Protecting my hand......was I wrong?

[LuckyTxGuy]

I was playing $3/6 or $4/8 (not sure which at this particular point in time) at the Gold Strike in Tunica a week or so ago when I had this situation come up.....

I'm in the 3 seat and involved in a multi-way pot that involved very little betting and was checked on the river. I don't remember what my hand was but it makes no difference. We all turn our cards face up and I keep my index finger on both of the cards as I push them out in front of me so the dealer can see them. I doubt I have the best hand but at these stakes ya never know.lol Sure enough the dealer starts scanning around the table heading in my direction trying to figure out who has what. When he gets to me he asks what I have, as he looks at my cards and I tell him and it happens to be the winning hand. He repeats my hand out loud and starts grabbing all the other hole cards, turning them face down and pulling them into the muck. He gets back to me and I've still got my finger on my cards and there are NO other cards face up on the table. He pushes the pot up in a pile and starts pushing it my direction (for what it's worth, no one on my end of the table had cards at the showdown besides me). As he's pushing the pot, I toss him my cards, still face up and they land near the Shufflemaster but still out in the middle of the table. He immediately roars to life and says "Next time you should protect your hand if you want to win a pot!!!!" Embarrassed and trying to figure out what was going on, I sheepishly said "Sorry sir". Now even more condescending than before he says "Don't tell me you're sorry, it's your money you'd be loosing not mine. If you throw your cards in like that, you'll probably loose the whole pot next time!" Now I'm trying to figure out just who in the heck is going to win the pot? Every other card on the table is in the muck and mine are still face up, just out of my reach and the pot is withing 24" of my stack and moving closer when I released my cards. Don't get me wrong, holding the cards another 3 seconds might be the wise thing to do (not real sure why) but I did not see my release of the cards in this situation as a huge breach?

I tip even though the guy has done his best to embarrass me at the table and I'm still replaying everything in my mind. I had been nothing but nice to this guy and very quiet at the table and for what it's worth, never stiffed the guy on a tip. So the very next hand I'm dealt KK. By the river my hand is still good and again it's a multi-way showdown and the dealer is scanning around the table looking for a winner. I have turned my two kings over and this time I keep my index finger under cards but touching the felt. In other words, my finger is propping the cards up less than 1/4" off the felt in the direction of the dealer, making it easier for him to see. I'm also not letting these cards get out of my hands this time.lol He looks at the cards, looks at me with disgust and says "If you would table your hand, I'll see what you have and maybe award the pot." At first I'm unsure what he's talking about but I realize he's talking about my finger under the cards. I remove my finger and place it on top of the cards and he acts like he's been given the gift of sight and says "Two kings". I hold the cards until I'm stacking the pot and I then toss them his way. At this point I'm getting angry.

Before he can deal a hand a new dealer taps in and sits down. Nice young guy and I'm dealt a playable hand. By the river, once again my hand is good at the checked showdown. Same thing, the dealer scans around sees my hand is good, announces it to the table, mucks the other cards and pushes the pot into a pile and starts in my direction. Before he gets past the Shufflemaster he says nicely "sir I need to get those cards before I can push you the pot." WHAT?!!!! Don't get me wrong, this guy was really nice about it, but I'm thinking to myself, this is just nuts. 2 hands ago I get berated by the dealer FOR releasing my hand at this exact point and now I'm being asked TO release my hand so I can get the pot.

No one had made a comment about anything that had taken place up until this point when several people started laughing, as I tossed in my cards. One guy commented, "these dealers are like my ex-wife, you can't ever please the, so you might as well quit trying!"LOL!! We were joking and told the dealer we weren't talking about him and that it was a long story. I didn't feel like rehashing it all out again anyway.

So, what is your take? Was I in the wrong the first time? I might have been and if so, I can take that. What I can't take is being treated like an idiot. I'm by no means a stranger to B&M poker and if I do something wrong, I don't mind being told but I'd at least like it done with the mutual respect that I give the dealer.

Thoughts?