It was only a tough call because your room uses a crappy rule set.

Actually, if the rule is " cut and dry" as you say, then it shouldn't have been a tough call. It's an easy call using a crappy rule.

Where is this room located

Why was this a tough call? If you believe in your rule, then you apply it. Easy peasy. Slam dunk. Cards were exposed, doesn't matter why, rules are rules, kill the hand and laugh at the lady as you let seats 4 & 6 steal her money.

Or maybe you're seeing that this is a truly, stunningly, stupendously STUPID rule that should not exist? Strange how real life situations sometimes result in situations that appear to make the rules seem unfair.

Fix your rules. I don't care that it's "standard" in Europe to kill hands left and right for the tiniest of rules infractions, it's wrong to do so. Be the first in your neighborhood to change.

What was the actual ruling?

Exactly this. Rules exist as a way to handle trouble-makers, not as a way to punish the innocent with loopholes and technicalities.

Also this.

I've worked in poker markets where different casinos had different rules. It worked out just fine. Work to change your rule, regardless of what other casinos do. You're importing a game, and getting some of the nuance wrong. This is one example. The betting line is another.

"Ok gentleman, it is against the rules to look to see another player's cards when they are looking at them. Therefore, I'm killing both of your hands and awarding the pot to seat 5."

"Oh, you don't think a rules violation means your hand should be killed? Great, Seat 6, the action is on you."

I'm a bit of a cynic and I'm having a hard time accepting the story on face value.

The title is very off. The room manager isn't mentioned within the post.

OP has been a member since 2009 but never posted until today?

The post was originally in Beginners Questions.

It's hard for me to believe that an experienced floor person couldn't differentiate between an exposed hand and a hand that two players saw when the player failed to protect it while looking at it.

It's so clearly an angle shot that other than cautioning the player to protect her hand, I would take no action at all on it.

While I agree with the suggestions made here by the experienced posters in B&M, I have the strong feeling this is a level.

I'm curious why you think the room's rules make a distinction. From what I've read in B&M and heard from tourists at the Vegas tables, I think many rooms in Europe have a 0-tolerance policy. It doesn't matter how your cards came to be exposed, if someone else at the table knows what you hold anytime prior to showdown, your hand is killed. But I would like to see the rulebook for such a room.

I don't think this is a level. I think this is a normal sorta poker room floor for a room in .GR or .CZ or some such, but I'm totally guessing. He ran into a situation where he knew the letter of their rules, but found the notion of applying them grossly unfair. That's a good thing.

I thing that's what DG means: if there is no distinction, then this thread is pointless. There is no question that it's a dead hand. If the OP is choosing this time to decide that the stupid rule is stupid, then he is talking to the wrong crowd.