All in player exposes cards in multiway pot when action is not over

Question

A, B, and C are in the hand. B and C both cover A. A goes all in, and is called by both B and C. A mistakenly believes only one opponent called, and showed his cards believing it was a showdown. There are still cards to come. Players B and C can still bet against each other.

No more actual betting occurred in the hand, and A ended up splitting the pot with C. B argues that A exposing cards influenced action in a multiway pot, and therefore should receive a penalty of some sort. No penalty was enforced.

Does B have a case here? What is the proper ruling?

Answer 1

Awhile back I was dealing a game in a small casino in Northern Nevada. A player was all in, and was insisting that he could turn his hand over if he wanted. I told him you can't, he said can to. I then told him if his hand was shown that I would kill the hand and he would have no claim to the pot. He mumbled and held his hand.

That is one way to handle it when the player just doesn't get it. Most of the time a player has a big hand and just gets excited and turns the cards up. Typically this is a new player and they don't understand why you should not. The player who insisted he could turn his hand up anytime he wanted after he was all in was a new player.

However if the player just keeps doing it thinking it is no big deal, start killing hands. But accidentally, and occasionally, when someone does not realize there are other players, let it go, it is no big deal.

Answer 2

I had something similar happen to me in a live cash game recently, maybe my experience could be helpful.

I called an all-in with the nuts, and mistakenly assumed myself and villain (who was all-in and covered by me) were the only ones in the hand. I exposed my hand (top set) when there was another player to act. He ended up folding and I took down the pot, may have lost myself some money but there was no ruling because i was only hurting myself.

If villain had won the pot, I am sure there would have been fireworks because i potentially caused him not to get full value from his hand. It depends a lot on the situation and the house rules of the casino.

Answer 3

It would depend on the house and floorman. Technically it is a violation but player does not benefit from it.

Answer 4

If it's a tournament, then there will be timeouts and punishment. But in a cash game, the best they can do is declare your hand dead. In this case, declaring your hand dead makes no sense so at best it's a warning. If you keep doing it, they will kick you out.