Ocean's 11 Rule : Exposed Card

[GuyOnTilt]

I just remembered this. I was at Ocean's 11 last weekend for the first time. The dealer made a sloppy pitch and my first hole card did a complete flip in the air, exposing it to the table. It then hit the felt and did a bit of a skid with the card at maybe a 45 degree angle to the table and facing outward, trying to flip itself over but failing and landing face down. As the dealer continues pitching around the table, I take my card and nonchalantly flip it faceup and spin it a bit toward the center of the table, an indication that I need a new card. The dealer tells me I'm not allowed to do that and that I now have to play with the card faceup the rest of the hand. I'm like, "It was an exposed card." He tells me that the policy here is that the cards can do all the flipping, spinning, and exposing in the world, but as long as they end up facedown they cannot be killed. I'm a bit doubtful since tha would be one of the dumbest rules for a successful and experienced cardroom (which Ocean's 11 is) to have that I've heard of, so I politely ask if I can get the floor for an explaination. So the floor comes over, who's a really good floorman btw and whom I tipped more than once for his solid work, and tells me that yeah, it's a stupid rule and he's against it but apparently whoever's in charge of deciding what the rules are have decided that this is a good rule to have. I nod and accept it, but ask him what the reasoning is behind the rule. He has no clue.

FWIW, I would've sent the card back even if it hadn't done the semi-perpendicular skid thing.

GoT