. There is a valid point to not moving the cards until 'necessary'.

In both of these 'spots' we are relying on the Dealer to 'keep up' with the location of the players and who was supposed to show first. In the simplest form of responsibility (and probably the best consistency), we can just let the Dealer announce hands as they are shown as a general practice.

I think another sub-question here is should the Dealer prompt a player with "First to show" as a normal course of business to help move things along. GL

What I see where I play is that the first to show gets their hand pulled toward the board. If the next hand beats that, the dealer will muck the first hand and bring the second hand in. If the second hand mucks, then the deals mucks the cards then and there. It isn't always consistent, but they will usually push the boards cards that play after the first to show, and adjust accordingly.

As players table their hand you should announce them with the exception of losing hands. First hand you see, announce it (actual hand, not hole cards) and push up the board cards used. Then you will only need to announce the next hand you see that beats it. Losing hands just get mucked. Don't touch the winning hand until you push the pot. The only time you should touch the winning hand is if the idiot throws it halfway across the table and you push it back to him so it is in front of him.

I was taught to announce each tabled hand, rather than muck a losing hand without announcing it. That way if the dealer has misread a hand (eg dealer doesn't see a flush and instead thinks the hand is two pair losing to a straight) when he announces two pair the player can correct him before he mucks the hand. I believe the WSOP dealer guide also requires all tabled hands to be announced for both tourney and cash games.

so you mean 85% of the time.....

So strange everyone is talking about this. Was coming here to pose the same question. This happened in a tournament last night:

-4 flush comes on river in clubs and both players check
-P1 disgustedly tables 78cc and dealer announces 8 high flush
-P2 is older lady, she looks at her hand and then opens her hand to everyone while still holding it. The back of her hand is on the felt, but the cards are not on the table, they are hovering about and inch above table.
-P2 hand is 9h9c and after a couple seconds, dealer announces 9 high flush, which P2 hadn't even realized yet.

Afterward, player not in hand says that hand wasn't tabled and then the big discussion occurs.

My question is this: Is the dealer in that spot supposed to literally sit there motionless staring at this little, old confused lady waiting for her to either let go of her cards face up or unknowingly muck the winner while the dealer and everyone else paying attention can clearly see she has the winner.
She was holding the hand with the back of her hand literally laying on the table.

Grey area, but dealer did the right thing IMO.

I just announce what needs announcing.

Let's say the pot is small and the board is K-high with no straight or flush possible. If someone tables AK, I'm announcing, "AK". That gets the point across, the other guy knows if he can beat AK or not.

Also, in a hand like that, I'm not pushing up any cards. If the opponent hesitates, I might push up the King to emphasize, "Yeah dude, he's got top-top, can you beat that or not?"

Other examples of the YTF Way:

--If there are three hearts and two black cards on the board, I'm not pushing up the hearts when I say "flush".

--Board is J42T2, player turns up K2, I'm announcing, "He's got the 2. King kicker." Again, no need to push anything. Everyone in the hand saw that river card and started wondering if they were up against the 2, and if they could beat it.

--In fact, now that I think about it, I almost never push up cards, unless the beaten hesitate to muck. Sometimes a straight won't jump out at you, and I'll push up the cards in those spots.

Yeah, in that spot, I say "back of her hand on the felt" is close enough.

...even tho I know poker players HATE the words "close enough".

Not often I disagree with Suit, but I've got a big problem with this.

At the least, I'll QUIETLY announce a losing hand, just to let that player know why I'm about to muck his cards. But imo it's a big deal to announce all tabled hands.

I do not feel that the only issue about whether a hand is tabled is whether the cards are actually on the table. This sounds like the sort of thing where I might consider the hand tabled ... but its easier to make that call when you see it happen.....

I will typically not bother with announcig tabled losers if the player is tossing them in disgustedly because obviously they know its a loser, but otherwise I agree with you, but I do it quietly unless the player seems confused.

I've seen someone disgustedly throw his straight flush face up bc he thought he lost with a flush vs a rivered boat

I'm not saying I don't read the hand. I just don't announce it. If it's a winner I announce it even if the player didn't know it's a winner.

yeah I figured as much. I average about a couple of "stop dealer from mucking a winner/pushing a pot to a loser" a month, so it's not a big deal to me either way

try this again


.

Five guys see a flop for $2 each. $10 in the middle, $9 after the rake.

They all check it down. Free showdown. One guy mucks, the other guys ALL show hands that can't beat the board. Four-way chop. SB gets the extra buck, which he tosses to me as a toke (nice!).

They start teasing the guy who mucked, of course. Then someone realizes, "The odd chip would have been different! Someone would've lost a dollar!"

"Yeah....me!", I said.

YTF trying to boost his twitter followers itt