Potowatami Poker Report- The hat that got away

Went to the Pot on Sunday morning. They had only 4 tables running when I got there. Seems some lights had burnt out on 2 tables and stupidly they weren't rushing to get them fixed. So I waited about half an hour for things to get going. When I sat down, the guy next to me starts talking about some common friends we had. Turns out we were both in the same fantasy football league years ago.
Things start out ok. I take down an ok pot with a pair of 3s that became a straight. Didn't get my pocket rockets cracked. I take my time and don't play many hands for a while. I start playing some suited connectors and hit a set when a pair of 4s hit the board. But I begin to notice that all the pots are pretty damn small. Hardly anyone is bettng or raising when they have the nuts. I had A K broken up with the flop paired my A along with a Q and a rag. I bet the flop and turn and got two callers. The old guy was willing to see down every hand, even if he had bottom pair or just a high card. The other guy did some talking but wasn't too bright but he put in a raise on the turn. The river had brought another rag. I checked as did everyone else. Not too bright guy had a set of queens. I don't understand why he didn't bet. Was he planning to check raise? Idiot had already blown his cover. He would do this a couple more times. Not bet preflop (practically no one did) or maximize any pots.
After that things got bad. I stopped playing some hands I normally would like to see a flop on. I passed on J 10. Flop came 10 10 K. Turn was a J. River, the case 10. That would have been a hat. It also could have been a big pot for me as I would have gotten a couple bets out of the full house. Now I wasn't getting any hands. Everytime I looked down, I always saw a Q but with a 2,5,3. One time in the blind I get 8 9 and am able to check in. Flop come 8 9 5. I bet and get two callers. Turn is a J. I bet and they call. River is an A. I check. Guy on the end is about to check but then looks at his cards and bets. I call and he turns over A 5. He called down the flop and river with a pair of 5s. Sonofabitch! I proceed to have my K K beat. A Q taken down twice. A J beat. Nothing was going right. End result is leaving two Bens with bad players. Disgusting!
It had to be bad karma from missing the hat opportunity.