Kicked Junk and Feeling Fine!
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
I should probably touch on something that happened to me last night. The poker gods decided to set their junk kicker on high, and I was in perfect position. This may sound like a Wofflesian list of bad beats, but it ain't. Why not? Because after each one, I had a happy grin on my face. I knew I played well, and if I was going to lose, it would have to be from a suckout.
So, here we go. I played in a $24+2 Razz tournament last night. I was in great shape down to 20 or so players, but the Razz tournaments seem to always have prohibitive blinds, largely, I'm sure, due to the limit structure which makes busting out and chip redistribution a difficult process. So, I'm in great shape when I'm all-in. One player has less than me and was already all-in. I held a 75432 low, and the third opponent had the exact same hand, 75432. Then the river card came. I got a 2, which meant nothing. He got a 6, for a 65432 low. Hmm...kinda sucks, but at least I had played a good game and came back from being very short early on.
I played a token race. I got AKo in the BB and everyone folded to the SB. It was very early in the tournament, but I decided to extract what I could from the poor sap. He min raised me from the SB, and I decide to raise pretty high. When he re-raised me back, I pushed, confident that if I wasn't ahead, I'd be in a coin toss. He had AJ. The flop was KQx, and the turn was a Ten. He hit his straight, and I left, still smiling, because, hey, I had a read, and he got lucky.
I played in the WWdn last night. It was a great time, and I was rocking and rolling. Of course, then my TT lost to 55 when we were all-in preflop, and earlier on, I was hit by a three-outter.
See, throughout all of this, I wasn't upset by bad luck. Admittedly, at one moment, I was a bit red in the face and had to put myself in mental check, to ensure that I didn't donk it any chips away. But that was one instance, and I was calm by the next hand.
Bad luck sucks, plain and simple. But playing great is fucking awesome. Last night, I was playing great. I was playing an aggressive game in the WWdn and in the top 5 for most of the game until the suckouts came. Suckouts will come, so if they are going to happen, I'm happy it was in tournaments, where my losses were capped. I'm also glad that they came when I was playing well, instead of when I donk around and THEN get sucked out. It's much more painful because I can second-guess my plays in those situations.
Bad luck happens. It's a fact of life. We can mull on it (I have in the past), we can steam and punish ourselves with bad play. We can do all of those things. But it won't get you anywhere. Like those alcoholics say (and really, you should be getting all your advice from addicts), you have to learn to accept the things you cannot change (bad luck), the courage to change those things you can (your play), and the wisdom to know the two apart.
And while we are talking about bad beats, go check out the Full Tilt Blog. They've now posted articles from Fluxer and slb159. Kudos guys! Both are great reads. I know a couple of other bloggers have submitted entries, so good luck to them.
Oh, and sign up for DADI X and send me an email if you are interested in the HUC4. Until next time, make mine poker!
posted by Jordan @ 4:54 PM,
4 Comments:
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At 6:39 PM,
said...
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I feel that's the exact attitude you have to take when you take a bad beat - I wish there were more people that had your attitude on the subject.
I absolutely hate it when someone takes a bad beat and types in the chat window "you're an idiot" or something of the like. First off, you want to be in a dominating position so you should be happy they called, and second, you got your chips in with the best of it and just plain got unlucky.
Nice post Jordan, good luck at the tables. -
At 11:54 AM,
said...
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Exactly. I agree with the above poster. You wouldn't call someone an idiot when they call an don't suck out on you, so don't do it if they do suck out.
I think most people who blog and read these blogs display class at the table, but we're in the minority when it comes to online poker. -
At 1:50 PM,
PhantomMut said...
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It's easy to forget there are real human beings on the other side of that intraweb thingy. What tempts me to trash talk isn't the bad beats but the Sheikan wannabes. The temptation to return the talk with interest is extreme.
As has been said, a bad beat only happens when you've played well - frustrating, but validating too. On the other hand, even when you do feed the Sheikans huge helpings of crow, they don't shut up! (And, of course, you run the risk of turning into a real ass yourself.)
BTW, good blog. -
At 1:58 PM,
Unknown said...
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I submitted an article.
But it wouldn't let me break it up into paragraphs.
