Dear Diary

The trouble with poker

Everything changes from day to day.  Not the poker hands of course.  Over the course of poker history it would be impossible to calculate how many times a particular hand got beat by a particular hand.  But with the ever changing field of players, new tournaments, new poker games, new locations, new contests, etc., it tends to make me wonder what’s next.

I have a difficult time even trying to dig through the layers of Daniel Colman.  He plays poker, he wins at poker, he won The Big One for One Drop but couldn’t wait to exit the scene with over $15M in winnings and was hateful about the fact that poker shouldn’t be promoted because it’s a dark hole (my words, not his). If you feel it’s a creepy slide down a 50 foot razor blade with a pool of acid at the bottom, why play the game?

I found it to be quite fun that Daniel Negreanu finished in second place but he took the time to give an interview.

Colman fits into a particular category that I discovered years ago in the Montana games and players have been reinforcing it ever since.  It’s a punishment cycle.  They play, they play to win, but winning only reinforces the fact that they don’t feel they deserve to win. Losing would probably make them feel better because they then believe they got what they deserve. I could be wrong but I just don’t think so.

Youtube videos are out on many of the final tables of the 2014 WSOP.  The Big One for One Drop has two episodes out.

Episode 1:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCJjn4_vRVc&feature=player_detailpage[/youtube]

Episode 2: Check out Rick Salomon’s game in this one.  Pammy filed for a divorce — almost like right after he picked up 4th place for $2.8M. But a report out by usmagazine.com puts them seeing each other.  Go figure!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGezROt05qs[/youtube]

The trouble with poker?  That’s what makes poker so great.  It is troubling.  Winning or losing or breaking even, it’s a game of the mind.  Take all the mathematics and drop kick them onto that 50 foot razor blade because the bottom line is, the game is in your head.