Showdown incident

[alex]

Hi all, I had this situation last night on a 2$/5$ NLHD ,two players headsup at the showdown with a board of " k 5 7 1 9" .
Player A asked player B if he had an ace, player B tabled his hand with "ace 10" ,this is when player A said " you win " then tabled his hand with a pocket kings  & win the hand with a trips of kings .
- would player A get penalized for his unethical behavior or would he have a dead hand as he verbally declared " you win " before tabling his hand. Ty

[MikeB]

Hi all, I had this situation last night on a 2$/5$ NLHD ,two players headsup at the showdown with a board of " k 5 7 1 9" .
Player A asked player B if he had an ace, player B tabled his hand with "ace 10" ,this is when player A said " you win " then tabled his hand with a pocket kings  & win the hand with a trips of kings .
- would player A get penalized for his unethical behavior or would he have a dead hand as he verbally declared " you win " before tabling his hand. Ty

Great questions.

Not sure that A's behavior rises to unethical IF he just mis-read his hand, which we usually can't know for sure. Merely chatting at showdown is not in itself unethical. The verbal declaration of "you win" is not binding at showdown... you cannot convey a pot you rightfully won to another player by means of verbal delivery. This was conclusively put to rest at the 2013 TDA Summit. See Version 2013, Rule 12 "Declarations. Cards speak at showdown" and Rule 13 "Tabling Cards". A wins with the 3 Kings, whether anyone is penalized is on a case-by-case basis.

Thanks for the great case Alex! Keep them coming.

[Nick C]

alex,

I never heard of penalizing a player in a cash game. It would be unethical, to intentionally announce a "bad hand," only to expose a more powerful hand. As Mike stated, it could be accidental. However, we must let players know that what they say at the showdown is meaningless until the cards are properly tabled. Remember, "verbal is binding" only pertains to amounts being bet or raised, not considered binding when announcing the contents (or rank) of a hand.

The odd part about this hand is for Player A to table his hand. Usually, when a player misreads his hand, or thinks he is beat, he simply mucks face down and that's it. Verbal means nothing at showdown, so I encourage dealers to insist that players follow these proper rules of showdown: Show your complete hand before looking to the next player. Example: Player A says " I have Aces up" before anyone else reacts, I will ask Player A to please show his hand. "I believe you but, I must see them." Then you can move to the next player.