The other night I was playing in a 1/2 nlhe cash game in Germany. I was in BB and no one but middle position player called it. I had pocket sixes. The flop came down. Both checked. I bet 3 /4 pot on turn and he called. At showdown my pocket sixes remained the strongest hand as he had played 63o for some insane reason. However he made a pair of 3s with the turn card I think so the pot was split. I had a good image at the table and was doing really well all night so I didn't want to look stupid over a few euros so I didn't say anything about it. But I didn't understand what had happened. Why would his pair of 3s create a split pot ? Was this an error or is there some rule I don't know about?

sounds like you got cheated unless the board was something like

37788
KKJJ3
23654
etc
etc

What was the board?

unless you can tell us exactly the community (flop,turn,river) cards, we cant really help you

Yeah sorry I can't remember exactly what the board was but the board was definitely not paired and had no 6 on it. It did have a 3 on it giving the the other guy a pair it 3s.no one had 2 pair. There was no straight on the board or anything like that. The dealer was about to give me the pot but the other guy was like oh wait I have a pair of 3s. Even if the dealer wrongly thought a pair of 3s was the best hand why would the pot be split? I've only played live casino poker a few times so I really just assumed there was some live rule or German casino rule I'm not aware of

You have to speak up. Don't be afraid of looking stupid in public.

Anyway there is no way that discovering that villain has a pair of threes makes any difference when you have a pair of sixes. Either its a chopped pot because you are both playing the board or you win.

This is a pretty cheap lesson in protecting your hand. Dealers make all kinds of mistakes. They are human.

When I spek up at the poker table because I think a mistake has been made I would say I am right about 50% of the time. Looking stupid half the time doesn't stop me from speaking up. Because when I am right I am doing the game a service. When I am wrong, its a minor inconvenience.

This hand is known as a fizzbin. Not the first time something like this has happened.

You got another jack! How lucky for you!

Unless it's Tuesday

Well your description still allows for a board of 3457x in which case you both have the same hand. It really is utterly useless to ask this if you don't know the board cards

The board was 35789. You both made straights with your sixes.

Yes pointless I suppose to ask if I don't remember the board. I just thought MAYBE some German person would say something like "yeah when u pair with the board with a card under 5 it's equal to any pocket pair below 9 in a German casino" or something ridiculous like that. I'm pretty certain we had no straight as Id surely have seen it and in any case neither the dealer or opponent said anything about a straight. But yeah obvious conclusion is speak up. Thank you.

what do you think is more likely.

that you didnt notice the straight?
or that somehow there was a conspiracy involving the dealer (and prolly all other players on the table) to cheat u out of a miniscule win but not award it to the other guy but to split it?

In all fairness. Dealer made a mistake and others didn't speak up or weren't paying attention is not an unreasonable posibility.

But I always wonder how a person can have no recollection of the details, not speak up at the time, but be 100% certain that they didn't make a mistake about a possible straight or flush on the board

Fubar

1. You have one friend, one ally at the table. Yourself. Not the dealer, not the other players, not the Floor.

2. Dealers and players make mistakes. Players fail to point out mistakes they see for various reasons.

3. On one hand you have the money in the pot. On the other hand you have the chance of being embarrassed if you speak up when you think you are getting shafted and are totally wrong. What's more important to you, the money or your image?

4. Memory is a fickle thing. So is perception.

5. Some rooms have weird rules. But usually they aren't that weird.

it's confirmed, you got cheated.

speak up right away next time.

Actually be prepared to use looking stupid as your image. Its not a bad thing when people underestimate you.

However, it will backfire if you really are a bad player.

You "surely" would have seen the straight, but you can't remember anything about the board? It wouldn't be the first time somebody mis-read the board.

Seems odd that there would be a straight - since the guy said "wait I have a pair of 3s" and that was enough to win the pot. If a 3 made a straight, and there was a 3 on the board, then the dealer wouldn't have changed his action based on the 3. More likely the dealer got confused - but it is really important for the OP to know that he has to pay more attention to the action, and never let them give a pot to someone else if you think you have a better hand. If you are wrong, nothing lost, but if you are right you gain a lot.

I think this is by far the most likely scenario. The other player's pair of 3's was irrelevant, and perhaps his mentioning it was simply a weak attempt at humor, while he and the dealer both assumed that you saw the straights.