I thought it may help someone recall that there is a difference between showdown and facing action. I didn't think posting one more time saying the same thing (but in multiple paragraph form) would really accomplish all that much.

I appreciate that folks gave the technical description, including extra details (which come in handy when you start facing some of the non-standard situations). But yes, I thought there was value in my post. Thank you for drawing attention to it.

Beat the horse here ...

Without the existence of a house rule about 'forward motion' of cards that most rooms have long done away with (reverse betting line) then this pot goes to the best hand of the two players .. in both cases.

I would award the pot to best hand in the 2nd spot since it was exposed/tabled after action was closed .. it's up to everyone at the table to make sure that the pot goes to the best tabled hand once action is closed.

TECHNICALLY there is no mucking (action verb) in NL poker, only a muck pile. There is mucking in multi-street games such as stud and 2-7, which is defined as a Player turning over any exposed cards. This is considered a fold even before the cards get to the muck pile in these games .. no recovery allowed.

We tie the term 'mucking' (surrender/discard) to NL just because we are typically sending our cards to the muck pile ... but as has been stated, they are still the Player's cards until they are unidentifiable in the muck pile.

The issue of 'forward motion' folding when facing action is to prevent a Player from getting a read or taking advantage of a Player exposing their hand that may be caused by the action. When action is closed, there's no advantage gained so no 'penalty' for trying to retrieve your cards. GL