Mucked Card Retrieval

[Kenjanis]

 The button and BB were involved in a hand.  On the river the BB bet and the button called.  The BB mucked his cards thinking that the button had folded and he had won the hand. When he realized that the button had called,  He tried to retrieve his cards that where readily identifiable.  The dealer ruled his hand dead and awarded the pot to the button.  Since he thought that the button had folded, should he have been allowed the retrieve his cards?

[K-Lo]

Why did the dealer rule his hand dead?  In this situation, the default ruling would be that the cards can be retrieved if they are clearly identifiable and retrievable.  It is questionable whether you can even "fold" at a showdown, and even then, unless there is a house rule to the contrary, merely throwing your cards towards the muck is not in itself a binding fold.  Now if the dealer had buried those cards deep into the muck such that they were no longer clearly identifiable and retrievable, that would be a different story.

[Nick C]

Kenjanis,

 I agree with K-Lo but find it ironic that the dealer would refuse to expose the identifiable hand that he should have protected from being mucked. The BB (in this scenario) was first to show. In tournament poker, I'd be in favor of a must show rule, at the showdown, just like we have for all-in situations.

[Tristan]

The dealer ruled his hand dead and awarded the pot to the button.

If the dealers start making the rulings, we might be looking for new jobs!

In all seriousness, a dealer should stop everything when there is a discrepancy and call "Floor!".  If they did not, and the dealer mucked the cards before the floor got to the table, the player that mucked lost their right to the pot (must protect your hand).  If the dealer stopped and called floor while the hand was retrievable, the hand is still live.