Misdeal.....or not?

Question

My question regards a player being dealt 3 cards. (preflop in Texas Hold-em). In this particular situation, a player in seat #7 was dealt 3 cards but failed to notice and immediately speak up. The player under the gun called and the next player called as well. At this time seat #7 says "hey I've got 3 cards". Is this a misdeal ? or is seat #7's hand dead and play continues ? or should the dealer shuffle seat #7's three cards, let him choose two and play those, then using the third card as the burn card.....I've seen this last option occur at casinos.

I would love to hear some feedback......thanks

Answer 1

"Substantial Action" has occurred: two players have added to the pot.

The 3-card hand is dead, and play continues.

TDA and WSOP rules are incredibly clear about this situation:

Substantial Action = "any two actions in turn, at least one of which puts chips in the pot (i.e. any 2 actions except 2 checks or 2 folds)"

I'd be surprised that a casino (in a tournament, particularly) would ever act differently.

ABSOLUTELY NEVER RE-DEAL THE CARDS. This is a terrible solution.

Answer 2

How the floorman handles such situations a matter of the casino's rules and policies, and to some extent his own preferences and experience. I don't like declaring misdeals after there has been action, and most casinos have that as a policy.

Personally, I would declare the player's hand dead, give one of his three cards back to the dealer (unexposed) to use as the first burn, remind the player not to say anything about the cards he saw, and let play continue. I don't like the the shuffle-and-pick-2 for the player, because that requires me to expose the third card, which I think affects the hand much more than just killing one player's hand.

Answer 3

Pretty sure the hand should be declared dead. If you let seat #7 pick two cards he knows the third card is not in play, which gives him an unfair advantage. Not letting him play the hand at all gives him an unfair disadvantage because he is blinding down. Just deal the hand again is the best option.

Answer 4

Dead hand is technically correct. A dealer making this mistake is not uncommon and rarely results in a dead hand. The player catches it in time or the dealer does. It is no problem and rarely needs the floor attention to make a decision.

The decision comes when the extra card is mingled with the players hand, then it is a problem. While technically the hand is dead, and if a floor is called it should be ruled as such, players especially higher limit players will prefer a misdeal. Everyone mucks and we start over with no decision, or floor person.

A player or two or maybe more usually gets an extra card when I fail to count to five in a five card draw game, which does happen once in awhile. They prefer the misdeal simply because they are more comfortable, starting over then trying to fix something that is not right and they seem to have a disdain for killing hands. They also run the risk that a decision will result in the hand being fixed and they are not comfortable with that.

Answer 5

I Think best way to handle would be to call a misdeal I*ve seen it done both ways and I think the its better to redeal the cards .