Some players act with class at the poker table, others don't. Two slimy things that poker players universally hate-slow-rolling and asking to see the losing hand-show no class whatsoever, yet you still see them happening.

A few years back at the World Series of Poker we were in the second day of play in the Big One when a huge hand came up. It was four-way action between Doyle Brunson, two other players, and a guy I'll just call Roller. A pair of threes were showing on the board along with three diamonds.

The way the hand came down, two side pots developed. But only Doyle and The Roller were in for the entire pot. After the hand was completely dealt and all the betting was done with, the dealer was making sure that he had all the money right in each of the side pots. While this was going on, Doyle says, "Roller, I've got the nut flush. Is it any good?" Roller doesn't answer. Ten or fifteen seconds go by and Doyle repeats, "Roller, I guess you didn't hear me. I've got the nut flush. Is it any good? That's all I want to know." Again Roller doesn't answer. This goes on for about a minute and a half with no answer.

Finally all the pots are square the way they should be, and Doyle shows down his hand, the nut flush. Roller sits there for about a minute and finally turns over pocket threes-he had made quad threes! Doyle, a man that you never see getting out of line against another player when he's playing poker, called Roller every name under the sun. Not because he beat Doyle in the hand, but because he had slow-rolled him.

I call that the ultimate slow roll. Here you're playing for $1 million first-place money and you don't have the courtesy to tell a man that he's beat!

My next story is for all you players who love to see the losing hand. It happened in the old days in Texas when we didn't have a center dealer and the hands weren't killed. If you're any kind of poker player at all, you're supposed to know just about what your opponent has, so to ask to see the losing hand is just poor manners.

This story happened during two sessions in Dallas. We played at Art Whitaker's on a Tuesday night and Charlie Bissell's the next day. Manning Briggs beat Larry Tooker in a pot Tuesday night and said, "I want to see the losing hand." So Larry showed it over. Larry's a real nice guy and Manning's a nice guy too, but he plays real hard when he's playing poker.

The very next day, Larry, Manning and Hugh Briscoe are in a pot together at Bissell's place. Hugh used to overlook a lot of his hands, and in this hand he was drawing for a flush. Larry got raised out of the pot, but remembering the night before, he says, "Now I want to see both hands when this pot's finished."

Manning shows down two pair at the end. "That's good," says Hugh.

"Wait a minute," says Larry, "I told you that I wanted to see both hands."

So Hugh turns his hand over. Sure enough, he had overlooked it-he hadn't made the flush, but he had made a middle-buster straight and wound up winning this huge hand from Manning. I'll guarantee you that Manning Briggs never again asked to see the losing hand. See how it came back to haunt him?

I believe that poker should be a gentlemanly game. I know that a lot of women play poker, but when I say "gentlemanly" you realize that I mean it in the highest sense of the word. Whether your opponent is strong or weak, it's a bad idea to slow-roll him or ask to see his losing hand. The strong opponent just gets hot about it, and the weak player gets embarrassed. You might even drive the live one right out of the game-but the real point is that it's poor poker etiquette.

Till next time, this is TJ signing off to the world from the dusty backroads and the bright blue skies of Texas.