I have fixed it.

2-5 live game. Btn (400) is well-known maniac, all-in regularly; sb (200) is unknown. Hero (600) is tight in bb.

Checked to btn who opens to 25 and Hero makes it 100 with nines; btn calls, sb goes all in for 100 more, hero calls (shove here?).

flop: Q74 rb. Hero checks, btn bets 200 all-in and starts muttering garbage to sb, including the assertion that he has a set of 7's. Hero hears this despite ear buds.

Hero tanks and lines up 200 in chips in front of his cards, and btn says sthg like "he called, I have a set of 7s", and dealer says he hasn't called yet. Hero thinks and folds after several seconds.

Turn is a J and sb wins side pot with KJ, tilting hero. Table is in mild uproar, and later (after maniac busted out) some recall later that sb did sthg very similar (but worse) before .

I may point out that you lining up chips in front of your cards could be construed as an angle as well.

Wow, sb wins side pot as the short stack and you never even looked at your cards before mucking? I think you need to review/edit this... I assume you actually did know what you had before you made it 100 to go? Let us in on it!

I fixed it--I had 99 and 3 bet in bb. The lining up of chips was inadvertantly in front of and to the left side of cards.

The key to decoding most angles is to ask yourself the objective of the angle.

If villain really had a set, would he do anything to prevent you from putting money in the pot? No. He would STFU and try to look bored or weak praying that you bet/shove/call...

Whenever people do something obvious, 90% of the time, do the exact opposite of whatever they want you to do.

Don't fall for these amatuer Jedi mind tricks. They are really obvious once you know what to look for. Basically, just do the opposite of what they want you to do with whatever angle they are shooting.

In fact, once you learn how to read angles, they are invalueable for winning key hands.

goodluck