No Sleep for the Wicked

We went to bed early last night, about 2am. Pat wasn't feeling well due to his lingering cold, so he needed to keep to our 1am deadline to leave the poker table. I was behind and reluctant to leave because we tally up our score, our wins or loses, at the end of each session. I hate to lose. This aspect of my personality has helped me be a success in many areas like athletics and school, but has hurt me in the sleeping/stress department. Perhaps it has also been a negative factor in some of my relationships. Hating to lose equates to hating to be wrong.

Hating to lose is a good thing if you are a poker player. So I was stuck for about $200 and the witching hour had passed while I was chatting with Eloise on her last night in Vegas. Pat was stacking his chips and I begged him for four more hands...just like a child negotiating with their parent. To be fair to Pat, he said he would go on home ahead and that I should stay if I wanted. I knew it would be better to leave so I stayed for "four more". Fold, fold, fold and then suited Queen-Ten, hearts. I had folded queen ten earlier in the night in a raised pot with lots of callers where I was clearly priced in, but feeling card dead. The earlier hand would have been a huge pot and I berated myself for the bad play. So this time I was going to play...and it was my last hand. Well I hit the flop perfectly...the flop was Ace, King, Jack with two diamonds. I had the nuts. I didn't like the diamonds but felt I might get a caller with them so I bet out and was called by one low stakes pro. The turn was a rag (not a diamond) and I bet big, $50 into an $80 pot. He min raised (another $50) and I called. The river was also a rag so I still had the nuts and went all in with the little I had left, but I had him covered. He called and showed his Ace-King. He had flopped top two pair and that explained his actions. I walked away with a $441 pot which covered my buy in of $400 and gave me a profit of $41 for the night.

The night before at the Bellagio, I also had a huge hand that tripled me up ten minutes before we were scheduled to leave. Luck is a huge factor in the short term profitability of a poker player. I would love to evolve into the kind of player where it is not as important.

So why am I awake after only six hours of sleep? My head was spinning about all the things going on...to buy a condo or not? Setting up the computer so Pat can work. My half-marathon on Sunday. My reliance on luck. Getting a new smart phone. Christmas presents for the grand-kids. Writing a note to Michelle. Eating too many carbs. Actually, there is no good reason.












I made the Alaskans stand in the sun...they are obviously not used to it.