This guy's in a sort of competition -- let's say he ran for school president. When they start to announce the winner, he automatically assumes that he won; he'll stand up, get this smug look on his face and he might even start giving his acceptance speech. But he didn't win... it was his rival, some random underdog, a write-in vote, or a tie, or a mix and match of those things. The comparable Real Life example is the Award Snub. Examples of Assumed Win include: