PokerWorks

Everyone has a story to tell, especially poker players.  All stories are not bad beats and all do not have happy endings - but in reality, when you follow poker as your given path, there is no ending, it’s one long game.

Christmas has come and gone. I spent Christmas Eve with the girlfriend's family. One of the ironic things about myself and poker is that I am a naturally shy person. For example, at the Christmas Eve gathering, I might have said two sentences to someone other than my girlfriend or her two boys. I'm also very passive in real life. I tend to let people take control and I submit to their will. At the poker table, however, it's a completely different story. I have no problem talking to people and the one thing I am certainly not is passive. I often wonder if I have some type of bipolar disorder because I really am two completely different people in that regard. I will say that poker has made me less shy and more aggressive in certain situations in life, but I still revert to the old me in places where I am not comfortable.

I finally had the chance to play some poker this morning. There are times when I play where I feel like all the luck in the world is on my side. I'll raise with A-Q and get re-raised. I know I'm beat but I'm on one of those rolls where I can't be stopped so I make a terrible poker decision and get rewarded. In those situations, I've become the exact type of player I want to play against. Fortunately, I don't fall into the “I'm a Golden God” trap too often and let the more important factors such as my reads dictate how I play.

Then there are days like this morning that are the exact opposite of the abovel where every possible thing that can go wrong does go wrong. Where I feel like no matter what I do I am destined to lose. It started off simply enough at Full Tilt Poker when I flopped a set of deuces on a 8-5-2 two heart board. The turn was the 8 of hearts. A great card for me. The flop bettor bet again, I flat called, the third player in the hand moved all in and the flop bettor snap called. Obviously in a low buy in tournament like the one I was playing, there was no way I was going to fold. I called. My two opponents had Q-8 for trip 8's and a heart flush. All I had to do was fade a queen to take in a monster pot. I'm sure you can predict how this story ends. A queen on the river.

OK, no big deal. Stuff like that happens all the time. I was in four other low buy in tournaments at the time, so I shifted focus to those. I flop bottom two pair with 6-5 suited on a 8-6-5 rainbow board. An idiot over bets the pot for his whole stack of 10,000... the pot has 2,400 in it. If he has a set or a straight, he's either the worst player in the world or the smartest. I decide he's the worst and call. He has J-8. The turn is a king. I have to dodge any 8, any jack, or any king – a total of 8 outs. The river is a king and I'm crippled (I had 17,000 to start the hand). I get it all in the very next hand with A-K against pocket 7's. I flop an ace but the turn is a 7 and I'm out of that one.

Now I'm down to three tournaments and I'm starting to get that feeling that I'm doomed. When this happens, I start to expect the card that will beat me to come. Case in point – I got it all in against a player with A-Q and they have K-Q. The flop comes 10-10-9. “Jack,” I say out loud, fully expecting it to come. The turn is an 8. That doesn't change my belief that the jack is coming. “Jack,” I say again. You know that saying “be careful what you wish for” – well I should have been careful. Jack on the river.

I'm still in two tournaments. One is a $3+.30 Knockout 90 person sit and go at Full Tilt. The other is a $1 limited rebuy (one rebuy, one add on) also at Full Tilt. We're down to 15 in the 90 person event when I call a short stack’s all-in and three of us see the flop. The flop misses me and my non all-in opponent makes a bet. I fold and he turns over king high. Of course, I would have hit and eliminated the short stacked opponent. It's that kind of day though. At least that's what I tell myself as I mutter expletives at my screen and at my anonymous idiot dry pot betting opponent.

I managed a small cash in the 90 person event when I finish 8th. I also minimum cashed the $1 limited rebuy event so the day was not a total loss. Despite the two cashes, I ended up slightly down for the day. Even with the bad luck, I feel good about the way I played, and really that's all I can control in the game of poker.

Song Of The Day – Happy by Mudvayne