The two hardest things to handle in life are failure and success.
That especially applies in poker.
If you are able to manage your highest win and hardest loss, you'll be one step ahead.
@surfermarly after a hard poker night | Showing a happy face after all
They may steal my money, but they can't take away my happiness
Yesterday's poker session was quite a wild ride.
I started like a boss. Pair of Asses on the Flop having two more players in the game. I raised a bit more than half of the pot and one of them called.
Then I got a third As on the River and just hoped that nobody would notice my inner reaction.
My heart was pumping.
I raised again, a bit more aggressive than I did before since I somehow felt he wanted to see my cards anyways.
He called.
I threw my cards in the middle of the table, smiled and listened to a long and extended chorus of "Nice haaaand".
My tripled stack | Peak momentum
That "nice hand" was my very first one and just almost tripled my stack.
I came to know that the players who were sitting at my table at that point of time were quite weak which was definitely a plus. There was only one Asian guy sitting to my left who played tight like me and did well.
When I had the opportunity to change seats I did that in order to have him to my right.
What is the coolest way of demonstrating understatement at the poker table? I'll tell you what it is ;-)
It's winning a big pot with a really smart move and then revealing that you actually don't know some basic rules of the game.
It so happened right after changing my seat. My new neighbour to the right asked me: "You wanna chop?"
Pardon?
The dealer explained the term to me and I appreciated that with a short 'Cool' and then informed my neighbour that I didn't want to chop but play the hand.
I heard one of the other players thinking out loud and saying "This is starting to be comical".
I kind of agreed but didn't say a word and just smiled innerly.
Unfortunately, after a while the game changed.
Too bad that I didn't follow my instinct at that point of time.
A totally drunk guy sat down to my right, occupying the seat of that Asian guy who had left. The moment he joined the table I knew that fun was over.
He was was that typical drunken poser, making noise whenever he could just to be in the center of attention.
His friends were sitting at the table next to us so whenever he wasn't in the hand he jumped over to their place.
It was really annoying.
I knew he would try to flirt with me after a while. So he did.
I completely ignored his attempts, just telling him that I wasn't into that type of conversation.
Unconsciously the situation affected my game in a negative sense. It got harder to concentrate myself, even though I actually didn't respond to my neighbor's behavior and monologue.
I remember that I consciously thought that it might be a good idea to just take the money and finish the session as a winner.
Then something that is very typical in poker (and other cash games) happened.
I made a decision based on emotions.
You win and believe that you can just repeat that again for the simple reason that it makes you feel great.
I stayed at the table and regretted later on.
Another two strong players sat down to my left and right (one of them replacing the drunk guy). There weren't any other seats so I couldn't change my position.
I was in the middle of the two best players at the table and definitely felt uncomfortable.
However, I still didn't stop playing.
Stupidity must be paid hard to become an appreciable lesson :-)
It happened what needed to happen. I got All-In two times being extraordinarily unlucky. Both times my competitor hit the winning hand on the River beating my pair of Kings vs. pair of Queens with a low three of something.
Only one hour after my lucky strike my whole buy in of $300 was gone including a heavy downswing of $450.
Outch! That hurts.
But you know what? The pain didn't last too long. I went to one of the high classy restaurants in the casino, had a nice and delicious dinner and a glass of wine.
Shoooot! :-)
That Filet Mignon of an Angus Black (picture above) was probably the very best filet I've ever tasted in my life.
I enjoyed every single bite and thought: "Life is still not too bad."
Dealing with failure required a lot of mental strength.
I could have walked to my room crying my eyes off, but I simply didn't want to. I took a deep breath, decided to close that unlucky chapter and go ahead.
One of the things poker teaches you for life is to constantly manage extreme ups and heavy downs.
This time the lesson learned was quite expensive.
I'll be back next year, Vegas!
Hugs & kisses from JFK airport ( stopover),
Marly -
Been there! We need to get a game of poker going in Lisbon!
What a great idea! Count me in!!
@roelandp a SteemPoker Night would be huge ;)
I cant really play but I'd definitely like to watch! That would be awesome!
@SurferMarly... Laughing my butt off right now... Read Your Post and then got near the bottom of the comments and read @Dreemit comments below...
"Did you say a pair of 'asses' on the flop? hahaha, that might be one of the greatest misspellings of all time!! It's aces love, but you just made my night!"
Stupid me, I actually thought Marly, that You had intentionally used the word "pair of asses" INSTEAD of aces, as a pun... meant to be Fun.
Sometimes Marly, Your comment section is ALMOST as Good as Your Posts... >> : ~ ))
Anyway, I'm already following You 4 weeks, but now I'm also Following @Dreemit !!
Glad You made it home safe & looking forward to Your continuing "Surf Videos".
Yey! I'm glad you've started using ' instead of ´:D
PS. its "taught" ^^
Gosh! Thank you!!!
I've only slept two hours last night (maybe that counts as an excuse 😝)...
