I have to agree with BillM16 when he says "It is unfortunate that the TDA Rules do not make explicitly clear that a CALL must be declared before Player B tables his hand while facing a bet." There are too many violations of simple etiquette that create these situations. Failure to protect your own hand, failure to make your intentions clear, releasing cards in the direction of the muck face up
As far as the response from Brian, Wow...I had to read it six times, and I still don't get it.
If that was one of the discussions at the 2013 Summit, I'm glad I missed it!
When you are contesting a pot at the showdown, there is a simple process that follows: The dealer will direct the last aggressive bettor, or the first person that checked the final betting round, to uncover their cards. The order will follow clockwise until the winning hand is determined...losing hands are mucked and the winner receives the pot.
Any player, that fails to follow this simple procedure, will risk losing a pot that...they should have won.
When a bet is made: The bettor must retain possession of their hand until the next player folds, face down, or clearly calls or raises. If a player decides to toss his cards, face up, without comment, two actions should immediately follow: #1 The dealer must freeze any action from the Bettor and ask the opposing player to either call or turn his hand over and conceed. #2 The bettor must never expose his hand until the opponents actions are clear. Dealers are constantly stacking chips, preventing out of turn action, correcting players from irregularities like splashing the pot, etc., etc. Somehow, when we need them to control the game at the showdown, TD's don't want them to participate, even though they could easily prevent 99% of all these uncalled for mishaps.
If you are calling a bet: #1 Never release your cards until you clearly call the proper amount. Or #2 You announce that you are calling before exposing your hand...That should be simple enough, don't you think? If you make a bet, retain possession of your cards until the opponent has clearly surrendered his hand into the muck or the dealer has pushed you the pot.
I don't know about the difference between folding and mucking at the showdown, or anytime during a hand, and please don't try to explain it again.
While we're at it, I'd like to address TDA #16; the last sentence: Except where house policy requires a hand to be tabled during the order of show, a player may elect to muck his hand fade down.
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