Poker Player Goes On Tilt After Spilling His Drink!

Two MTT tournaments.

Two cashes.

Still upset.

Immediately after cashing in a 180 person SnG on Stars (18 people left), I sat in the BB with less then five BBs left holding ATo, seeing the tournament maniac on the button I knew if it was folded to her she would push with any two. She pushed and had me covered by just a couple of chips, SB folded, now what? I knew I was ahead and the blinds were starting to hurt badly. Do I release here and pick a better spot? Or push my edge by calling and go for the bigger cash?

I called, she flips up K4 and proceeds to get runner runner full house. Awesome.

Is this a leak in my tournament game? Pushing edges instead of waiting to flop a Royal?

Hand me a Cap’n Coke and I’ll stop the whining now.

Tomorrow is the day I enjoy my 31st year of life with the people who put up with my poker whining and taking myself too fuckin seriously sometimes (ok, more then sometimes). The constant reminders that we’re gambling and playing a game are needed, and the bloggers deliver night after night.

Thank you ladies and gentlemen of the virtual felt (and in 36 hours, the real thing).

Sometimes when I watch Little Drizz throw a tantrum after being told no more snacks for the night, I realize that I’m doing the same thing when my favored hands get cracked. While funny to watch, I also see that he has a tough time calming down even after I let him kick and pout for a few minutes.

In poker we call it “going on tilt”. Playing a game where the nuts can change dramatically with each card (PLO8), a certain emotional shell should be worn at the tables. Celebrities have managers and bodyguards to protect them from the paparazzi and most of the time from themselves. I believe a poker player who doesn’t have friends to shoot a quick message to after their aces get cracked for the 5th time in a session, is a player who will end up on the cover of Star magazine next to the photo of a woman from Bubblebeez, Mississippi holding her second alien spawn after she thought it was her cousin that she was having sex with.

Bloggers have the IM chat box, dial-a-shots, and the sarcastic wit of those who can remind you that you’re too full of yourself and try to enjoy the fact that you played the game “correctly”. Sure, the results sucked more then finding a very soiled diaper under your toddler at the restaurant with no changing table, but eventually the odds will go in your favor. I have a love for this silly card game we play, but it’s the support and comic relief that bloggers bring on a nightly basis that keep me hooked to bettering my “game” and reducing the amount of projectiles stuck to the drywall after bad beats.

I think the biggest key to a successful poker player is the ability not just to calculate pot odds, read other players, or guess your opponent’s hole cards with the accuracy of Robin Hood’s arrows.

It’s the ability to control you.

When a player can watch his AA get cracked by someone playing “sub-optimal” cards and say “nice hand” without George Carlin sarcastic sharpness, you’ve made it. If he/she can get up from a tournament in gracious defeat on the bubble while being a 91% favorite pre-flop, you’ve made it. If you can keep your Corona to straddle ratio at 1:1 for over five hours yet still check-raise someone off a better hand, your name is Men the Master and you don’t need to read this crap. The point is, after you’ve mastered the basics that can be found in any 2+2 book, the real profitable poker players are the ones getting wet on the curb after five taxis splash them with freezing water, and getting into the sixth taxi with a smile and a destination.

Thanks for dropping by, now if you haven’t read JoeSpeaker’s WPBT poem do yourself a favor and click on the link. Wow, I wish I could write like that.