Clarification of Hold'em rules for split pairs

[Willy]

[ QUOTE ]
Hi,

I'm a bit confused on the rules of hold'em when there is a showdown with two players who both have the same split pair. Here is an example

player 1
A6

Player 2
A9

Board:

A X X X X

I've played a game where the outcome was a split pot rather than the A9 winning even though both players only had a split pair of aces. Can someone explain this please.

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If 3 of you Xs are higher than a 9 and the other X is neither a 9 nor a 6, each player has AA and the 3 Xs which were higher than a 9.