Glad to see the picture of the big stack and the drink :)
Sometimes is easier said than done, regarding the leaving the table as a winner. Happens to me often, regret is bitter but theres always something to learn from that bitterness.Good game @surfermarly you did well!
Love how you kept your cool 100% and enjoyed that deserved dinner... good stuff!
keep it up and enjoy! :D
No worries ^^ just thought since it was in the title I'd mention it.
Yeah sure!!! I highly appreciate that!
What an embarrassing one, haha 🙈😆
'vs´... ahhhh gotchahahaha always helping @acidyo good man
:D
I´ve been waiting for this story for so long!! :D Finally!
I have soooo many more to tell! :)
Great post Marly!
This is really tough and i'm glad that you were able to keep calm in this situation! #rockstar qualities!
Haha, thank you! That was cute :)
Still trying to catch up with the comments from my last posts... Sorry for replying that late!!!
No problemo! I hear ya. I'm in the same difficult situation myself haha!
Emotions and games indeed don't go well together! We learn from our mistakes. Even though the loss, it seemed like a nice experience, well minus the drunk fella. Good luck for the future ;)
These are wise words! Thanks for sharing them with us 😉
It was definitely a nice experience, even though meeting the drunk guy. Every situation teaches you something...
True that! Have a great day!
Oh man, you are in Vegas!! That is only a 4 hour drive away from me here in Southern California. Take Hwy 51 (3 hours) to HWY 10 (1 hour) and you are in the Palm Springs area where I live. (Indio to be exact but everyone knows Palm Springs better)
Hope you are enjoying your time there because it seems like you are.
I wouldn't really like Vegas unless I was able to go the shows and well eat all the awesome food haha.
Uuuuuh you are a couple of days too late! I'm already back home 😉
We were in Palm Springs when we did our river rafting tour (one of my latest posts). Damn! Could have met you then.
Next time!
Ohhhhhh whaaattt!? I would of totally gone rafting with y'all too.... ugh it would of been a blast.
Palm Springs is like 15min away too haha. Where did you go rafting at? I didn't know there was rafting in palm springs.... I have only been here a few months though and I work a lot so I don't get to explore to often.
We started at the Hualapai Lodge. If you google that you can find the spot where we got into the Grand Canyon. I guess that's close to your place?
Ohhhh, wait. That is in Peach Springs! I believe maybe you meant Peach Springs and not Palm Springs. Palm Springs is like 15min from me and Peach Springs is like 3 hours away. :P
I wish I was that close to that area! I would never be bored because of all the hiking and outdoors to explore in the area.
From watching your video and looking at the pictures there seems to be a lot of adventure to be had there for sure.
100% and resteemed :-)
Thank you so much!!! My voting power is low so this time you won't get my full power upvoting your comment. But there are many more opportunities to come 😉
Don´t worry same here ;-) Hehe. You are too kind.
On my regular account I have to make a voting diet today too ;-)
It was nice meeting you at the table, Marly, sorry I cracked your KK twice. I was having an epic run. I'm sure you already realize, but the pain of a bad loss fades in time. After many many years playing poker the most important lesson I learned is to pick the right table. It's okay if one or two players are better than you, but no one can survive if most of them are. Good luck!
Hey!!! So cool you've found your way to steemit 😉
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. Please don't worry at all. I've learned a lot that night - and as you can see I've already recovered my loss through blogging about it here on steemit.
Best of luck to you, too! And remember: crypto is the future 😉
Did you say a pair of 'asses' on the flop? hahaha, that might be one of the greatest misspellings of all time!! It's aces love, but you just made my night!
I have also been there, when I first started playing poker. I had some serious beginner's luck before I actually learned to play the game, and it bit me in my Ace....LOL. I hope you don't mind me teasing, I adore you :)
Hahaaaaaaaaaaa!!! This is hilarious!!! And you are the first one in noticing that?!? Can't believe it!!! Hahahaha :-D Now I'm crying in front of my computer!!! My competitors definitely would have called them 'asses' without any doubt, hahaha! Love it!!!
Thanks for revealing one of the best misspellings ever! Probably I'll do a post about it :-))))
How are you honey???
Hee heee, oh God, your reaction right now is making this ten times better!!! I'm laughing my ACE off all over again LOLOL!!
Oh please do a post about it. Also, yes, I wonder if no one noticed, or if they were worried about embarrassing you? Come on people, don't you know that Marly is way too cool not to react just like she did?? I knew that :) Plus, I also know that in way too short a time you won't be able to edit this, and asses would stand on the blockchain for all time...which on one hand is super hilarious, but on the other, I would definitely want to know so I could correct it!! Haha!! Couldn't let you leave it up there without knowing ;)
I'm fantastic! In the middle of trying out an @beanz voting experiment since the hardfork did some crazy things to our votes, but especially our voting power. At first I was all worried that I would have to start voting everybody at a much smaller percentage or I wouldn't be able to vote on many people...then her experiment seems to make it possible to vote on a lot of people at still a good percentage. I resteemed her post if you're curious how it works, but basically if your power is at one hundred percent, you vote the first post at that, then it goes down about two percent and you vote the next post at ninety eight, then it keeps going that way until you hit the eighties and then the power only goes down about a percent and a half, and so on. So you can still vote posts at a pretty high percentage and plenty of them. Well, so it seems, and that's what I'm figuring out :) I have to thank you for introducing me to @knircky. He's been a wonderful support to me lately! I keep wanting to return the favor to him, but he hasn't been posting.
