[crockett]

I don't know if this is the correct way but here is the way I do it my tournaments and I've played in others that do it the same way.

If a card is exposed before ANY betting is made (not counting the blinds) then a misdeal is declared and the deck is reshuffled and redealt. No harm, no foul. We've had some complain "Man, I had AK blah, blah..." We just tell them to not look at your cards until the first bet is made (a check counts as a bet), if it makes you feel any better.

If a bet has been made and a card is exposed irregardless of where it came from; deck, hole card, burn card or muck. It is immediately placed face-up on the table for all to see and the hand continues as normal. If the card can someway be used as a burn card (i.e. it didn't come from someone's hole card or the muck) then it will be used as the "next" burn card if required. For example, occasionally a dealer will forget to burn and expose what should have been the burn card. That card remains face-up and acts as the burn card. Also, if even one single player (whether their cards are live or not) sees an accidently exposed card then it is exposed for all to see. We think this avoids arguements and we go on the honor system on wether or not a player saw the card.

So, in your example we would rule that both cards remain face-up and the hand continues completely as normal. After the hand we would remind him of why card protectors are used and we would jokingly hand him a "pink" chip that he could keep until he came up with his own.