What Goes Up...

First off hope all my Sackalytes out there had a good Thanksgiving-- or for some of our readers a good last Thursday I suppose. Either way I know I’ve had a tough year in a general sense, but am truly a very lucky person with a lot to be thankful for. The good thing about hard times is that it allows you to be able to realize exactly how good and important the good things really are… and for that I am quite blessed.

As far as poker goes things are pretty good. Last week since I’ve written I hit an awesome hot streak that continued into the first couple of days of this week. As far as my general quota (which is pretty low) I managed to pull through making enough to cover three to four weeks of playing in a matter of a few days. Add this on top of picking up many extra shifts at the pool hall playing the role of beer bitch, making my normal wage plus tips (note: tips are good when you know every freakin’ body on a highly personal level in a place) and I find myself being able to do something that has been a long time coming… I should be able to pay rent and bills and maybe, just maybe, have a few extra dollars left over. ( Ignore this last paragraph if I owe you money please!)

So for a little over a week straight there it was beautiful. Anytime I sat down in a tournament or cash game it was as if I knew everybody (I didn’t really) and had an insta-read on every player. They may as well have had their cards showing to me. My betting both pre and post flop all the way was absolutely on point. I could take down a pot with a weak hand no problem, or I could slowly bring people in with a big hand and build up something big. It was as if I controlled the table at all times. To top it all off I felt like I may as well be the dealer. I had a sense of everything that was going to happen. I can’t really explain that one, but an example would be I may fold a pretty good starting hand because I just didn’t “feel” right about it, and then of course it wound up being what would be a losing hand. Then in the same position I’d get a hand I’d normally fold (I remember Jack-5 as one specific instance) that I just felt coming and I’d hit a full house or something. Same thing with chasing draws, playing bottom or middle pairs, folding strong hands, whatever felt “right” all worked out to be correct. It was like some divine force was there saying, “Hey guy, don’t you worry your pretty head about it, I won’t let you lose.” It was a stretch of absolute A+ can’t miss poker.

Luckily I have enough experience now to know all good things do come to an end, and I also have a feel for it’s timing as well. No sooner did I say to my lovely better half when she came over, “oh, it won’t take long, I’m about due for a cold streak so I should get put out of this tournament quickly” do I begin to slide. Coincidentally it came when I re-downloaded the updated version of Pacific’s software ( reference “screw sack.exe” update for that one). Either way I’ve watched myself play brilliantly for the most part, getting my money in with the best of it-often as a huge favorite- only to see whatever needs to happen for me to lose happen. It’s been brutal, but surprisingly I’m not upset. Some people call it a cash out curse, some call in a conspiracy theory of sorts. I simply call it the ups and downs of poker. All I can do is play my game and wait for it to get better again-- which is exactly what I’m doing. I’m not going on tilt or getting bankroll crazy, I’ll just try to keep playing well and when the right sequence of random events happen I’ll be back in stride no problem. Until then I’ll just try and lose as little as possible, which has been very minimal to this point. For now I guess the little divine voice is off visiting family for the holidays, but hell be back… soon.

Patience sucks,
Sack

sack@pokergreed.com