When I used to play in home games in Minneapolis in years past there was a guy famous for “Heat Checks”. Most of you likely know what I mean but if you don’t a heat check is when you are checking to see if you are on fire from everywhere. As you may or may not recognize after that first sentence this is also the article I promised everyone on losing. Some people think I get carried away on losing, that it is negative, quite the opposite actually. Knowing how to lose is more important than knowing how to win in poker. Rarely do you make the mistakes winning that you do losing. People who know how to lose are the best gamblers. <READMORE>OK, so back to my heat check. I hadn’t been on UB for a while so I didn’t know if I had any money on there or not. I had been doing quite well on the other sites that I have been playing so when I saw that I had close to 3k in my account I decided to sit at the 50-100 HU table. If you recall I typically don’t play people who sit at the HU tables figuring that is their specialty and inherently I am better off staying away. Though when you are on fire you should be able to shoot from anywhere on the floor. I sat with $2500 (I would normally sit with $5000 at that limit) and I lost. No bad beats, I don’t think the guy was better than me but he certainly could have been. At the levels I play its kind of like no mans land, either you play much higher or much lower. The 30-60 to 50-100 limit is a dieing breed online. Which is great if you play short handed. The big boys are too embarrassed to come down and the little guys take shots.

That was on the 26<SUP>th</SUP>. For the next 2 days I struggled. One of the best feelings is when you play your best game but break even without going off big when it seems like the deck hates you. Its easy to have a good mindset when you are winning. I am most proud of myself when I am struggling through adversity and actually still moving forward. I am still looking for a break in the action, the first sign that my streak is over I will likely take about a month off. I am not sure what I am looking for but I should know it when I see it, I have struggled with headaches recently and I can use a little break. I am heading for Amsterdam in April maybe I will take that month off of poker.

On a side note, I am really having a fun time being back playing quite a bit and I appreciate everyone stopping by and saying hello. I know it must be baffling watching people 4 bet with bottom pair and it being good but that is the nature of HU. Anyway, I think losing is one of the most important things to know how to do well. Anyone can tell you how to play AK, not everyone can help you stay even when your AK doesn’t hit 10 times straight. I hope that is what some of these articles can accomplish.
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