[Sparks]

Hawaiian Gardens 20-40. I raise PF with 8[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]9[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] from the cutoff, and get three callers including the button. At the river, it is just me and the button, and I try to buy the pot by betting with a board of J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. The button calls. A guy at the table says "I want too see both hands dealer," at which time I say loudly "I play the board" and throw my hand face down into the muck. The button then tosses his hand face down in the middle of the table.

The dealer fishes my cards out of the muck and shows them, then turns up the other guy's hand which is K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]6[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], giving him aces and kings. Hand over. He wins.

What ensues is 5 minutes of spirited discussion about the hand and the rules between at least 4 players from our table and one player from a nearby table with me making the claim that I would have won if the button's hand had not been turned up. It got to the point where the guy who asked to "see both hands" says to me, "I'll give you 10 to 1 odds on a $100 bet that you would not have won the hand if the other player's cards would have gone into the muck face down." Because he looked a little scary and was way tilted, I declined the bet. Along with the fear of getting beat up outside by the guy after winning the bet, there are always problems with bets like that, especially with people you don't know. And again, I didn't want to get beat up.

We called over the shift manager between hands and asked him the question, and he told us that even though I stated "I play the board" prior to my mucking my hand, I would not have won if the other guy would have mucked his hand. So the guy who offered me the 10 to 1 bet is cackling loudly saying "I told you I was right" blah blah blah. He left a bit later.

Twenty minutes or so go by, and the shift manager comes over and says he made a mistake (very cool guy, btw). He shows me the HG Poker Rules book, and it says "A player may announce 'I play the board' prior to folding his hand, and the board becomes his hand, and is live."

The end.

Sparks