I guess if luck weren’t involved, I’d win every hand.

Phil Hellmuth

I think I know where Phil was coming from with that quote. After the big tourney win I was on the poker high of my short poker life. I was invincible. Especially to the fish on Party Poker. Or so I thought!

I played on Saturday and last night and lost a bit each day. I was calling down with way too many hands and playing marginal hands out of position. It was ugly poker. Had it not been for losing a 34 BB pot after flopping the nut straight, only to lose to a full house on the river, I would have been in the positive though. Funny how one card can change your whole week isn’t it?

So when I sat down at the tables today I’ve been reminding myself each hand to play tight. Tight, but aggressive. I’m I’ve been doing it very well. Except for the fact that I haven’t seen cards this cold since the ice age. I haven’t let it get to me today though and I’m hanging in there. After all, my table selection has been awesome over the past few days. I’ve been involved in some of the juiciest games I’ve played so far on Party. If I was getting any kind of cards I’d be killing the tables. I can’t count how many times I’ve had

• a straight rivered by a full house
• trips backdoored by a flush
• top pair rivered by a holder of bottom pair who hits the 2nd pair on the river
• nut flush draws miss
• flush draw + gut shot straight draws miss

We’ve all been there…when it feels as if the cards couldn’t be any worse. It’s like you wronged the poker gods and they’re getting back at your for picking on their goldfish. In fact, as we write this I just got beat by Mr. 7-2 offsuit when he called with a bottom pair of sevens and hit a 3rd seven on the turn. You just have to tighten up your game, laugh to yourself, and type “nh” in the chat box. You’ll get ’em sooner or later. (Hopefully sooner.) Variance is a mother-fucker when you’re in the front of the line for an ass-beating! Just remember that the cards will even out over time and there’ll always be a school of fish ready for you to hand out paybacks.

Poker is a game of patience. If you can’t play with patience, find another game. Patience paid off…by the time I finished this post I won back everything I had lost for the day…and then some.

Update: 5 minutes after finishing this I get KsKh, flop the Kc and then hit a full house on the turn when a second 8 hits. It also gives three to a flush on the board so I’m thinking, “Hell yeah!” The turn and river are both capped and you guessed it, he has the other two 8s in his hand and I lose a 21 BB pot! Ouch! One out left in the deck and he catches it.