Poker'd out, Golf is still my game

I need to take a break. That is the only solution I can come up with. I am in one of those ruts where nothing seems to be going my way. I won’t get into the details here, but basically I am just getting fed up with the way I am playing (poorly) and the luck I am getting (none). I know it happens to everyone, and I usually tell those people to take a break.

So I will take my own advice and take it easy for a while. Especially in live games, where the majority of this frustration stems from.

I played over at the FCPC with an old skool friend of mine, his brother, and another buddy. It was a $120 superstack tournament with a great structure. 75K starting stack and 40 minute levels. The only real hand I had all night (pocket kings) got taken down by pocket aces, which were held by Will. I avoided not going broke, which I was somewhat proud of, but it left me short stacked and when I shoved my 17BB in with pocket 5’s I was called by A-10, which was also held by Willy and an Ace spikes the flop and IGH. I guess he wanted my bounty… and bad. $20 bounties makes it interesting because it always makes people want to call “just for the bounty.” It is a frustrating thing to be a part of when you know you should just be taking a pot down pre-flop and then get called anyway.

The best hand of the night was a beauty (see Simon's take over at the FCPC blog). It involved Fuel, so you know it was a good one. He had been folding his above average stack for what seemed like an eternity (I’d guess at least an hour) while the bubble was quickly approaching and everyone was tightening up. Then it happened. Fuel was dealt KK and raised it from the button. The SB pushed his stack and Will’s bro had already limped with AA. He re-raises and Fuel pushes. Fuel freaks when he finds out the cooler he is now involved in, and the fact that he had been folding for so long didn’t help either. It’s a three way all in flop with two bounties on the line. The flop comes A-4-A. Flopped quads take out both players. It was pretty sick and well worth the wait as I had been sticking around to see a big hand go down (I was a rail bird for longer than I played). Good times nonetheless, especially since I got to see Will and his brother chop first and second place for about $500 each.

But man poker has got me all fucked up. I just don’t have a positive feeling heading into games right now. This is where my head is at these days. It’s in the wrong frame of mind and I can’t do much about it, except take a break. So it’s on.

I played golf on Sunday, and it was exactly what I needed. It was a very very sunny day out, and I couldn’t help but play in the snowman and test myself once again. This time, I actually arrived with some time to spare so I hit a warm up bucket and also hit a few practice putts. I finished the round 3 under and won low gross. I also made a deuce for a bit more cake.

It’s just another reminder of how much more I love playing golf than I do poker. You just can’t beat being out on a nice sunny day with a couple of beers on the back nine, knocking down pins and converting birdie putts for cash. It’s completely within your control, there is no river card.

Sure there are nerves, and that is the biggest thing for me. In fact, early on in the round I managed to drive the green (well I was green side, pin high) and then followed that up by three putting my birdie putt from less than two feet for bogie! It happens, but it was completely my fault. Which is actually comforting at this point.

That is the big difference between golf and poker for me. There is no one, and nothing to blame. There is some luck to golf, I will admit. But nothing like poker. I’ve written about this before, and this weekend was just another confirmation.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the poker gods, and the golf gods are not related.

Hopefully I can stay away from the mookie, but it’s the one tournament a week that I actually enjoy. I guess I will just see how it goes…

I’m such a hypocrite sometimes…