No Luck on the Draw

This is from a section of the book I was writing until I have a chance to play in a game:
7:45 PM January 27, 2008 VFW – As I walk into the VFW hopeful I’m not late, due to a run in with the law, I find the first game still well underway. I find a chair at the near table and discuss the many hazards of playing against “less than equal” opponents with a friend that walked in around the same time. There are no real players here or anywhere for that matter outside our own home game. Real poker is not being played on the ash scared tables of the VFW but rather a form of “ok, everyone flip your cards over and we’ll see who has the best hand”. To my knowledge I have never purposely been bluffed here. I have folded to “players” that unknowingly represent the winning hand only to later proudly display their inferior pair on the river. Alternatively you can’t bluff these same people either. I have a few rules about bluffing that I run down before I attempt one. 1. They must be breathing on their own. Believe it or not I have play against more than you person with oxygen tubes in their nose. 2. I always stay away from people who have just lost a big hand. Someone else being on tilt can hurt you just as bad as themselves. 3. I will not attempt to bluff someone who either a. things everything is funny, b. does not exhibit some vital signs of life, or c. any unknown women. Unfortunately for me the VFW must breed these sorts of people. The first game finally ends about 8:30 with a grey haired woman who must be in her 70’s winning the 975 dollar first place pot. My interview on Friday was a bust so I have to borrow another ten dollars to go with my fifteen for the buy-in. About an hour into the tournament I’m down only about 75 of my initial 5000 chips. The next hole cards I am dealt are K♥ 10♥ so I call the 200 forced bet. With no raises the flop hits Q♥ J♦ 4♥. I have flopped both an open ended straight and one card to the flush draws. Not a bad place at all to be in at this point in the hand. I’m going to stop and say that by nature I will not usually draw what so ever, but I had the very same draw two weeks ago on the flop and did not hit so my thinking was “what are the odds of me missing this huge draw again. I check and a guy four seats down on my left bets 1600 it folds around to me and I call. The turn card is 7♠, I check and he goes all-in for about 1200. I think about it and call needing any 8, J, or ♥ to make my hand. He flips over a pair of JJ’s and I now see that a K would also do the trick. With almost half the remaining deck in my favor the 4♣ falls and with all hope of winning this tourney. In a normal situation I would not have called that large of a bet but this is a far from normal game and I would win nothing with the chips I had at the time. With only a few hundred chips left I will spare you the disgust of listening to my demise in this tournament. I will say that the guy that won that hand was put out a few hands before me holding a pair of four. I doubt I play again until I receive my income tax return from the government. I have no clue when this will be since it takes them five years to pave a road.