My big mouth!

My wife and I played in another great $10-20 game at the Borgata this weekend. I played well but got lucky to hit many
flops. Also lucky being I was on the winning side of a few coolers. One hand I got involved in was a total cooler for
my opponent. He was a very good aggressive opponent sitting to my immediate left.(He limped in under the gun.) In the
Big Blind I picked up 4-5 of spades. A middle position player brought it in for a raise. The small blind called and so
did I. The flop came total gin for me A-2-3 rainbow. We both checked and the mp bet. Small blind folded, I called and
under the gun called. Turn brought an offsuit eight. I checked he bet and middle position player folded. Here is where
the hand got interesting for me. I raised and he re-raised. I four bet it and he just called. An offsuit 7 fell on the
turn. I had the obsolute nuts. I bet and he raised. Here is where my big mouth cost me money. I made a comment that
we are probably chopping the pot. At this point I figured he had to have the same hand as me being he was betting like
there is no tomorrow. At this point he showed me his 2 eights for a set and said that he folds. I showed him the nuts
and took down the huge pot. I could not believe that he would fold this huge pot for $20 more? Suppose I was lying and
taking a shot at him. The pot was over $300 and it only cost him $20 to call. The thing is we had been chatting it up
for the last few minutes before this hand. He told me he knew I wouldn't try an angle on him. Of course he was totally
right. I am an honest player who would never pull that garbage on anyone. Being he only played with me for an hour how
would he know that? Moral of the story is always keep betting when you have the nuts. Never assume the other player is
good enough to not keep raising when he is beat. We talked about this hand for awhile. By the way the hand played out
he never put me on a straight. He was convinced I had a lower set then his three 8s. Oh well live and learn. Good
Luck at the tables. May 2007 be very profitable for you. Tony