Law of the Land

A hand recently took place upstairs between Marc Goodwin and Yuval Bronshtein that would've been insignificant, were it not for a dealer error and subsequent floor ruling that taught us (well, me anyway) something new about Stud Poker.

Goodwin's first upcard was the {3-Clubs}

and therefore he was charged with the bring-in. Action then folded around to Bronshtein who made the call with the {7-Diamonds}

showing. All of the other players folded their cards and in the process of scooping the lot, the dealer accidentally snagged Yuval's {7-Diamonds}

and mucked it with the rest.

Then, not seeing any other upcards around the table, he pushed the rinky-dink pot toward Goodwin and proceeded to move onto the next hand before Bronshtein stopped him.

"Wait! I still have cards!" the youngster blurted.

"Where are his cards? I can't see them?" asked Goodwin.

"They're right here," Bronshtein revealed, adding, "The dealer took my seven of diamonds. I had the seven of diamonds."

Tournament Director Steve Frezer was then called to the scene for a ruling.

"Was it just the upcard that he mucked?" asked Frezer.

The table mates nodded "Yes" in agreement.

"Can everyone verify that it was the {7-Diamonds}

?" Frezer inquired.

No one spoke up.

"I'm fine if ti's the seven of diamonds," Goodwin chided. "Give him the seven of diamonds!"

It was 'The Professor,' Howard Lederer who eventually came up with a solution that everyone could agree on, saying something to the effect of, "Check and see if it's in the muck. If it's in the muck we can probably believe him."

At this point, Frezer went digging, and the first card he pulled out was... the {5-Spades}

. Oops.

"This card has been exposed," Frezer joked, sharing the card with the entire table. Soon after he did indeed find the seven and it was returned to Yuval, the card's rightful owner.

After all that, the story ended quite anticlimactically. Goodwin was dealt the {4-Diamonds}