Rivered

If you're scientific about poker, which I claim to be, you realize that if you play long enough, you'll be dealt "unbeatable" hands which nonetheless not only can be beaten, but will be beaten. When this happens, you must simply tip your hat to the poker gods and realize that no one can win all the time they "should" win. That happened to me two nights ago. Since it was late at night, I went to bed without writing a blog entry. I knew I'd still write about the session, just a bit later than usual. I'm not bitter; in a way, it's a backhanded compliment from the poker gods. They're saying to you, "If you can take this type of misfortune and still come back for more, you have the right stuff in you, and we'll see that you're amply rewarded in the future".

I seriously thought about titling this blog post "Oliver Hudson-ed", in reference to the $10,000 hand which actor Oliver Hudson lost to poker pro Sam Farha. Oliver was dealt a pair of tens, and Sam was dealt an ace and a ten. The flop came ace ace ten, giving Oliver tens full of aces and Sam aces full of tens. At that point, Oliver was drawing dead, even with an "unbeatable" full house. He bet it out as most humans (including me) would, and hit the rail.

In the end I decided that the circumstances weren't similar enough to use that title for this post. Like Oliver, I flopped a full house. Also like Oliver, I lost to a better full house. Unlike Oliver, however, I was never drawing dead. In fact, I was ahead the whole way, until an unlikely river card did me in. That's why I decided on "Rivered" for the title of this post.

I was dealt 4 5 offsuit. The flop came 4 5 4, giving me a full house, fours full of fives. The turn came a 5, giving me a full house, fives full of fours. The river came a 9, giving my opponent, who was dealt a pair of nines, a full house, nines full of fives. I ate felt. By rights, the way I was betting, there was no way my opponent should have hung in. However, he did, and lucked out on the river. It happens.

I'm not discouraged, however. I think I'm due for some monster nights! In case it wasn't clear before, I love this game.

delta: -$2,000
balance: $259,639