You got to lose to know how to win

Good morning.

Short blog today. I hope to get a lot of playing time in because I've been short on hours this week, and Amy is coming in on Tuesday. Yesterday wasn't so good - bought in, was up, down, back up again, and busted out on a bad play. I realized it would be good for me to leave, even though it was early. It doesn't take much today to get me in a frame of mind where I don't trust my judgment.

Rob got the GNR reference for yesterday - remarkably quickly, for a Saturday morning. Nice work. Ah, Guns N Roses...another of those rock-and-roll conglomerations of talent and ego that just seem bound to self-destruct. In addition to Slash and Axl, most people do not realize how talented Izzy Stradlin (rhythm guitar) was.

HAND OF THE DAY:
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So poker is apparently seeping into even my subconscious thoughts; I've dreamt about it at least twice since I've been out here. In last night's episode, I was playing a three-handed game against my sister Kristy, and Bryant. This would actually be a very difficult game for me to play, because Bryant has a really good sense of when I'm bluffing, and Kristy has no fear whatsoever, or enough poker sense to know when to lay down a hand (there's a story behind that I will probably tell later on). Anyway, in this particular dream, I could also see Kristy's down cards as they were being dealt, and with that info I knew she had queens full of tens. She bet out, and I said "OK" in a defeated tone, and prepared to muck my cards when I noticed I had quad kings (which would have been impossible, since I only had one K in my hand, and for Kristy to have her boat and me to have quads in a rank other than those in her boat, we would have required at least a 6-card board...but heck, it's my dream. It's equally unrealistic to imagine me not realizing I have quad kings, as it is to have a 6-card board). Anyway, Kristy had already mucked her hand, as it appeared I was about to surrender the hand. Then I said "Wait, I have quad kings!" The dealer got really snotty and told me I had lost the pot. Even though I technically had not folded because my cards were still in my hand, and my sister had folded, I let it go, because it was my sister. More importantly, it was a small pot. Ha!

Actually, there is a lesson in all of this, more for aspiring casino players than anyone else. Procedural mistakes are quite common with beginners, and you see a lot of money won and lost on improper betting, folding, premature mucking, etc. In fact, the other day at Caesar's, a gentleman accidentally mucked a royal flush to someone's full house. Anyway, for anyone thinking about playing for the first time in a casino, I would highly recommend familiarizing yourself with the procedures. Failing that, you should watch very closely to what other people do and emulate it to the T.

Play well, everyone!