One Forgettable Day

Game of luck? Game of skill? A never ending debate..

I saw one of the worst poker player ever existed eliminated the whole table.. including myself in a final headsup.. There was no resemblence of any skill displayed, but luck was on his side..

I saw a 95% favor falter.. more precisely, I experienced it..

I am always taught, in order to succeed, one must be able to face failure, and learn from failure; but how is failure defined in this game? The one who loses with AA to KK? or the one who loses with KK to AA?

I may never discover the answer; very likely that some day in the near future I will have to stop.. to say that I lack the skill or the luck.. or the heart..

I will always respect, however, the heart of a true poker player, how they can handle the bad beats with grace, understanding it's part of the game .. maybe, just maybe.. bad beats make me a stronger person in real life.. unflapped by even the most adverse and unexpected turn of event.. build a heart of a champion..

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One of the busiest day at work, UCLA network was down the whole afternoon, which means one thing, disaster for us poor consultants! I think we averaged at least 200 calls per hour, spread between 3-4 consultants, repeating the same thing over and over again to the users. Don't people do anything else other than checking their e-mails 20 times a day? Maybe it evens out all the other days where I sit around and do nothing :)

Needless to say, I was exhausted, skipped gym again; well, skipping is no longer the right choice of word since I skip 5 times more often than I actually go nowadays.. I should say.. "as usual, I headed home right after work"..

I am alone in my apartment again.. now I think about it, it seems like I am paying 425/month for a 2bed/2bath-1200 sq. ft. apartment all for myself, probably a deal hard to find even around farming school UC Davis :)

I discovered a talent.. just as I am beginning to doubt if I am talented at anything other than bullshitting out of my ass.. It's computer science!! I am a Computer Science genius who got A in two upper division CS class!! .. Ok now seriously, I isnt no CS genius, far from it.. I am not interested in it and I do not take extra time working on it.. something any CS person would tell you as a requirement. So what is my talent? COOKING!!! Yes, that's right, I enjoy cooking and I am getting better by the day.. Nothing is more satisfying than making a great dish.. soon enough IRON CHEF Foster becomes a reality.

Now comes my poker experience.. Thus the name "One Forgettable Day"..
I broke even for the day, finishing 2nd in 15 dollar turbo, 25 dollars turbo and 1st in 4-players headsup for 10 dollars.. But I should have been way up if not for some astounding beats..

Even stack, headsup in 15 dollar turbo (down to 2 players). This guy has been playing loose short handed and I am just waiting to catch him.. I had Q/6, flop came Q, 6, 9, he fires all in at me, easy call.. He flips over pocket 3.. catches his two outter (3) on the river.. I lost.. 27 dollars difference.

I was big stack, 2.5k (this is 15 dollar turbo), I got pocket Ace, reraised to put two guys all in, both called.. One guy flipped over pocket J, another guy flips over A/K os... ok.. for those of you who does not know, AA against AK is a INCREDIBLE favor to win, how favored? 92% of the time AA will win, while only 5% of the time AK will win... You guessed what happened.. the guy caught two running king, turn and river...

That was not just bad beats, that was the king of bad beats.. I was sickened then.. I was eating dinner too (the delicious dinner I cooked for myself).. all of sudden I lost appetite.. went to grab a bottle of Tsingdao Beer.. downed half in matter of 15 seconds (3 cans worth).. took a break, was feeling buzzed, finally got over that beat..

I went ahead and got #1 in a 4-way headsup (won 2 headsup in a row).. and I made a bold move and played a 25 dollar buy in tourny.. I was short stacked most of the time, finally caught a top-pair (10) on the flop and went all in (1.1k chips).. some guy called me, turned over 9/9.. (note he has about a TOTAL OF TWO OUTS).. you guessed what happened... CRY ME A RIVER

Went on a tilt.. finished rest of the beer.. and somehow finished 2nd in a 25 dollar tourny for 70 dollars.. haha..

Played 10+1 multi tourny, (1.1k for 1st place).. never got anything going.. died a few rounds after the first break (first hour)..