The Magical Muck

Muck: The pile of discards gathered facedown in the center of the table by the dealer.

This mysterious pile of discards has been a source of many problems when it comes to making decisions in poker. In reality, the muck should have little relevance to what happens during a hand of poker, but that isn't the case.

I was playing hold'em in a smaller poker room when an all-too-familiar situation occurred. On a board of A 7 7 A K, a grouchy older gentleman set the 7 on the table, and then nonchalantly pitched his other card to the center of the table. The card landed in the muck. The only other player in the hand - a young, observant kid - turned up his holecards: the 10 10. The dealer, realizing there was a problem, placed his finger on top of the card in the muck and called a floorperson to the table. Once the floorman arrived at the table, the dealer explained exactly what had happened.

Before the floorman could say a word, both of the players involved in the hand began to plead their cases.

The kid pointed out that the other player had a dead hand. "It hit the muck," he explained.

The older gentleman kept pointing to the 7 on the table, proclaiming, "Here is the best hand."

So, who was right? As is normally the case when it comes to the rules in poker, the answer is, "It depends on the poker room." Over the years, I have seen several different interpretations of what I will call the "muck rule." From one extreme to the other, there have been rules written that define the muck as a magical-force field, where all cards entering it are considered dead, to it being nonexistent, and no different than any other part of the table. The correct and most widely used variation of the rule that deals with cards going near the muck comes from Robert's Rules of Poker: Cards thrown into the muck may be ruled dead. However, a hand that is clearly identifiable may be retrieved at management's discretion if doing so is in the best interest of the game.

Back to the story. The floorman, after listening to the dealer, both players, and everyone else at the table, ruled that the kid should get the pot, because he had the only "live" hand. This, for obvious reasons, did not sit well with the older gentleman, so he demanded a decision from the floorman's boss. The floorman called over his shift manager, who backed up the floorman's decision.

After I was done playing, I approached the shift manager and asked him about the decision. He explained to me that their rulebook clearly states that cards touching the muck are dead, and that was the only decision that could be made in his poker room.

Not always written in rulebooks, but usually assumed, is an understanding that a floorman or dealer will always make an attempt to give the pot to the best hand. Sure, there are times when that just can't/won't happen. But, that is the intent of the rules, and ultimately, the best hand should be awarded the pot. I asked the shift manager if their rulebook had such wording, or if he believed that to be the case. He answered yes to both queries, but explained that because of the "magical muck" rule, his hands were tied.

I told this story to a friend of mine, and his first question was, "Did the older gentleman throw his hand intentionally into the muck, or did it get there by accident?" In this case, it really wasn't clear, but I didn't think that mattered. He had the best hand, and should have been awarded the pot. If I were the floorman (or shift manager), I would have awarded the best hand the pot, but given the player a stern warning that his hand could be ruled dead if it happened again. Of course, if this player had a history of doing this in this poker room, it could have been the right decision. But who in his right mind would do that if he had been warned about it before?

Nintey-nine percent of the time, this type of situation will come up when a player either unintentionally or inadvertently has one or all of his cards end up near or in the muck. There is no good reason that, should the card(s) be retrievable, the best hand shouldn't win the pot.

Mike O'Malley is a consultant for www.PartyGaming.com, and can be reached at [email protected]. His website is updated regularly at www.rzitup.com.