Basic Strategy

Hand after hand the worse cards win. We've all seen it.

Not in the long run of course. In the long run the better cards will win.

Sklansky and others assure us of this.

Just not right now.

It's okay. It's what makes the game good.

Right now in this moment the worse cards are gonna win. You know. The short run.

This means my most important job at the table is not to get upset. Not to take it personally.

I'm pretty sure I know this. But sometimes I forget.

The beats happen. The gutshots hit. Everybody hurts.

Some of us can handle it.

Some of us can't.

It's what makes the game good.

Just Robert being Robert

I traded for Manny Ramirez this morning in my fantasy baseball league. I wasn't scared off at all by his 50 game suspension for testing positive for performance enhancement drugs. In fact hearing that news is part of what made me want to trade for him. Well that and the fact that my fantasy league is the real deal. Unlike most poser leagues, this one exists entirely in my head.

My team is pretty good this year. If I can get one of my imaginary friends to trade me some relief pitching I just might be able to make a run at the title. But I don't want to get ahead of myself here. Some of the other owners are jerks and truth be told, I haven't even begun negotiations so I don't want to be unrealistic about who I can get.

Sorry Dave

I'd like to apologize to my friend Dave.

For at least a month now (truthfully much longer) I've been emailing him my bad beats. I want to show him how unfair poker has been to me. Even though I know bad beats happen all the time.

20% wins way too often. 10% occurs. When poker players go to the doctor and are told they have a 5% chance of dying from an operation, they make plans for the funeral.

Heck even 1% happens.

Honestly at this point the only hand worth forwarding to another person is when 0% happens. That's still noteworthy. But runner runner quads taking out flopped quads? Been there. Done that.

I wrote about running bad around a month ago. At that point it had already been going on for a little too long. What can I say? I've been stuck in the mud. But my internal need to show others that it's happening is way too human. And more importantly not beneficial.

Simply put, I gotta stop whining and get back to being the emotional rock that we all know and love. The only thing worse than how I've been running is my having to listen to myself talk about it. And being Dave.

So tonight when my pocket kings go down to king queen off I'm not going to copy and paste the hand.

Well maybe, I might.

But I promise I won't email it to anyone.