Soon thereafter, I went on a crazy streak of playing bad and winning. I played the 7 and 3 of diamonds and won a big pot when I made three sevens. My opponent, not letting up, sarcastically wondered how I could play “so well”. I responded the next hand when my first card was again the 7 of diamonds. It was a good omen, so I turned it face up as I pointed to my verbal sparring partner and stated, “Clearly you still need a handicap.”
I raised when a 10 made me a straight and another big pot. I was undeniably “hot” and pretty polluted. Everyone knew I was playing any two cards the next hand. When the flop came Ace, 2, 5 of diamonds, I declared that I had flopped a straight flush. But for some reason, my credibility was low. There were six players in the hand through the turn. The pot was jammed all the way. On the end, my opponent turned over Aces full. Everyone, especially him, was more than surprised when I showed my straight flush. I had no encore that could possibly top this. It was time to call it a night.
As we left I bid the table farewell and my main antagonist said, “Ah, So.” Was he part Japanese? Had I misjudged him? Later Max told me that what he actually had said was “A**hole!”
