Poker News

Jennifer Matiran

I have three fours; I hold one and two are on the board, plus a seven and a two, on the river comes a nine of clubs. Out of the blue, this guy bets big and there’s a club flush draw on board. Something had to be up and I thought I should fold. As I was about to, the guy says “Oh no, I didn’t see that there was a flush draw.” I’m thinking he has something weaker than the flush, so I called. He shows his pocket nines, making his boat full. I have never been slapped across the face in my life but in that moment, I knew how it felt. What a manipulative punk! What really made my blood boil was that I had mercy on him in a previous hand; I even gave him a “we’re cool” wink.

Just writing about it makes my blood pressure rise. And then, he had the audacity of saying, “why are you so quiet, no more winks?” “Yuk, I would never wink at you, I must have had something in my eye.” I responded, now that may not have been noble but it was between that or pulling a “Tilt” and jumping over the table and beating the crap out of him. One individual caused me to be paranoid about everyone else around me. I went for a walk to cool off and thought of what Breszny wrote:

“You’re a star-and so am I. I’m a genius-and so are you. Your success encourages my brilliance, and my charisma enhances your power. Your victory doesn’t require my defeat, and vice versa. Those are the rules in the New World-quite unlike the rules in the Old World, where zero-sum games are the norm, and only one of us can win each time we play. In the New World, you don’t have to play down or apologize for your prowess, because you love it when other people shine. You exult in your own excellence without regarding it as a sign of inherent superiority. As you ripen more and more of your latent aptitude, you inspire the rest of us to claim our own idiosyncratic magnificence.”

I regained my composure and went back to the table. I collected the rest of my chips and called it a night. I did not want to play with anger in my heart because almost certainly I would lose. I took the game a bit too personally that evening. When poker becomes emotional, it’s time to quit. It’s not wise to get wrapped up in negative feelings.

Every morning we need to declare good fortune, good health, love, alertness and foresight. There’s absolutely without a doubt enough success for everyone, I could have success and so can you and everyone else, and jealousy, envy, resentment and greed are primitive states DO NOT GET WRAPPED IN THEM. They will destroy your life, your love and your health. The enemy wants you to dwell in these emotions because they will kill you. If you choose not to let them go, greed, envy and jealousy, you will be living your life “on tilt,” and living on tilt means losing it all. Until next time, remember “there is more inside you than you dare to think.”

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