More zero-level thinking

Once in a while in poker, something completely inexplicable happens; somebody does something that defies all reason. This has been called "zero-level thinking." (See here for more on that.)

Even as I write this, I'm playing a sit-and go HORSE tournament on PokerStars. Take a look at the hand we just completed:



What's remarkable about it is that the player to my right called my bet on the river. I didn't believe he had a king. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have bet, since it's a situation in which, in theory, I would get called only by a hand that beats me. But not so here. He had a pair of nines, and nothing more. He could not beat what I had showing, but called.

Could he have mistakenly thought it was Stud/8? Well, if he did, he screwed up in another way, too, because he had no low hand. His cards don't look like he could have erroneously thought he had a straight. Maybe he misread his hand to be a club flush, or two pair? I don't know.

The other unusual thing is that at this moment, clueless guy is chip leader. That, however, is not inexplicable--he keeps backing into real hands after starting with garbage. *sigh*


Update

Mr. Doofus crashed and burned, going out second (i.e., in 7th out of 8). I finished 3rd, just barely in the money.