Case IV
At the conclusion of the deal the trump card comes to the hand on the dealer’s left. The dealer requests the players to count their cards. The player to the dealer’s left appropriates a packet of cards lying a little to his own right hand, between himself and the dealer, and finds twelve cards in it. The other hands each contain thirteen. The dealer now claims the hand with twelve cards in it as his hand. Must the players accept the hands thus given to them, or is it a misdeal?
Decision—It is a misdeal. The fault is entirely with the dealer. If he deals so carelessly that there is any doubt as to the ownership of the hands, he must apportion them, and having once done so, he must not shift the hands about, so as to make a hand with twelve cards in it fall to himself.