So if it'd been the tough reg who mis-read his hand, you'd have kept quiet?

Op, you protected the integrity of the game. Gg you. You weren't the bad guy at all. The bad guy here is the reg who wanted to keep the pot on technicality with the worst hand and bringing down neg energy on the table because of it.

The fact that it was "the fish" (Lord how I hate how this term is bandied about) who's interests were protected is irrelevant.

Something similar happened in a hand that I played recently in a 1/2 NL game, but with one difference that I think is material to the discussion. In the hand, I raised pre-flop with KQ, and only the BB called. The BB then checked and called continuation bets that I made on the flop and turn.

After the BB checked on the river, I gave up, checked behind, tabled my hand, and announced, "I have King high."

The BB held his cards up to show his neighbor, but did not table them. Only the BB and the player to his immediate right saw his hand. Referring to a busted a flush draw, the BB then said, "I missed, you win" and was about to muck his hand. The player to his right stopped him and said, "Turn your hand over. You have a pair of twos." The BB did and scooped a $140 pot with bottom pair.

I was annoyed, and I think I had a right to be. I could be wrong, but I don't think that showing a neighbor your cards constitutes tabling your hand. My own view is that the obligation that all players have to ensure that the best hand wins the pot does not accrue until cards are tabled for all to see and not just for a select few in the vicinity of the player holding them.

Sorry if it makes me a jerk, but for me it depends on who I'd be helping. If it's some douche who's a decent player, there is no way I'm speaking up. If it's a generally decent person i will say something. I don't believe i'm alone on this stance. #another reason to be a decent/likeable human being at the poker table.

Yes this is a clear violation of One Player To A Hand (OPTAH). And it ticks me off every time I see it happen. Especially when it happens to me.

However once the hand is tabled it becomes a moot point. The ruling if you ask for one will always go towards the hand being live because the player may have seen it for himself and shouldn't be disqualified from winning because the other player violated the OPTAH rule.

Typically I tell the player who spoke up that he isn't allowed to say anything during a hand that could help another player. And when he gives me some lip I call over the Floor to educate him and warn him not to do it again. It is amazing to me that dealers often do not speak up in these situations.

No, re-read the first sentence, especially the bolded part. I routinely speak up when I see transgressions at the table. In fact I have said things six times this year which have cost me money at the table and I could have gotten away with it but I didn't. I put the game first.

I think what people are getting at is that even if it means a first time playing tourist fish loses the hand to a nasty regular jerk and is likely to leave and bust the game we should do the right thing and make sure the nasty regular gets the pot.

Speaking as a nasty regular of course.

If you make decisions based on what you think of a person, doesn't that preclude you as a decent, likable person?

I may not like everyone at every table to but my decisions are based on the rules, the scenario, the best interest of the game and fairness.

lol theres no way im speaking up if its a nitty reg who misread their cards, id always assist a new/tourist player though in case they genuinely dont understand if they have a straight, its also hugely +ev

you can always get their nit money from a tourist but not a nit its like a black hole.

I guess i just don't feel an obligation as a player to protect lowlifes, scumbags, aholes, angleshooters, annoying people, etc...I can just pretend that i didn't see the dudes straight. I don't believe it's the players job to read other peoples hands. It's a totally different story for a dealer because it is your job.

That being said i do look out for the integrity of the game in other aspects. I call out angleshooters no matter who they are (friend or not). Same thing goes for cheating, etc. If I can see the dudes cards next to me i will let that person know regardless of how i feel about them because it would give me an unfair advantage against the other players....

You aren't protecting the people you find distasteful, you are protecting the game.

And yes, it is the responsibility of the players to make sure hands are read correctly.

kinda surprised im reading this.

this past week some guy came to our table and brought up a hand in an omaha game where someone tabled a set and his friend tabled his hand and said "straight". he was drunk and didnt have one, and the guy telling the story said he saw there was no straight but because it was his friend he didnt say anything. the guy with the set stormed off because he thought he lost. i asked everyone around me and no one says they would have spoken up. (when i was leaving i spoke with some guys outside and somewhat turned their stance saying put yourself in the losers shoes, do you not want someone to correct you if you misread someones hand and you actually had a winner. i guess it was just because of the "its my friend and i dont want him to lose the money", but it wasnt his anyways, he lost the friggen hand, cards speak.)

i was so shocked about this. i guess these guys dont realize that they are stealing from people.

According to whom? I've never seen this rule posted. What is the penalty for not doing so? Many players feel that it is they're responsibility, fine. I don't - and further i fail to see how that makes me a bad person.

Protecting the game from what? Explain to me how my failure to say anything is harmful to the game? What if i simply wasn't paying attention?

It is everybody's responsibility to correct a mistake. It is a rule and I hope somebody posts it.

It protects the game from people intentionally stealing from other people.

For example if a dealer is in cahoots with a particular player and occasionally (rarely) miscalls a hand against a non-regular. It makes the game (in that card room) look bad if nobody speaks up. It might come out later. And of course it is stealing.

We can't know if its a mistake or intentional. But even if it obviously a mistake it can still look bad. And the aggrieved person may think its a rigged game. It is much better for the game if people speak up immediately and in numbers. People will get the feeling the game is on the up and up and won't feel bad about dumping all of their hard earned money into the game. Which means they will come back and the room will likely get good word of mouth advertising as well.

There's a rulebook called Robert's Rules of Poker. It's freely available online:
http://www.homepokertourney.com/robe...s-of-poker.htm.

You might want to give it a gander a time or three. It's your money your putting in the middle, after all. You might want to know the rules of the game. While your at it, you might google for the TDA rules (Tournament Director's Assn). A similar ruleset that's specific to tournaments.

RRoP's not entirely universal, as cardrooms do have policies that contradict it (and house rules ALWAYS take precidence, of course), but in general, it is the accepted rules of the game.

Here's the section relating to this: