Don't be the sucker
I have a friend who is not just good at poker; he is great. I have never seen anyone run zero into 50k like this guy does. Dude is gold in the finance department too, he is always good for the money. He has some major leaks that I will talk about in a bit, but he has a great deal of honor, and I really like the kid.
Here is his problem. Life. Life weighs on this kid, and when life takes its inevitable toll on him, someone else is always the beneficiary.
On New Years, he wrecked his car. His girlfriend was hurt and he wasn’t so hot either. This would have normally been tough on his bankroll, but he got through it. Eventually though it began to get to him; problems with his relationship, fights with his girlfriend’s dad….just everything took him over. After a few great runs, he lost it all on one night. This week, he went looking for a job, telling me he would pay me what he owed me. And he certainly will. He always has, but it just frustrates me to no end that someone with his ability is constantly in the position he lets himself be in.
I have had a good year. I wrote some goals down in response to Sirio’s thread on P5’s, and by the end of February, I had reached them all. I may have lost once or twice, but that was about it. March came, and I began to struggle a little bit, but it was a break even struggle. After winning so much, I felt almost entitled. I was down a bit when the 50-100 game came on Bodog, and I found my groove again. I ended March a big winner. They took the game off the board after a couple of weeks, and I decided to go play 75-150 on Pacific. I was just going to try and make a run and see how things go on that site. I had always heard it was a great site to play, and that they had tons of action.
Well, it was, but it was the wrong kind. Aggressive action–they might indeed be bad, but I thought the play was pretty good (Pacific has a $6 rake, and that is hard to fade unless you are playing against complete jackasses). I started the month great, but I ended the month down. I literally had to get the hell beat out of me to take that loss. Nothing I tried worked. So you know what I did.
I took a break!
Oh I have played on and off but nothing like what I was. My life has balance. As I write this, I am just coming back from date night–with my daughter. Mondays always are. On Thursdays, I have date night with my wife. Most Sundays I go to church, and right around 5:30 every evening don’t call me, because I am making dinner. I don’t need to take money in and out as much as other people do, because if I hit 30 big bets down (for limit poker), I just call it a day. I have had many days where I have won 90 big bets. So the days where I lose 30 are of little consequence. I hate to lose too, so it isn’t easy, but getting a job is harder. I was talking to Freddy Deeb one time with some friends, and he said something I hold dear. He said he is not as good as many of the players that he plays against, and that if that was the only criterion, he would be in a world of hurt. But he isn’t, and he does well for a couple of reasons:
1) He believes in himself.
2) His lows don’t go as low as other people’s lows do.
I think that sums up my game. Technically, I am not that strong. I have some concepts I do well, but the thing I do best is stay in the game. Nothing is worse than winning 20k one day and losing it the next. To be a professional, you are supposed to control your losses and extend your wins. When you are losing, you are not at your best, and your opponents are at theirs. The opposite is also true. Don’t let people have that edge on you. Don’t be the sucker.
