It finally happened, and it's the first time it happened to me since I started playing live poker about five years ago. The dealer grabbed and mucked my cards.

And what makes it irritating is that the dealer grabbed my cards from across the table -- I was sitting in seat 5 -- and when the dealer grabbed my cards I was using both hands to count out chips to call a bet.

As the dealer grabbed my cards I yelled "NOOOOO!" But it was too late and the dealer immediately put my AdJd in the muck. When I protested the dealer said he thought I had mucked my cards because I took the chip protecting them off. What I was doing was using that "chip protector" to add into my stack of chips that I was about to bet.

I was slow playing my Ace-Jack -- and there was an Ace on the flop and no action till the river when a player bet on a queen. Yes, my pair of aces was good -- I would have won.

I demanded that the casino check the tape to see that I did not fold. And the manager came back saying the tape showed I had pushed my cards into the center of the table. That was not true.

It also angered me that when I asked them to check the muck for my AdJd they refused to do it. "We don't look in the muck," a manager said.

However, all was not lost. A senior manager did put $60 of comps into my account which was $30 of cash which was the value of the pot.

The loser in the incident will be the dealer. He's a good kid, and he regularly rotates among the $100 buy in tables. But he will never get a tip from me again.

He knows damn well that when I fold I toss my cards into the muck. I just don't let them sit there unprotected.

And other dealers know to ask other players when cards are not protected. For some reason, this time, this dealer was in a rush to get to the next hand.

This was at Hollywood Park.