Ever notice how the player that sits down with an attitude is the one that makes the game? That player can take J-10 suited against your pocket kings head up and pound you so bad that you feel you’re in the sand lot in first grade. It’s “cool” because he KNEW what he was doing. If the roles were reversed, he would be having a fit – faunching and puddying as a friend of mine used to say. In 7-Card Stud that same player bickers and whines at the live one for staying in and catching his card. Wonderful isn’t it?
Where is it written that just because a player thinks they are the best in the world, (even though they don’t have a ‘certificate of wonderfulness’ or ‘winner’ taped on their forehead and they have an ego bigger than Hitler), they are supposed to win each time they decide to raise or play a hand?
Wow! If we won every time we raised, wouldn’t it be great? We could just go home and tell our spouse that we’re going out to raise every pot and we’ll be home with money soon. Sorry, buddy, it doesn’t work that way.
Everyone’s trying to win! Or is there some new rule that if you play bad you just send in a check every month and it’s divided equally among the guys that really know how to gamble? Whew, scary thought! A lot of those guys that really know how to gamble think everyone’s supposed to lay down and give them the money. No, not “Show them the money” but “Give them the money.”
If we wanted to do that, we’d hand over the cash after we took it out of the ATM machine or the minute we walked into the poker room. Yikes! Imagine walking into a poker room and the brush comes over the mike, “Immediate seating in 10-20 holdem.” We walk up like mindless dummies and hand over our $500.00 buy-in. The brush throws it on the table for the winner of the next pot – of course the winner is a great player, that’s a given.
Now let’s move back into reality. Poker is an intricate tangle of mathematics, money management, patience, control, reading your opponent, etc., etc., etc. How does one build a database on the over view of poker? Not possible in a few sessions or even a few hundred sessions, for sure.
That mumbling and cursing at the guy that beat you with a bad hand just won’t cut it if you ever expect to beat the game. You have to be craftier and wiser than at least four other players in a ten-handed game or you’re going to come out with the worst of it.
Look around you. Every one at the table is trying to win. Some of it is ego, some of it is desperation, some of it is logistical, matter of fact – the best hand takes the money. For you to cash out winner, someone has to lose. The basics here folks . . . if you play every day and you’re consistently a winner, that means someone or a few someones are not leaving with any chips.
Nope, this is not a game of taking turns. It’s a game of dealing with yourself, your emotions, your bankroll, your attitude and your skill.
Playing poker is like watching little “skits” of life: 1) the bullies – pushing, shoving and belittling the player that called them with the worst hand and got there. 2) The maniacs on self destruct – they hate their money and plan on everyone else burning with them. 3) The Red Cross – wanting to give everyone a break and keep them from going off their bankroll. 4) The pros – trying to pluck the feathers from everyone. 5) The unhappy souls that have nothing better to do or no place else to go. 6) The person who wants company without any obligation. 7) And me . . . See you there!