When I was playing hockey when I was 8 years old, I played because my friends did, and it seemed like it could be a little bit of fun. I started off at the lowest level possible and I really enjoyed the game. In my first year, I was actually runner up for the scoring title in the league! I had a natural talent for the game, but I was playing with people who could barely skate, and we were 8 friggin' years old. No big deal. We'll see what happens. <READMORE>

The next year I moved up to rep hockey, "A" as it's called. I did well there too, and over the next couple of years I moved up to "AA" and eventually "AAA". Was I ever the best player in the league? No, not quite - but I held my own. I tried very hard to get better, but some of my basic skills lacked. Let me put it this way, if you were to strap 4 skates on a baby turtle, it could probably skate better than I could.

I made up for my awful, awful skating ability in other ways. I was a pretty good stick handler, and I could score goals (pretty much only because I knew what goalies would think that I would be thinking) If I was moving from my left to right, they would assume I would shoot on the right side of the net.

Of course, all you have to do is the opposite of what somebody expects to have success. If a boxer thinks you are going to jab, you should duck and uppercut. If a race car driver thinks your going to try to pass him on the outside, move to the inside. It's all a very basic principle of life, really.

When I hit major junior, my newest goal was to get drafted into the NHL. A very lofty goal indeed, but from the time I was ten years old I realized - "well somebody has to make it, why NOT me?"

Unfortunately, things happened that stopped that dream from becoming a reality. I was sucker punched, and I now have permanent double vision. Does it suck? Yes, very much so. I wouldn't wish what I have to go through on a daily basis on my worst enemy. But when bad things happen, there isn't really much you can do.

That's life. It happens. Deal with it.

When people ask me if I'm mad at the guy who sucker punched me, I honestly have never said "yes I am" once. Things happen. I can't change what happened in the past, but I certainly can change what will happen in my future. And I'm definitely not going to blame anyone or anything for something that I can't change.

I never want to be the guy at the end of the bar saying "well I shouldda, woulda, coulda... if it only weren't for this, and this, and that...."

So how does all this relate to poker? Well, it really comes down to accepting the things you cannot control.

Let's say you are playing a SNG, and on the very first hand you are dealt AA. After a raise and a reraise, you decide that you are going to just reraise all in here which is probably the most correct play. However, to your surprise you get THREE callers, including a cold caller with KQd!! You end up losing the hand.

You made the correct play, and somebody beat you. That's poker. That's life. There is nothing you can do about it. Why beat yourself up over it? You're not going to improve your game that way, so don't bother trying to analyse what the heck those guys were thinking. Some people just like to gamble - get used to it.

If you are honestly going to spend time getting angry over things like bad beats, you need to evaluate the process of which your thinking. Why are you upset? Did you do anything wrong? Did you make the correct play? You did? Well than, in the words of a very wise man - "F Results" (Ty Seal)

Results are meaningless If you're playing at a level that hurts to lose, than for the love of God, DROP DOWN IN LEVELS.

So, relating this all back to my hockey background - being the bad skater I am (for poker, meaning I am not very good at the math aspect) I was forced to use other skills to help me play better. Now, I analyse my opponents constantly, and am always paying attention to table timing. I always try to focus on making the best decision I possibly can with the information I have been given, combined with the information I have sent out to my opponents. I am constantly trying to figure out what my opponents are thinking.... and thinking about what they think I'm thinking.

When a bad beat occurs that is so wretched and disgusting - the very best thing you can do is rememeber that poker is just a game, and a harsh game at that. Take everything within stride, because no matter what you do, and no matter how hard you try - you cannot change the past.

Focus on shaping your future into something that you want it to be - or you might turn out to be the guy at the end of the bar who is blaming everyone and everything else for why he didn't succeed - and I really don't think you want that.

Good luck to all, and may all your bad beats be laughable.

-Gidders </READMORE>