Sunday, August 27, 2006

Another 10

10 minutes. Let’s talk some poker.

Boy, I just had to gloat about the wondrousness of the new Stars HORSE games. Why could I not remember to just keep my mouth shut and say that things were simply going well? Even though it was truly forgetfulness on my part, the poker gods didn’t give me a pass and punished me but good.

Word around the campfire is that they teamed up with Murphy to make the reaming extra special.

Trips, three of a kind, meet river straight.
Full House, meet quads.
Quads, meet straight flush. Go ahead, meet a second time just for good measure.

In the interest of full disclosure, there have been portions of my losses over the last two weeks that can definitely be attributed to Corky-esque play on my part after having a miniature Sir Waffles meltdown. After donking off one of my tokens on a pure (purely idiotic) bluff I was able to arrest the downhill slide and just walk away for a while. I’ve been able to play briefly a couple of times since then, and while the decisions are much better the results are still cornholeiscious.

I must remember to always take my time and think, “Make the best decisions you know how to make.” Hell I should make a sign or something. Perhaps I could put it on a bat and have the Mrs. hit me with it.

So much easier said than done, and doesn’t ease the pain one iota while losing.

I’ve thus far recognized a very bad symptom that has slowly been developing—I’m seeing The Nuts everywhere. If I don’t hold the nuts myself, a seriously nagging voice tells me that someone else does even though it’s rarely true. When I finally make a decision that I’m being bluffed, OOP, there’s the nuts. My reads have actually become worse and it’s becoming very discouraging. I’m not sure whether this is just a symptom of the recent losses plus tilt, or something more insidious. I’m also not sure what to do to ease these seriously counterproductive symptoms—Any advice is most certainly appreciated.

For now, I figure that all I can do is play through it and keep trying to remain conscious. Keep focusing on making good decisions.

Oh yes. I’m sorry poker gods (and Murphy). Seriously, I am. Can you quit with the 2-outers now?