First timer question

I've recently went to Macau and at the Venitian decided to give it a try at a Stud table. Never played much of card games and less at a table! End up betting with a hand of A 2 3 4 5 that thought was a straight and against the dealers pair of T. Was told that I lost!!! Wasn't my straight valid to beat the pair of Tens??

You would need to check their rules (all I could find on a quick search was http://www.sandscasino.com/macao/games/table-games.html ) to see whether Ace can be counted as a low card or whether this is expressly ruled out. Personally I might have asked other players what they thought and then requested the supervisor to come over and show me clarification of the rules.

I once played the game (at a different Macau casino) and on the first hand was dealt (and won) quads. They took ages to check the entire pack, counting the cards and going through all the suits in order before paying me.