LOSING!!

Yesterday I wrote about winning my poker league night. Today I’m going to write about losing in the 5/10 NL game at Aria last night. Winning and Losing go together like peanut butter and jelly. Without one or the other you wouldn’t have a sandwich. One of the most common things I handle with people though, is handling the emotional swings of the game.

Basically my losing session came down to 2 key hands. I had been grinding away and other then these two hands was up about $800. I had just seen my first opponent make a bluff for 2k and lose and then reload for another 2k when this hand came up. An ep raiser makes it 60 to go and gets 1 caller when our villain in mp now makes it 200. Im in lp and look down at QQs and make it 700. It’s folded around to Mr. V who now moves all-in for 1800 more. I call. The board runs out with an Ace and he flips over AK and I quietly release my hand to the muck and mutter something like, “nice hand.” Poker players secret code for “that sucks.”

I build back and am stuck about 900 in the game when this juicy hand came up. This was a pretty loose gambling type of game by the way and because I was “stuck” in the game I was ready to show a little gamble as well. 

It’s helpful to know what diverts you from your purpose, which for me, was grinding out and continuing the trend of my winning ways. So being “stuck” diverted me and contributed to me violating one of gamblers 10 commandments.

THOU SHALL NOT CHASE!

When you chase (whether it’s money, women or cards) in effect you are taking on the perception that you are behind. And at least in my experience, I have found that it is much harder to win when playing from behind then from in front.

So villain #2 over-raises from ep making it 80 to go and it is folded around to me in the bb and I make the call w Th9h. A multi-way type hand that probably shouldn’t be played heads up and out of position, but knowing this and wanting to get "unstuck" and get back to "even," I make the call anyway. We see a flop of K-J-Q two spades. Gin! I check-raise his 100 bet to 300 and after a minute he makes it 900 with 4k behind. I want him to think that I have a spade draw and so I show going into the tank, “but what I’m really thinking about is Vegas and the fucking Mirage!” (Mike McDermitt-Rounders) I hope he puts me on spades, I say to myself and I shove hoping to get called by a set of Kings or Queens. He quickly calls, but instead of a set I’m shocked to find him roll over AT - the nuts! Suddenly I find myself violating the 2^nd commandment!

THOU SHALL NOT PUT YOUR MONEY IN DRAWING DEAD!

Wow!! Violating Two commandments in two hours is like swallowing a bad oyster. I had enough. I stood up, congratulated my opponent and removed myself from that table and headed over to another table. The Aria buffet table. Which, by the way, had no bad oysters.

Win or Lose – enjoy the journey!

Kenna