The betting before the flop just ended. Then comes that little pause. Before the flop is flopped. It’s the ready-set-go part of the hand. Sometimes, in that suspended space, I get a feeling of This is why I came. This is why I showed up to play poker today, just so that I could get myself into exactly the spot I am in right now. Long ago, I started to think of these situations – the ones that made me feel like I was making money just by being in them – as my bread and butter.