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I was playing 1/2 last night and this situation came up. I was on the button, and there were two other players in the hand. The flop comes out, everybody checks. Turn comes, both guys check, dealer turns the river before I act. I explain to him that I did not act yet, and he calls the floor. Floor guy comes and says that if I had not acted, the river card would come back. He then said, "Action is now back to you sir". I asked, "So, the river comes back, correct?" (I had a flush draw and the river wasn't my flush card so I was hoping we'd get a new card). He says, "Yes, the river comes back". I proceed to check. He then says, "Well sir, the river card stays. If you would have bet, we can bring it back. Since you checked, it stays. We're not here to give out free cards, sir" I told him that he just got done telling me that the river card comes back. He didn't say "The river card comes back, unless you check". He said he understood my confusion, and he should have explained it better.

Was this the right call? I always thought the card came back.

Card should get put back in the deck and reshuffled and then a new river is dealt (so that the one that was mistakenly dealt still has a chance to come). With that said, each card room has their own rules though and floor's word is final. You can usually ask to have his supervisor to make a ruling if you feel that his ruling is incorrect though.

I honestly did not know that interpretation of the rules. That said, if you get skipped over in the action and your intention was to check, I think the better thing to do would be to inform the dealer that he/she erred in skipping over you but clearly state that you intended to check so no harm, no foul. This is more just a matter of keeping the game going.

I guess the rule is in place to keep people from angle shooting by deliberately trying to hide their cards from the dealer so that they can object when and only when the river card is one they do not like. Of course, I realize you were not doing that in this case, but they might be protecting against that.

It sounds like the floor did not do a good job of explaining the logistics of the situation to you. I'd be curious to hear who it was. That said, I do also think it would be an angle shoot to opt to, say, put in a minimum $2 bet just to get a new card when your original intention was to check.

I understand all of that, but my intentions to check or bet were directly related to him telling me that the card would come back. I was not intentionally trying to slow the game down or angle shoot, and I think he knew that. He looked semi-confused himself when he was explaining it to me.

And his name was either Mark or Matthew...I always forget

Edit: For some reason I think his name is Richard now

Every room has their own rules that we never have access to therefore allowing them to constantly make irregular rulings / mistakes without facing challenges to their ruling. I personally believe that casinos should allow players access to the rules via purchased book or downloadable PDF. No where else do people conduct thousands of dollars of transactions without a written contract. Chess player, bridge players, baseball players all have rule books..... Hell, Monopoly has a rule book for fake money!!!

Anyways, enough ranting, to the point, generally they base casino rules on "Robert's Rules of Poker" therefore it is a very good idea to read them and be familiar with them. In Section 3 under "Irregularities" it states:
"15. If the dealer prematurely deals any cards before the betting is complete, those cards will not play, even if a player who has not acted decides to fold."

The card should be placed in the middle of the deck, re shuffled, and re deal the river without a burn.

You will find a copy of Roberts Rules here

Remember, don't play Monopoly without reading the rules.