one of those days

"No matter how much skill or experience you have, God, prayer, luck, whatever you want to call it will have a much bigger role in things than you will."
-Scrubs

The last month of my life has seen a lot of ups and downs, as you can probably see if you have read any of my last few posts. I felt like a lot of the things that happened to me in that time period I may have done some things to deserve, but not as bad as it went down. Every time something that I don't think should have happened to me does, I go back to last year when I was watching the Arsenal v Barcelona UEFA final. After Arsenal brilliantly held back the heavy favorite Barcelona(with a man down and a one goal lead) for eighty eight minutes until Barcelona pounded out one goal in regular time and another in stoppage time to break my heart. At full time, Tommy Smyth said a few words that stuck with me: They deserved better, but we don't always get what we deserve. Amen to that Tommy, amen.

In the last few days, I think that I've started to dig my way out of the ditch that I kinda found my way into. First off, Wednesday night I decided that I wanted to play some poker, so I went out to skyview. It was a winning endeavor, and there was one particular hand that I found very interesting. I'm in early position with Ac 9c and I limp for 2. Flop comes down 7c 8s 3c. I bet out about half the pot and get two callers. Turn is the 6d which gives me 8 more outs to hit to win the pot. I bet about the size of the pot, and a guy in the corner with sunglasses and a huge chip stack mucks after thinking about it forever. John the banker insta calls and I'm thinking that I need to hit a card on the river to win the pot. The river comes the 8d, which does nothing for me. John is first to act and he bets enough to send me allin. Granted, I have a decent sized chip stack here, but the lights in my head go off saying that my ace high are good here. I recall three hands that I specifically remember playing with john, and two of them he bluffed me and the third he had a huge hand. I figured he would bet a little bit less, maybe even 75% of the pot instead of an exact pot bet if he wanted action, so after thinking about it for a few minutes, I decided to call. He flipped up 25 for a missed straight draw. It was a great call, but it was one of those where I used experience to put him on a hand and then made a somewhat daring call to take down the pot. That win propelled me to a pretty good night at the tables, which was definitely a good confidence booster. The weekend was kinda shitty in the fact that I had to work early a few days so I had to skip a party on friday night so I could get up for work on time saturday. Saturday night I came home and was absolutely beat, so I just chilled with bradburn for awhile and went out and bought the second season of scrubs. I have to admit, I may be addicted to scrubs. I loved the show when it originally came out, but it seemed to lose its appeal for awhile, but I started watching again at the end of the fifth season and it just has gotten better since then. Far and away the best comedy of this decade. I think when it's all said and done after next year, it'll rank up there with Seinfeld, Cheers, and MASH for legendary comedies. I didn't work Sunday, so I didnt do much throughout the day, but I went out later that night and had a good time with a person I hadn't seen in a long time.

Today, I woke up so late, but I just had a feeling that it was going to be a good day. I spent what was left of the morning cleaning up around the house and then got outside for some running and then basketball later on in the day. I don't know what it is about me and being outside, but it just seems to bring my spirit back. I guess it has something to do with the fact that as a kid I spent every waking moment outside during the summer when I was at the babysitters, but it just refreshes me. I hung out with nayhouse later on and went in the pool and the hot tub and we just bullshitted for most of the night. However, you should never say that it's been a good day until you hit the sheets for good. After getting massacred last night playing online poker, the slaughter continued tonight. Once again, I got my money in good with AA against A10 only to see him flop a ten and turn a ten. The hand after that the same poor excuse for a player sent me allin for my last 1.5k with A6 against my AJ. It didn't take him long to catch up as he flopped three sixes to drown me. The next tournament, we were down to 20 players and I got my money in good again with QQ against 66. Flop was A K 9 which was good for me. Unfortunately, running sixes left me more or less crippled. The next hand I was SB, and it was folded around to me and I moved allin with 44. The BB couldnt have called quicker with AA. Naturally, the aces held and I was wamboozeled. I've decided that the more I play, the more I realize how lucky you have to be just to avoid being unlucky. You have to realize that in the 45 man tournaments that I normally frequent, you have to not only avoid getting outdrawn, but most of the time if you want to cash, you have to win at least one race. That's a 50/50 shot right there. Even if you get your money in good with AK against AQ, you're a 70% favorite. Or an overpair against an underpair, which lends itself to the fact that the underpair will brutally kick your junk 19% of the time. And of course, the mother of them all, when you get it in good with something like AA against AK and that faggot that called a huge third raise with AK slams three kings or a broadway straight on you. It leaves you dejected because you did all that you could, which was get your money in with the best of it and hope that god wasn't pissed today. Lately though, it seems like I do all i can to get my money in with the best of it, yet I keep getting hit in the junk. i guess all I can do is hope that the percentages hold over time, which I'm sure they'll do.

Until next time,
mh