[andyfox]

Seems to me there are fewer angle shooters around these days, at least in my game. Most of them, like your villain, were losing players, so perhaps their money has dried up or they've moved to smaller games or elsewhere. But your point is a good one. There are often six or seven "regulars" or semi-regulars in the game and we know each other as honorable people. Last time I played two of these regulars were in a hand and one guy made a motion to bet and, same as the situation in the original post, the other guy called before he even got the chips out of his hand. Even though he could have said he didn't bet, because he hasn't really made a foward motion, he did indeed make the bet and then mucked.

Here's an exception: hand is head-up and I make trip kings on the turn: I have K-Q and the board is A-K-K-x. I bet first to act and my opponent calls. It is obvious to me and everyone in the cardroom he has an Ace. On the river I intend to bet again and I take the chips in my hand and hold them up waiting for the river card to come. It comes an Ace. So instead of betting I lower my arm to the table, with the chips in my hands, and tap the table twice to check. My opponent insists it's a bet. I've played with him quite a bit and I'm genuinely shocked. He knew my intention was to check. I ask him if he really is going to insist I put in the chips. He says yes. I put them in and, of course, he raises. I fold and I actually left the casino in anger, the only time I remember being angry in a card game in a long, long time. (This happened perhaps a year and a half ago.) A few days later, I apologized to him for my petulance, but, of course, he didn't apologize for doing the wrong thing. There are still some guys who are jerks either on or just below the surface, but, as I say, the amount of angle-shooting seems to me to have diminished over the last few years.