Three memorable hands

It's a truism that we learn more from our failures than we do from our successes. The thing about truisms is, they're often true, however trite they may sound. Another truism is that if we can't remember our mistakes, we're condemned to repeat them. Put these two truisms together, apply them to poker, and what you get is a poker truism -- the big hands we lose are much more memorable than the big hands we win.

Three hands from last night are etched on my consciousness. The first two were actually consecutive hands. The third severely crippled me, and I hit the felt shortly thereafter. I don't have to consult the hand histories to remember the important details of any of these hands.

hand 1: I was dealt pocket rockets. I bet them big, all the way down the line. The board paired. My aces up lost to a full house.

hand 2: I was dealt a pair of kings. Since I'd just had a pair of aces the previous hand, I "knew" no one was dealt a pair of aces this hand. I bet my kings big. No aces or pairs showed up on the board. I lost to a pair of aces.

Those two hands hurt, but they didn't cripple me, since no raising wars occurred in the betting. I wasn't so lucky on the next memorable hand.

hand 3: I was dealt a jack of diamonds, and a baby card of some description. Four of the five community cards were diamonds, including the king. Only a queen and ace of diamonds could beat me. On the river, I called a raise of $10K, for a total investment of about $19K of my stack in the pot. Someone else did indeed have the ace of diamonds, and my king high flush lost to the nut flush.

After thinking it over, I realize I wouldn't play any of these hands differently given the chance. I think I made the right decisions on all of them. It's cold comfort, but comfort nonetheless.

delta: $-40,000
balance: $438,328