The other night I was at the Silverton, one my of favorite new poker rooms. I was just there to keep myself occupied because I was being forced to listen to a very boring work-related lecture on my Dell DJ mp3 player. I didn’t want to just sit in my house and listen to this long, boring lecture, so I thought I would try to play some cards while enduring the torturous lecture. I’m very glad I played cards, because I now have quite a poker story to tell you about.

I was playing at a $2/4 table (remember: I’m only there to keep myself busy while I listen to this lecture on my mp3 player). When this hand occurred, I had been playing about two hours and I was down about $20.

The players at my table were terrible. They kept sucking out, one hand after another. I would start with the best hand, flop top pair, or two pair, or whatever, and some joker would hit a runner-runner straight and beat me. It was getting real bad, but I wasn’t upset. After all, this is what I expect at a $2/4 table. Something else was upsetting me – the poker dealers!

You see, the poker dealers at the Silverton, bless their friendly souls, are terrible. They have great personalities, but in terms of competency, they’re awful poker dealers. All the dealers I’ve experienced there are as green as a soccer field. Hand-after-hand the Silverton poker dealers were making mistakes; really bad mistakes. They were pushing pots to wrong players (multiple times), mucking the winning hands at showdown, flipping up cards, forgetting to burn, etc., etc. Basically, if you can think of a mistake a poker dealer can make, one of these Silverton dealers had made it.

So, I’m getting sucked out, and the dealers are making tons of mistakes. Combine these problems with the fact that I’m stone sober, and I have to listen to a boring, tiresome lecture on my mp3 player, and the picture becomes clear. I was not a very happy poker player. This I will admit.

Just as I’m hitting the peak of my aggravation, a dealer makes a mistake that becomes very profitable for me – the essence of this poker story.

I’m on the button. Action has begun, but as I look down to peek at my cards, I encounter a problem. There is only one card in front of me. The dealer screwed up, and accidentally dealt me only one card – the 7 of clubs. Now, of course I know all I have to do is ask for another card, but I’m not a happy poker player, remember?

In a sort of immature protest (obviously a reflection of my mood), I flipped my one stupid card face-up. The dealer looks shocked! He asks me why I did that. I tell him to just deal me another card. He does. He deals me the 9 of clubs. I flip it face-up also. All my opponents are watching now.

So, sitting in front of me, for all of my opponents to see, are both my cards – 7c and 9c. The dealer erroneously assumes that when I flipped them both face-up, I intended to muck my cards. He gestures to take them away. I tell him to stop. I tell him, “I want to play my hand.” He looks at me like I’m crazy. Everyone at the table looks at me like I’m crazy. They were right. This was a crazy, stupid thing to do.

When the action finally gets to me, there were five callers in the pot. Remember, I’m on the button. With my two cards sitting face up in front of me, for the entire world to see, there was only one thing I could do… “Raise!” -- All five callers call my raise.

The flop comes down: 6, 9, 3 rainbow. Not a bad flop for me. I just flopped a gut-shot straight draw. All of my opponents could clearly see this. Evidently, none of them caught a piece of this flop because everyone at the table checks to me. I bet. Everyone folds, except one caller. Hmm… what does this guy have?

The dealer lays down the turn card, and the turn brings a 7 -- Woo-Hoo! I paired up! The table laughs. My opponent does not laugh. In fact, he tries to make a play on me. He bets out. Now, there’s no way I’m going to let this joker make a play at me. Even if he is ahead, I’ve got outs. And remember, I’m still a generally unhappy poker player. So, there was only one thing I could do… “Raise!” -- I raise his bet. More laughter from around the table. My opponent calls, and mummers something to the effect that his “Ace/King” might still be good.

With that said, the dealer does the unthinkable. He deals fifth street, and he puts down ANOTHER 7! The table erupts! It goes wild! People are high-five’n me! I just played my hand face-up from before the flop, and I hit runner-runner trip 7’s. Unbelievable!

My opponent mucks his hand, and I take down the pot. I think to myself, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” – Both of my cards were exposed the whole way, I raised like a maniac at every chance I got, and yet I win the pot? Amazing! I stopped listening to the boring lecture, turned off the MP3 player, and ordered a beer. I was a happy poker player! By the time I left the Silverton poker room, I was up a hundred bucks.

This is the first pot I’ve ever won under such ridiculous circumstances. Only in Vegas!