Poker Rules Revisited

I was playing 7CS in AC a couple weeks ago. Three players (including myself) made it to the showdown. The first player showed his hand, which beat mine. I mucked my hand, as did the third player. The third player then said he wanted to see my hand. I said, "No, I mucked. You can't see it." He got pissed and said he had the right to see any hand that he wanted to, and the dealer agreed with him, so he got to see my hand. It has been my understanding up until now that losing hands may be mucked. I thought that other players could see your hand only when collusion was suspected. I thought this was a pretty pathetic play by the other player, but perhaps I am wrong. Please tell me:


1) Is he allowed to see my hand if I muck, with no reason for doing so?


2) Are the actions of this player considered to be in bad practice (even if it is technically allowed)?


-- Homer J.

Where I play, if the pot is bet and called on the river, or checked around, any player can ask to see any hand.


Bad practice? Definitely.

I am aware of the fact that in most poker games, you may ask to see any hand that is mucked if it is mucked after calling the final bet.


I would NEVER ask to see someone's hand after they threw it into the muck. I think it's an idiotic rule.


That said, I must admit, when other, less tactful people demand to see a hand after it's in the muck...


...I use the information.


I suppose I'm a hypocrite. Heck.

I've never had it happen to me in my limited casino experience, but I was under the asssumption that once the cards hit the muck pile, that wa it. Can the dealer yank them out of the pile?


Quite a while ago on this forum, someone posted that they had someone constantly asking to see the losing hand, so they did this:


They pretended that they were going to toss their hand into the muck, knowing full well that the a-hole was gonna ask to see them. Then he shows the guy a winner and drags in the pot. I think he even threw in "you got me" first. The guy who asked to see the cards went nuts. I think the floorman was called and everything. That put a stop to his rude behavior.