Do you wait till dealer is done dealing and looks to you to muck or can you muck earlier?

I always wait till the dealer finishes dealing but was curious if some of you
muck earlier.

Just wait, most of the times you much early you end up confusing the dealer and slowing down the action.

i just muck wtf

You should wait until the dealer finishes dealing. If they get a bad grip on a card or mis-pitch it could cause a mis-deal if there are loose cards on the table.

Feel free to push them out in front of you face down, but don't throw them into the middle of the table. I've seen a player muck and expose one of the last cards pitched.

Not understanding the question?

+1

Don't know how many times I have seen a dealer screw up and deal an extra card or not deal the last card, or just sit there not knowing what to do.

Also it can be a good indication to other players at the table how tight you are playing. Free information is never a good thing.

Funny story, playing a MTT and this guy was folding right after looking at his first card when UTG a lot, didn't see him play a single hand from UTG in like 3 hours. Someone asked him why he did that... His answer was he was only playing "premium hands". The next time he is UTG... sure enough he flicks the first card towards the center of the table, it gets intercepted by a card being pitched, and flips up, it was a jack... I had to LMAO.

^^^

To bad he didn't straddle those hands.

I folded UTG after I got both cards before the dealer finished dealing once. The dealer just gave me a confused look so I took the hint and from then on, I wait until the dealer's finished dealing before I muck UTG.

Dealing is a rhythm. Don't interrupt the rhythm. Also, don't cross the streams. Hold onto your cards and muck once the deal is complete.

I usually look and muck pretty fast just to keep the game moving. I see the point about interrupting the dealer, but it's pretty tough to do that since he/she is moving around the rest of the table and finishing at the button. As long as you don't douche-fling your cards high in the air, you won't disturb anything. Definitely wait for your second card at least, though.

Bottom line, I don't think it matters much either way.

raise

MGM, I'm in the 1 seat and on the button. UTG folds, 5 seat is empty, 6 seat folds by flinging his cards across the table. One card skipped off the shuffler and landed right in front of me. Unfortunately it arrived at the same time as my second card and they were on top of each other. I had one finger on my first card but didn't know which of the other two was my second one. I knew my hand was dead and told the dealer I had three cards.

The dealer immediately called for the floor who said, "The hand is dead" and gave a little speech about protecting your hand. Half the table then threw their cards away. The dealer pulled the cards into the muck and continued with the hand. The people that folded complained but the floor said there was no misdeal and to continue the hand.

I got the floor's attention and told him it is hard to protect my hand when seat 6 throws his cards and they arrive in front me at the same time as the last card dealt to me, plus I'm not used to protecting my hand against flying objects.

The floor looked at seat 6 and said, "You get no extra chips for style points when you fold." He played till the blinds came then racked up and left. Too bad, he was a live one.

He said it was an mtt. Who straddles in a tournament?

nit

I've heard that crossing streams is a bad thing.

Personally, I try to make these situations as complicated as possible. I tend to try and invoke every possible shade of grey, both real and imagined, and don't forget the angst either, plenty of that to be sure.

Also, don't forget everybody to please post plenty of what-ifs, alternate (universe) scenarios, and post-corrections for ever so pedantic trifles of point.

And finally, don't forget to blame the dealer if things go awry.

Dealing a large BI tournament. get to a table, start the first deal. As I pitch the fourth card out, I see a card come back towards me from UTG. She had already decided to muck her hand on the basis of her first card.