Joe Speaker

The best part about this gambling weekend was an early morning text from Chad that said, “You suck at poker.”

 I was, at the time, three-handed in the first round of a Double Shootout, the last of what would be an entirely fruitless day at the tables. With some rough luck still stinging, I responded,

“Poker sucks at me!”

And laughed hysterically for the first time in hours. I love this game.

I really, really do. But I can’t play it right on the margins. And the online game has been a struggle for me for the better part of a year. I take full responsibility, even if my luck has been documentedly poor. I’ve gifted away plenty of my bankroll over that time with craptastic play. So, I’ve got a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.

I think I can illustrate that sour taste with one hand I played on Saturday. I’ve been wading back into the cash games on Stars since I’ve got some semblance of a bankroll there. Nothing fancy, just $25 max NL. With Jd9d in the BB, I bet out on the flop of 8d7c6d and got one caller. The turn was a black deuce and I fired again on the come, 75% of the pot. At this point, I figure the guy is holding at least two pair or is drawing, same as I. He’s new to the table, so I’ve little read on him. The river is the 4h and, for some reason, my adaptive subconscious tells me he’s totally missed. So I bet the pot, leaving myself like $6 behind. He pushes, I pull a TuffFish (”six, seven, eight, nine, nuthin’!”) and fold.

He shows me QJo, no diamond, no nothing. But better than J9. And while I’m re-loading, he skips away.

Desperate play by me, missing a deck full of draws and losing the pot to someone with no business being in it post-flop. That about sums it up.

Poker sucks at me.

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I did do some railbirding on Sunday night in lieu of playing, watching the Final Table of Miami Don’s Big Game (lotta familiar faces there) while multi-tabling The Sopranos. I also caught the tail end of Hoyazo’s run to the top 3% of the field in the FTOPS Main Event.  Well played, sir. And congrats.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 21st, 2007 at 11:23 am and is filed under Uncategorized.