Call Me Tex

I didn't get to the Bellagio Thursday night until 11:45 PM, but I was excited to play and prepared to stay as long as necessary. I ended up having an amazing session. Not amazing good. But amazing opportunity. I played with some crazy gamblers. They weren't stupid. Just crazy. They made the game good.

I sat there till 4:40 AM waiting patiently for my spots. Opportunities kept coming up for me but nothing completed. My made hands didn't hold up. My draws never got there. And despite my tight play, no one respected my bets. It's insulting to lose hand after hand. Doesn't anyone see how unfair this is? Can I speak to the general manager please? Is Bobby around?

In 5 hours of play, I won one hand at showdown.

I know what you're thinking. Why didn't I leave earlier? Why didn't I leave at the 2 hour mark? Or 3? Or maybe even after 4 hours? Why did I stay at a cold table for 5 hours?

Excellent question.

My answer: the quality of play was so poor that leaving felt irresponsible.

-One gentleman did not know if his flush beat a straight.

-Another fellow pushed all in with a set on a 4,5,6,7,8 board.

He wasn't making a move. He didn't see the straight. If you had to declare your hand he would have lost the pot. He was surprised when he chopped.

No. I can't leave this table.

This poker session reminded me of watching boxer Randall "Tex" Cobb as a kid, specifically that Larry Holmes fight where Tex got beat up so badly, Howard Cosell swore he'd never announce a boxing match again.

Like Tex Cobb, I took a few too many bad beats to the head. Like Tex, you gotta admire my heart and like Tex, I got a strong chin.

My boxing ring was this poker table and boy did I get beat up. There were a couple of moments where I almost left. But then the game would improve. A bad player wins a pot and gets alot of chips. Or a few drunk friends sit down and it's hard not to stay.

In addition I've been bugging myself for months that I need to be logging more table hours. That's my biggest self criticism for the Vegas year. I hate to think that the reason it doesn't work out is not because I'm not winning, but rather because I'm not playing enough. So for me to leave a good table after only a couple hours of work feels lazy. No matter how few pots I've won.

I'm not going to do the usual session report here because that would be 5 hours of hand histories with me losing. And I don't need to relive that.

I'd rather focus on how I got my money in there last night. I was real happy with that part. I had some excellent chances to win big pots. But when the results aren't satisfactory I can't (or don't) feel as proud of the work.

So for today I'm going to go the other way with it, and just let it go.