what do you think is the ruling here?

[teaulc]

on my table during the BlackBelt Poker Live,this situation arose: 2 players have played to the river,upon the river card being turned over,player 2 mucked his cards,whereupon player 1 thinking he has won the hand mucks his too? neither player has shown their cards. the dealer then splits the pot between the 2 players. now player 1 is a bit upset over this. tell me what you think is the correct ruling.

[deadlydaveLDN]

Re: what do you think is the ruling here? I think the split pot is correct here. If you muck your cards before the dealer has pushed you the pot then you haven't won the pot. Pretty sure he should be showing his cards here, but at the very least he should protect his cards until the pot is awarded.