When the obvious isn't

Last night Linda, Greg, Amy, Vivienne, Marie and Gary and I met at the MGM poker room to play/socialize. Amy didn't actually play and Gary ventured off to play $10-20 but the rest of us ended up on the same $3/6 table for several hours. Seats 6-10, not that it really matters.
I got involved in a hand with KQoff. By the turn I had top two but the board read K,10,J,Q rainbow. It was heads-up. An ace spiked on the river and I immediately bet out. The other guy thought about it for a few seconds and called. At this point I don't think he realized that the nuts were on the board. After the dealer started chopping the pot the light bulb went on inside the other guys head and he spits out "There was no reason for you to bet.....we were chopping it anyway".
What I should have said: You're right! I am an idiot.
What I said" Of course there was a reason for me to bet; Maybe you're stupid! How would I know if you are paying attention or not.

As a dealer (and as a player) I see this scenario all the time. I can't count the number of times that I have seen a player muck his hand when he could have had half or all of the pot. Who knows how many times it happens without me seeing the cards. Just today as I was dealing a $2-4 limit game it almost happened. I flopped 10,10,10 and turned a 10. I think the river was an 8 but it doesn't matter. Player 1 tables his hand and he had a Jack that played. Player 2 keeps his cards in his hand and shows an Ace. He started to muck his hand and then stopped and finally tabled his hand containing the Ace. He was within a second of throwing away the pot. It happens all the time.......
Also today in a $4-8 limit game there were two clubs, a spade and a red card on board. The river was a spade and as the 10s folded to a bet he tries to jab me with "You had to put a spade on the river". I pushed the pot and as I was gathering up the cards I said, quietly, Why were you worried about a spade on the river, there was no flush possible. You should have been worried about the possible straight. He, of course, thought one of the clubs was a spade.
I could go on and on with this line of thought. Hopefully you get the picture. Sometimes the obvious isn't so obvious.
******

The room today was slow and unusually boring with one exception. My buddy Jeremy was in the $4/8 half kill game on table 3. I've written about him before. When I am in the box he is more likely to play blind than look at his cards. It's scary how often he is successful with this approach. In any case he had the whole table on tilt once again. During one kill pot the pre-flop action was capped at $21 with eight way action. Jeremy put in two of the three allowed raises. I love dealing the wild/wooly games. It certainly beats the monotony of the check-check-check-bet-fold-fold-fold mind numbing madness of the $2-4 limit games.
The fact that the action-packed games are more enjoyable to deal should be obvious. It is obvious, right? Or are you are one of the oblivious players who mucks the nuts........
Don't be a nut mucker!