Poker dreamin'

Just woke up from strange one.

I was playing heads-up with Todd Brunson. The game was $10-$20 limit hold'em--played with actual cash, not chips. I don't know where we were, but it wasn't in a casino. We were dealing ourselves. We played only one hand, because of how it went down. For some reason, my hole cards were up, but his were not. I made top and bottom pair on a flop of A-6-3, and improved to aces full on the turn. Surprisingly, he raised me when I bet! He could only beat me with A-6 in the hole for a bigger full house. Since he knew what I had, and knew that I knew that, he either had it or was bluffing (i.e., he couldn't mistakenly think he was ahead). He couldn't possibly think I would fold in that spot in a limit game, so bluffing seemed unlikely. I warily called his raise, then called again when he bet a river card that would seem to have been no help.

At that point he declared himself the winner, scooped up the cash, stuffed his down cards in his pocket, and started to walk away. I was not ready to just take his word for it, so I followed, trying to stop him. When it became clear that he wasn't going to be reasonable about it, I punched him in the nose.

It should probably be mentioned at this point that Todd Brunson is considerably bigger than me in any dimension you'd care to name. (Note to self: If you have to reach up to hit somebody in the nose, as I distinctly remember having to do, you may want to reconsider the action.)

It instantly became apparent that this choice for dealing with the situation had been a mistake. His face clouded with rage, and he stopped and glowered at me. I had that sinking "Uh-oh" feeling.

Alas, I cannot tell you how the conflict was resolved, because I woke up at that point. This may have been my subconscious's way of avoiding getting beaten up.

(Photo from here.)