Incompetence at Spirit Mountain

Normally when I hear about people acting out of line at a casino, it is followed quickly with comments about how the dealer and casino did not properly handle the situation. This was not the case last night. The only incompetence came from my fellow poker players.

Hand #1:

I look down at Ace-King off under the gun. We are playing limit Hold'em so I pop it up. The guy directly to my left calls. A loose passive chick calls from middle position. A solid but hyper-aggressive player calls on the button and the big blind who is just killing time till his buddy gets knocked out of the tournament also calls.

The flop is K-Q-J with two hearts. Big blind bets out with confidence. This looks like a dangerous board. However, the guy on my left and the girl in middle position could have anything. The hyper-aggressive player would have re-raised preflop if he had two face cards. So all I'm really worried about are players on drawing hands and the big blind. I raise to put pressure on the draws. The guy behind me calls. Middle chick and the aggressive guy fold. The big blind calls.

The turn is a miss. Big blind considers betting but in an obvious sign of weakness he chickens out checks. I toss in a bet and both players call.

The river is the 9 of hearts. It's the worst card in the deck. Big blind may have had a pair and a draw. The guy behind me could have had anything. Big blind checks and I check too. The guy on my left bets. The big blind calls. I take my time with my decision. Is there any way I can fold the hand? Why would big blind just call if he hit a draw? What could the guy behind me have to bet with?

I've probably been thinking for ten seconds when the guy on my left announces that he can't win the hand and tables ace-5 of diamonds. He was just bluffing at the scare card on the river. I still haven't called but he made my decision really easy. I have to be ahead of the big blind. However, before I'm able to place my call, big blind tables his hand too. K-2. Top pair crap kicker. I call and take down the rather large pot. People can be so dumb.

Hand #2:

I would have had the best hand if I had played and could have diffused this entire situation. However, I didn't so here's what went down. It is heads up at the river. The board shows Q-J-3-7-2. There's no possible flush. Once again the guy on my left is involved. The other guy is really loud and aggressive. He's kinda a prick. The guy on my left was on the button and the loud guy was the big blind. Big blind bet out on every street and the guy on my left called him down.

After the final call, the aggressor says "Good call. I only have a pair of threes." He flashes his cards so quickly that I didn't get to see them and then he mucks his hand. The guy on my left didn't know what to do. In his defense, he was a really nice guy but he just didn't know anything about playing poker as was the case here. He had ace-king high and couldn't beat the threes but the other guy mucked. So he just placed his cards down, face up, and looked around for help. The dealer immediately pushes the pot his direction but he doesn't start picking up the chips.

Big blind looks surprised that the chips aren't being picked up right away. Then he looks at his opponents cards and notices for the first time that he mucked the best hand. He blows up. The dealer says that you have to table your cards to win the hand. The guy tells her to fuck off. She calls the floor over who explains the same thing and awards the pot to the ace-king guy. The guy with threes immediately leaves, still complaining and kicks over some dude's cane on the way out. What an ass.