I had to ask this here because I feel its a beginners question, but I promised a friend I'd post it. When reading poker rules it says you build your hand out of the top 5 cards available - the 2 in your hand and the 5 on the board. If the best cards are on the board, you can "play the board" and split the pot.

For example, on the board is Ace, 2, 3, 4 & 5. The pot is split. If one person has an Ace in his hand it doesn't matter because the other player can "play the board" which shows a straight.

Am I correct? Because my friend was trying to tell me that I've been playing wrong all this time, and the Ace in the one players hand trumps the Ace on the board, and the local tournament game that he goes to play said that as well.

But I'm pretty sure I'm right in playing the board, and if I'm not... I'd like to know here.

Yes.

If the board is A2345 and 1 player has A9 and one player has T9 both players have A2345 and split the pot.