Another player exposes a folded winning hand

Well if it's a tourney, all hands must be tabled when there's an all-in, so there's no issue here.

Cash game? It's a live hand. The 3rd player should be given a rack and told he can't come back for at least 24 hours.

Just as Dinesh says

Yeah I guess it’s pretty straightforward. I lost the pot and did not get any rebates or comps, player 2 got a warning

This is a big part of the problem. As Dinesh stated, you cannot fold when you're not facing a bet, so this question cannot be answered with anything but "No".

It is an awkward spot though, and I'm not certain of the best way for the dealer to handle the situation.

Yet somehow this player managed to answer the dealer’s question with an answer other than “No.” miracles do happen.

Yes, the player answered incorrectly.
But it was a trick question, so I blame the dealer.

I assume it is a cashgame.
So in this case:

1. The players don't need to show their hands at the showdown.

2. To win the hand, both cards have to be shown. Always!

3. The dealer should muck the hands of the players once they don't show both cards and slide them away from them. It doesn't matter if they show one card and if that card would be winning, as they have to open both cards, which they didn't + they indicated to fold even after the dealer asked, which he can do.

4. I was once in a casino that had the house rules at the wall, that stated that if a player slides cards away from him into the middle of the table or towards the dealer, indicating that he wants to fold then the hand is dead.
No muck needed.
It is important what the house rules are.

If such rules aren't in place then the muck/touch rule is in place.
So then actually everything stands and falls with the dealers actions.

Now: It is not the dealers task to play the hand for a player. So if a player is dumb, it is not for the dealer to help him win the hand. Especially if only one card is show.

So if the dealer would say something like:"Sir the ace is a winning hand". He should pay for your lost pot, or the house should cover it.
That is not his job.
He can ask if the player wants to muck, and muck.

It is a different story if BOTH cards are opened.
Now the dealer has to announce a winner.
The player also can not muck anymore.

If the player would open both cards and say: "Yeah I fold" because he is unfocussed or tiered etc. not realizing he won, then the dealer has to announce his winning hand and remind him that he won.

The third player should get a penalty. And it would not change the course, because it doesn't matter if the ace won. To win without question one needs to reveal BOTH cards. Which didn't happen.
The dealer should muck, because it is not his job to play the hand for the player and help him.
His job is to read hands correctly at thr showdown and announce a winner, when the showdown was reached correctly.
(Both cards opened)

...Colclusion: Hands are folded and have to be mucked instantly.
If not, then the dealer/house is to blame.
House should cover the loss somehow or compensate.

In an MTT the dealer has to force the players to open their cards at showdown anyway. So there is no way to fold a winning hand.

Seems to me if he acknowledged a fold, it's still a fold, right? I mean, if I acknowledge a fold and show my hand, it's still a fold, right? What if the A/C had flipped someone's cards over (I've seen that happen) -- do the cards play?

Question: Once the other A was revealed, is the dealer now responsible for declaring the hand the winner if the third player didn't say anything?

Wow, the player who revealed the other A should be banned for a week. That's horrible. Personally, the third player should have kept his mouth shut, but he shouldn't be penalized.

(I get that the dealer might not have had time to grab the cards before the player slid the A over -- and I hope that's the case!)

Can't fold at showdown. Can only fold facing action.

Once the "2nd" player spreads the cards, it now becomes a properly tabled hand. As such, cards speak and 3rd player is actually ethically responsible to ensure hands are read correctly and pot is pushed to the winner. Absolutely NOTHING wrong when he speaks up. In fact NOT speaking up would be by far worse.

It doesn't matter how the hand is tabled, once it is tabled cards speak. But yes the 2nd player gets a time out.

As to the dealer, the dealer is there to assist reading the hands but cards speak. Basically the instant both cards became clearly exposed, that is the winning hand. Period. Doesn't matter who reads the cards, even if they are wrong, the winner is the winner.

Ah, showdown -- all the difference. Makes sense, still sucks. (FWIW, I always speak up when cards are tabled.)

The hand the was blown over by the A/C was actually the winner attempting to show her quads, and the A/C blew them face down! She flipped them up, but her opponent tried to get her hand declared as a fold. LOL. Thank goodness that was ruled in her favor. (The did not touch the muck.)

V at least gets warning
2nd get a time out.

Perfect example of why the way MagRailPro talks about hands not perfectly tabled should be killed instantly is wrong IMO. Cards flipping so only one is fact up or even none, is far from rare. I would not even call it uncommon.

I assume we have all seen the dealer push a flipped card back to the player so it can be turned over. The dealer doesn't do it but doesn't insta kill the hand either.

If I get it right what you say then you mean that a player wants to show down his hand but accidentally just opens one card right?

I have never seen a player that did this and then not instantly turns over the second card by rapidly correcting his action.

Most players know that they have to show both cards, and that the dealer might missinterpretate the hand as a half open fold.

Only very few people would not get that. For example an absolute newbie that wants to try poker for the first time, waiting for a blackjack seat. People that even openly ask for the rules at the table etc. where everyone is cool with helping and not being harsh on rules.

In my 18 years of playing poker around the world in I have never seen a dealer pushing the card back. He might ask but a pushback is something new to me.

Do you see that in a regular basis? Where are you playing?

In this case showing a card for the winning quad nutz I would say that the dealer should just tell the player to open both cards to win the pot.
Here it is obv. that the player won. But there are cases where both have like K high vs Q high.
There it is not obvious, and it is not for the dealer to play the hand for the player. That is why the (show both cards to win-rule) is in place.

The pushback move that was mentioned could be a good solution though with the verbal anouncement on top that if the player wants to muck, he shall either

- Announce it
- Or push both cards face down into the middle

The solution can always be solved by the dealer asking if the player wants to fold once a player pushes one card face up into the middle.