Hello fellow poker players,


I have a played lots of cash games before, and I feel quite experienced. But I'm getting back into playing live after a couple of years of not really playing.

So here's my story of what happened the other night of me playing cash for a while. (huge huge mistake, then shocked to what I saw next!)

I'm first to act, with KK. I just call. next player raise, next player re-raises. I shove, they both call.

board Q97-2-6

the re-raises shows 6-6 I muck my hand thinking he was taking the whole pot, but was WRONG. He was taking the side pot, the other player shows AJ.

I mucked my handed thinking I was crushed, without thinking of the other player and who gets which pot. (I know, rookie error) when players are all in and there cant be anymore bets, surely you can just turn over like in most cash games/tournaments or are rules different in different casinos ??

The other shocking thing is that, as I was standing up the player to my left attempted to look at my cards!!!!!

u can turn over your cards if u wish, no rule requiring it tho in most properties.

In a cash game, there is generally no rule requiring all players to open their hands once there is an all-in and action is completed. That is a tournament only rule.

The dealer should be controlling the action during showdown and vocalizing that they are going to award the sidepot first, and prevent the 66 player from showing his hand in a way that confuses the players who are contesting the side pot. Often a dealer will turn his hand back over to visually demonstrate that it is not in play for the side pot, but that will vary by room and by dealer.

Ultimately, it is your responsibility to follow the action and know who you are in the sidepot with, however. Hopefully this will be a learning experience for you, and you will never make this mistake again.

While we often bemoan hollywooding and tanking and other time-wasting that some players will dish out for the whole table to have to deal with, the flip side is also important to remember - there is no prize for acting as fast as possible. Take your time, make sure you understand what the action is or what hand is being tabled, before relinquishing your cards. You are the only one in the casino who has your best interest at heart.

As for the player looking at your hand:
1- Stop standing up during a hand
2- If he's just doing it at showdown, ask him to stop if you want, but try not to be a dick about it if he's just being friendly
3- If it's during a hand, you can complain to the dealer or ask a floor to come over if the guy is actively trying to cheat

Side pot always shows first. If he won the side pot, then he also won the main pot.

Or, more likely, this guy is just mistakenly calling the main pot the side pot?

Yep, mistake in OP, but he clearly meant the 66 took the main pot but not the side pot, because he was short in chips.

This. Dealer should sort out side pot first, making 66 guy wait until main pot to show. But even if you think you 100% lost, whenever side pots are involved you should always show IMO, as mistakes are more likely to occur.

Thanks for your help and advice!

This.

Dealer should trying to control who shows when, but sometimes a guy who is only in for the main can't wait to show everybody he has the nuts.

Nope.

I will try to get the all in player to wait his turn but you are responsible to protect your hand not me.

You fold you hand, I will bury it in the muck.

At showdown a good dealer will announce "Side pot first" to remind everyone there's side action.

This comes down to a case of player responsibility though. Sorry OP everyone has one of these things happen to them and then they make changes so it won't happen again.

If the amounts are super easy and it's only 3 way and they turn their hands over and the likeliest winner is WAAYY ahead, I'll run it out, but I'm at least making the main pot right in most cases. Sorry I have to waste literally 15 seconds of your life to prevent confusion and possible problems concerning other people's money.

This is bad advice.

It was horrible advice. Make the pots including all side pots right. If you are going to mess it up now, you will probably mess it up worse trying to do it later. With three players and two all all in , then randomly the is at least a 2/3 chance you will have to count stacks any way. If there are not two all in and more streets, there is more action and you really don't have a choice but make all pots right to proceed. So you can see your short cut is only going to save time a very small minority of the time, saves very little times and carries much more risk. The risk reward of it is just bad.

So you think they mess it up often enough that the few times the big stack scoops it all prevents so many of these occurrences that it's worth the 15 seconds it saves?


If a **** dealer is going to mess it up, they're going to mess it up. It's easier for everyone to follow the creation of the main pot and the sidepot(s) before everyone starts yelling about who won what and that way if there is a problem, it can be corrected before chips start getting pushed in all directions.

He is right. The only two times you are forgiven for running it out without making the pots right first are:

1- The player who obviously covers all other stacks immediately tables the nuts.

2- You have 3 experienced players and only 1 sidepot, you are an experienced dealer, and they ask you to just run it out.

As to the OP's issue, both the dealer and OP are at fault here. You know there is a side pot somewhere, so it's possible that your cowboys can win it (the Dallas ones can't win anything though...) if you're in it. You should be able to see relative stacks even if they aren't brought in. The dealer should absolutely know if there is a side pot and who it is between, even if it's $2. The dealer should be directing the side pot players to show first, and if the 6's come out first, be more forceful about the side pot still being in play.

As for the dealer actually physically constructing the side pots or not, I think it's kind of up to the dealer. An experienced dealer can break down individual stacks and figure out the side pot without bringing main pot stacks in individually. Example, $62/$103/$130, all 3 players all in. A wins the main, B wins the side. The experienced player will wait for the hand to be finished, then give 27 back to C, come up with 82 to give B, and give the rest to A. The green dealer will bring 62 from each stack into the main pot and then figure out the side from there. It may take an extra 30-45 seconds, but I'm ok with it if he gets it correct in the end. I'd rather see accuracy than speed in a new dealer.

Well I'm not green and I'm going to do it the correct way, making the main pot right before I do anything else...... Its not just for me .... Its for the players and its for the cameras, and for a supervisor watching ......

Make it clear and obvious....

1) ALWAYS ... ALWAYS ... Make the main pot 'right' before running out any more cards. If there are multiple additional pots, then you make 'all' of them right except for the 'last' pot if the Dealer so chooses.

1A) While the Dealer is making the main pot right, he announces who is eligible for each pot and instructs which players are to show first.

2) A bit of a stretch here that no one has mentioned as of yet. OP's hand was still live when he stood up in most rooms. There's no way his hand was 'mucked' if another player could attempt to get their hands on it while he was standing up .. unless he is super fast at standing.

2A) Although a major OPTAH violation, OP wins side pot if that player exposes his hand before the Dealer pulls it in.

OP .. sorry you over-reacted but we've all done 'something' silly along those lines before. Welcome back to poker and play well (except when I'm at the table too). GL