Poker News

I couldn’t seem to shake off the negative effects of the bad beats/bad luck I received. It was as if bad fortune was seeping into everything I did. I was seeing my whole existence through bad beat lenses. It all began when my pocket aces cracked, next, my pocket kings, and finally when the queens were cracked. How dare they crack the queens? Good cards were being cracked when I slow played, when I fast played, when I played poker, period. Oh, by the way “cracked” means beat, destroyed, nuked, annihilated, cracked means that Jennifer lost a whole lot of money and lost all her confidence. It all lasted about six weeks, six weeks that seemed like six months.

For six weeks, I allowed my misfortune to influence everything. I treated my friends, family and co-workers poorly. Whenever something good was happening, I expected it to turn bad. Good things would turn sour because the way I was thinking was sour. My usual strong faith had turned into fear. I was living proof that one attracts their focus, whether it is positive or negative. During this gloomy period, I stopped reading, writing and exercising. I stopped doing all the things that made me feel strong and confident. I was driving in bumper to bumper traffic one afternoon and I read this sign that ignited my fire.

It is most glorious to me, when something elevates my thinking to a whole new level. This was what I read that afternoon: “We must all wage an intense, lifelong battle against the constant downward pull. If we relax, the bugs and weeds of negativity will move into the garden and take away everything of value.” Just because we go down, doesn’t mean we must stay down. No, no, in fact, if we stay negative the “bugs and weeds” of our own thinking and behavior will make us very sick. That afternoon, I changed my mind.

It was a kill pot, my opponents raised and the whole table called. I thought they must all have big cards so what the heck, I’ll play my 7, 3 of clubs. The flop came Ac, Kc, 10d, they bet, raised, re-raised and I called. I made a baby flush on the turn, I won, three aces and three tens cracked, finally I was the crack-er not the crack-ee. My confidence grew. I was dealt an As, 8s, the flop came 8d, 8c, Qs, there were two of us left and I was the dealer. I thought okay, I’ll call him all the way then, raise him on the river. I raised at the end and he folded, he was a nice guy so I wanted to show him my 8. I showed him what I really thought was an 8 but turned out to be a 6. I had read my cards wrong, if I could only exude that sort of confidence in every situation. My confidence won the pot, not my cards.

Confidence is the first attribute one loses when they take life too personally. It’s not personal, all human beings encounter bad beat chapters in poker and in life. “If at first you don’t succeed, dust yourself off and try again.” I believe success lies in how fast we learn to get back up and try again.

This is for all the people who are down, get up! This is for all the people who do not believe in themselves anymore, get up! This is for all those who feel they are worthless, get up! This is for all the people who believe their dreams will not come true, get up! This is for all the people who think the pain is just too much, get up! This is for all the people who think they do not matter, get up! Let’s get up together! Until next time remember, “all there are in this world are other people, none are lesser or greater than you.”

Filed under: Poker News