blonde poker

 
When the deck is cold and the flop, the flop is missed again,
When you’re sure you’ve won at last, but the river hits the fool,
Don’t tilt your chips off, ‘cause everybody draws, everybody hits sometimes

Sometimes the cards are cruel. Then you need to look ahead,
When the slide keeps going on, (be strong, be strong)
If you feel like drinking beer, (be strong)
When you think you’ve had too much of this game, then stay strong.

‘Cause everybody hits. Look forward to the future,
Everybody hits. The cards don’t lie. Oh no. Don’t throw your hand.
If your aces go down, no, no, no, outdrawn once more.

When your luck is out, the flop is missed and the deck is cold,
When you think you’ve had too much of this game, then stay strong.

Well, everybody hits sometimes,
Everybody wins. And everybody loses sometimes,
And everybody hits sometimes. So be strong, be strong,
Be strong, be strong, be strong, be strong, stay strong,
Everybody hits. You will win again.

(Apologies to R.E.M.)


It must be obvious by now that I’m having a bad week. While I’m not exactly fun to be around for a little while after I’ve been hit by a procession of 3 outers, I like to think that I cope reasonably well with the bad days. I worked in the casino industry for a long time and I watched pit bosses and managers flap around and tempers rise when things didn’t go the casino's way. When I was in charge I refused to be a flapper, I knew that as long I did my job properly and got all the staff doing their jobs properly that there was nothing more that I could do. Sometimes we would lose but in the long run we made money, lots of money. I try to bring the same attitude to my poker game, it should be easier, I only have myself to worry about, but with my own money at stake I have to confess that my emotional involvement is larger.

So how to deal with the troughs? If a session is going badly, and I’ve taken one more beat than my sanity can cope with, then I’ll just stop. Sometimes just an hour or two is all I need to gather my wits before I sit back in front of the PC. Other times I crack open a can premium lager or a reasonably priced bottle of red wine and watch a movie. If I’ve made mistakes or tilted at all then I never play again that day and often take the next day off and find something sociable to do.

Sometimes the losing sessions can come one on top of another and leave me wondering how on earth I managed to eat over the last 20 months since I left my job. At these bleak times it helps to have detailed records to review and I like to look back and indulge in a little ego stroking. I remind myself that I am a winner. I’ve won far more than I could have earned over the last 20 months and I’ve come through bad spells before. I know that I have the tools; as long as I make sure that I’m using them properly I will carry on winning.

This is my job now, and I’ll take the rough with the smooth. I know I’m very lucky and I’d much rather be doing this than having to work with people who lose their mind when their bonus is threatened by the random occurrence of a little white ball landing in number 26 three times in row.

Stay strong, be cool, it’s easier on the heart, mind and wallet.