Unlucky at Cards, Lucky at ....

So far the 2009 World Series of Poker hasn’t gone well for me. I feel that I have played well and seem to get a little unlucky or coolered in the big situations. I was playing in a no limit holdem $25-50 with a $100 ante on the big blind at the Bellagio a couple of days ago when under the gun plus one made it $200, which is a standard raise. Three players called, and I called from the big blind with A 5. The flop comes A 4 5 rainbow. With $1,150 in the pot, the initial raiser bets $900. One of the mid position players who is a calling station calls, and it comes around to me and with $6000 left after the $900 call, I move all in. The initial raiser goes into the tank for several minutes and says: “I’m sure I’m behind, but I call” and shows A 4 The other guy folds and since we have been running “all-ins” more than once, we decide to run the last two cards three times. The first time it comes Q 4 and he wins, next KK comes off and it is a tie, then miraculously I hold on the third time, well I am an 85% favorite to win and 6.5% to tie. My decision to run it three times saved me from a devastating loss.

This is the frustrating part of poker, when your money is going in ahead and you are losing, and when you feel like you are losing every coin flip. The advice I give is just keep putting in good and it will turn around. I know this to be true, at least in the long run.

Okay so I’m running a little bad right now in poker, but I have had one relatively recent overwhelming success. I have been seeing an absolutely wonderful woman, so maybe the old adage: unlucky at cards, lucky at love is really true, at least in this case. I know that there will always be another poker tournament, but I feel like the luckiest man alive being with Ashley. She encompasses all those things I always hoped for in a woman, but I thought didn’t really exist in one person. As corny as this sounds, I feel like she is the one I have been waiting for all of my life. We are currently engaged and planning to be married in early October.

A somewhat entertaining sidebar is that over the years I have put together the bachelor parties for my two brothers, as well as several close friends. My brothers are currently planning mine, although I feel it is more for them than me. What I mean is, they have been married for 10 and 15 years and are looking for an excuse to blow off some steam on a guys weekend. Me on the other hand, who has been a bachelor for longer than I care to remember, is really over that whole thing. I guess I will have to go along with a weekend of debauchery just to please them. The things I do for my brothers.