In home games, the house must establish the rules for the game. In this case it is a matter of PLAYERS CALL THE HANDS in this case mucked is mucked OR the Cards call themselves but in this case, the player that threw his cards in the muck loses. The house must set the rules before the game starts.

NOTE: In many tourneys, if a player tosses his hand in the muck BUT misses the muck and a card lands on your down cards, your hand is dead! Always cap your hole cards with a low denomination chip or your favorite collectable gem! That is why they call it a CARD PROTECTOR.