And you have to show your cards to claim a pot at showdown: “To win any part of a pot, a player must show all of his cards faceup on the table whether they were used in the final hand played or not.” (Robert’s Rules, Section3/The Showdown/1)

I recall a headsup hand where a bluffer bet at showdown, get called, instamucked, and the caller mucked their cards and reached for the pot. Asked about that case, Bob Ciaffone (Robert’s Rules editor) said: “THE RULE IS TO MAKE THE PERSON SHOW THEIR CARDS, BUT YOU SHOULD NEVER DEPRIVE THE RIGHTFUL OWNER OF THE POT FROM THEIR MONEY IN THIS TYPE OF SITUATION. YOU SHOW HER HAND IF POSSIBLE, BUT YOU DO NOT STIFF HER.”

There’s a difference between protecting your hand and shooting an angle. As the story was told, sounds like an angle. You are right, though, it’s your responsibility to know who is in the pot.

“I hate when players conceal their cards with hands or chips. That’s a pet peeve of mine, even if they’re not doing it as an angle shoot. I play in home games with people that regularly conceal their cards under their hands, which makes it difficult to see who’s in the pot.”

ABSOULTELY NOTHING WRONG WITH PROTECTING YOUR CARDS BY HOLDING THEM IN YOUR HAND. RAY ZEE, IN FACT, RECOMMENDS IT. IF YOU PLAY A POT, IT’S YOUR JOB TO KNOW WHO IS IN THE POT.

“I don’t believe that if all the players muck their cards at showdown the order of mucking matters. I believe I’ve heard the pot is split in that case.”

ALL PLAYERS MUCK BEFORE THE POT IS PUSHED? NEVER SEEN IT. IF ALL PLAYERS BUT ONE MUCK, THE PLAYER WITH THE LIVE HAND WINS. AND HE DOES NOT HAVE TO SHOW SINCE THERE IS NO SHOWDOWN. HE MUCKS LAST. IN THAT SENSE, ORDER OF MUCKING MATTERS.

I once played an 5-10 PL Omaha pot with 4 players to the flop. I flopped top set (AJJT on a J73 board, 2 diamonds). 2 of the 4 players got all in on the flop, and only the famed John Bonetti and I had chips left. I was in the 10 seat, and he was in the 2 seat, so I could not see him well.

The pot was 2000 going into the turn. I had 700 and he had me covered. The turn is Ad putting a flush on the board. I checked and he checked behind. The river was Ax, giving me the nuts. I go all in.

Bonetti asks how much it is. He then counts out 700 and puts it in front of his stack. The table, however, had no betting line. He then says something that was inaudible to me, but the dealer turned to me and said “Call.”

At that point, I quickly and proudly turned my hand over. Bonetti saw my hand and then tried to weasel out of the call, saying he was only counting his chips and had not called. Typical “old guy” trick.

The floor was called, and the thankfully ruled in my favor. I was worried because this was my first time in the room, and Bonetti was a regular customer. It could easily have gone the other way had the dealer not confirmed that Bonetti said call.

The floor made Bonetti turn his hand over. He flopped a set of 7s and filled up on the river. So, it was pretty clear he was not folding for 700 more in that big a pot. As he had a relationship with the house, I think the house may have rebated him some or all of his 700 call in a side deal.

Interestingly, Player 3 flopped a set of 3s (set over set over set!), and Player 4 flopped a flush draw and inside wrap, hitting his flush on the turn. While I was leading on the flop, I had only 1 out to improve on the turn, and 3 outs to suck out on the river.

Moral of the story: protect your hand.

Wow. Those angleshooting idiots leave me speechless (or at least speechless considering the limited words I am probably allowed to use on this forum).

If I live to be 100 I’ll still never understand some people. No doubt he was angry at the dealer for exposing his little subterfuge, but the dealer was just acting according to the rules.

It would give me no satisfaction at all to win a pot like that. Resorting to cheating is just an admission that the other players are better than you. I guess cheaters must have really low self-esteem; that’s the only thing that explains it.