I have your new post up in the browser, it's going to be one of my first once I start the new voting day (once my power refills lol) Oh, and later this evening, I will be doing a post called "Mom and a brewery" Yep, taking mom to a brewery, lots of fun!
It's a method for seeking the "sweet spot" on the voting scale, so that I don't have to vote at a measely 1% to not worry about my voting power. I seem to have found it at 55% now and my voting power is 67% still recovering while I vote.
Hmm, I'll see where I stand in the next couple of days :)
I see you're at 80% so this time tomorrow hopefully. Also I think it only reads your voting power when you vote. So if you don't vote at all it doesn't look like your voting power is going back up. But voting at 1% fixes that so steemdb or steemstats can give an accurate %.
Great attitude @surfermarly All the best next year!
Thank you very much!!! 😉
Normally in past was rule... what happen in Vegas, stay in Vegas! :)
That damn internet nowadays, lol.
Haha!
that applies especially to the money!
When have lost all, head up - I will stay you ;)
great game...honestly been thinking of doing poker online..anyone have any experience with that?
Great stuff. I played pro poker for nearly five years and know those heart pounding moments all to well, sometimes it just doesn't pan out to well, but that's part of the beauty of the game. Better luck next time surfermarley
literally heart pounding. you feel like everyone can see it. like your skin is pouncing up and down. feels like you're going to choke, sometimes, if it's a big enough pot.
You handled that like a boss. Much respect!
I love poker man ! Follow me back dude!
nice post !
No worries @surfermarly, the best successes always come learning from some of our worst failures. And after all, it's just poker! You could make the best decisions in the world and have the cards turn against you. I'm sure you will hit the tables again, forget all about this, and win tons!
Great post! Bad beats are never easy to deal with, especially on the river. I'm glad you held your head up high and didn't let it get the best of you. The truth is, everyone goes through it. The thing that separates the winners from the losers, are the winners learn from their mistakes and put the past behind them. Stay true to your goals and remember why you started. A quote that I love is "Fall down seven times, get up eight." Keep spreading the positivity on Steemit :)
so is life. good post. are you playing poker on http://www.bluffave.com/steemit ?
you know what one of the big problems is with poker? with texas hold 'em, at least.
people always end up catching the card they could have never possibly caught - on the river.
(right after you've gone all in on the turn) ;)
Мне понравилось)
It does not matter whether you lose or win...Thing that matters is you enjoyed it...anyways wish you luck for the next year :)
A fellow beach-lover come poker player. Kindred spirits @surfermarly? I used to play under the handle FishysAce but did most of my damage in real life. Although if you check my run a few years back at 888poker I went back to back in weekly tournaments (1st and 2nd) pocketing over US$12,000 for only $50 buy-ins. I no longer play. Too much time to be invested in that game, and as an ex-gambler it's best for me to stay away from anything that can get me back into that life. I invest now. Where's your local? I'm from Duranbah, Gold Coast Australia.
It just so happens that today I had to take a loss in trading because I hold my position emotionally thinking It will go up forever
Lesson learned
As soon as i read the article i couldent get poker face by lady gaga out of my head....
Hang loose girl...
Don't let a few chips get to you!
The beach awaits your arrival that will cover any losses...
Keep STEEM N ON,
Frank
In gambling you always lose Marly
Dang nice write up @surfermarly. Your a rounder but the rivergods did not bless you that night.
As soon as I get emotional I stand up , most time it doesn t end that good if you make decisions based on emotions.
Good luck at the tables next time ;)
Vegas is unlike any other, once you experience it, you KNOW exactly what I mean. And I still owe you those BEERS @surfermarly 🍺 🍻 🙌
You Are A Happy Soul....Next Time You Will Have A Better Luck....Thanks For Sharing 😇
Great words. So true.
I can really relate to your frustration since I have spent a lot of time playing live in Las Vegas and even more countless hours grinding online. I'm sure you took a lot away from this experience and at least you had a good time. Your closing in on the $300 mark for this post at least ;).
Angelo @theywillkillyou made me aware of this post of yours and it was a great read... He said that you might find the blog I just posted pretty interesting and maybe even helpful down the line: https://steemit.com/money/@world5list/being-a-winning-professional-poker-player-is-not-as-glamorous-as-it-sounds-my-8-year-experience
If you ever need any advice, then don't hesitate to hit me up!
We live and we learn...oh how we learn!