Gray-haired poker TRs: Living the WSOP dream

Agree with your point about the obscene amount of money they are playing for here in the Tritons, but it seems there is a market for such buy-ins.

There’s plenty of very wealthy people and they like to gamble, firing multiple bullets for 75k and 100k like it’s nothing.

The pros playing them will have sold and swapped large percentages I imagine.

Biggest Omission: Johnny Moss (3 world championships and 9 bracelets in just 181 events. He certainly would have won Player of the Year in both 1970 and 1971 if the prize existed. Insanely not even mentioned in the article (except in a list in the FAQ).

Error Correction: Phil Hellmuth hasn't been at the top of the WSOP cashes list since Daniel Negreanu passed him FIVE years ago. Hellmuth does lead in final tables though.

If you haven't read this book, you need to. Stu Unger was GTO before GTO existed.

Thanks for the suggestion. I did read it. His was a life of unbelievable highs and astonishing lows.

Was he a remarkable success story? ... Or was he a terrible cautionary tale? ... The answer is yes.

Being right and still losing

I squeezed in a poker tournament late last night after all of the college football conference championship games were concluded.

I didn't take notes because it was late and I was not motivated to do so. But here are the greatest/not greatest hits.

I started card dead, so nothing worthwhile to describe. With the blinds so low, I remained just short of starting stack. Then I get K-K, and it results in me winning a big pot and being 60% above starting stack.

The next notable hand comes when I'm in the big blind and have Qc-Jc. UTG opens and it folds to me. If the bet came from late position I would have considered raising. But the bet comes from UTG and I have a hand that can either crack a big hand or get away from cheap if I completely whiff the flop. I choose to just call. The flop gives me an open-ended straight draw. I can keep the pot small and see if I get there, or I can embrace my new be aggressive strategy and bet. I bet and get called. The turn is a blank. I bet and villain then goes all-in large. I don't have the pot odds to call, and I fold. I am back to just above starting stack. I'm back to square 1.

I fold for a bit, and then I have A-Jo in the big blind. From early position, the table chip leader who has been playing every hand for a while now opens large as has been his approach. The button, who loves too see flops light just calls. As I see it, TableChipLeader can have any two cards, and the button's range is capped to medium strength cards since he only called. I can either call and access after the flop, or I can act aggressively and go all-in. My current process is to look for spots to be aggressive. I decide this is such a spot, and I go all-in. TableChipLeader folds. The button, who has me covered, calls with A-7o. I am way ahead. I remain ahead after the flop and turn, but villain now has a straight draw. Villain gets there on the river, and I'm out.

Being right and still losing is frustrating. I suppose the question is, did I really need to play for it all? Maybe that's the wrong question to ask since ultimately all you can hope to do is get it in good. As expected when I started to tweak my playing style, my attempts to be more aggressive have not yielded positive results initially, but the sample size is extremely small.

Flo-ri-da! Flo-ri-da!

Both of the Hard Rock casinos as well as Harrah's Pompano Beach (WSOP Circuit) have tournament series in the winter, with Hollywood and Pompano Beach being a little warmer than Tampa. I forget Mrs. Rppoker's other states under consideration, but even San Diego is not all that warm in January.

I'm glad to see you are trying the higher stakes - it doesn't seem like the micros are preparing you for the WSOP, but instead are training you to succeed in turbo bounty tourneys against super soft fields.

I played in two higher stakes tournaments tonight during the Texans-Chiefs football game. I'm not sure what these two tournaments prepared me for. I did not win a single pot in either tournament. Not one. How is that even possible? I think it's a haze-the-new-guy thing.

I played in two more tournaments after the Chiefs-Texans football game tonight.

I could write 10,000 words to describe my recent tournaments. But that would result in a lot of whining, complaining, and boring content. I will spare you.

Instead, I will simply write five words to succinctly encapsulate what has been happening ...

... I ... cannot ... hit ... a ... flop

My mental game is temporarily broken as far as poker goes

Feeling frustrated. Feeling like the deck is stacked against me. Feeling like there is a black rain cloud hovering above and dousing me with a deluge of rain.

It's felt this way for a little while now. It escalated the last two days. I have put in a lot of volume the last two days. A lot (by my standards). Nothing has gone right. I have been almost entirely card dead. I played five tournaments today and not once did I see 10-10, J-J, Q-Q, K-K or A-A. I had A-K once and went head’s up against A-10, and the flop is 10-6-2. When I had 7-7, I’m up against 8-8. When I had 9-9, I get it mostly all-in (I had my opponent barely covered), villain has A-10 and the flop has an Ace. Yesterday both times I had A-Q, someone else had A-K. When I flopped a set, my opponent flopped a better set. And then I lost set versus set again a few hands later. When I have A-J multiple times, I whiff the flop every time.

Full disclosure, I did flop quads with 8-8 tonight, but that is the only time I have hit a flop in what feels like forever and after that I went completely card dead the rest of the tournament. Other than this one exception, no matter what I have, my opponent has just a tiny, tiny bit more.

Worse yet, I know it is coming. Or more accurately, I feel like it is coming. And that is the wrong head space to be in.

I feel like Wile E. Coyote where the anvil lands on his head every single time no matter what scheme he attempts.

I tried throwing volume at the problem the last couple of days, knowing that time is supposed to be the cure of run bad. Hasn’t worked. Yeah, yeah, I know, in the grand scheme of things this has hardly been real volume. But for me this is significant volume.

And like I wrote above, my mental game is not good at the moment. The fact that I feel like run bad is coming (and in fairness to me, it has kept coming) is the wrong kind of baggage to bring to the poker table. I’m not going on tilt. Not once. But my lack of confidence right now sucks. I’ve got to cut that nonsense loose.

I think I need a short break from poker. Not because I am playing poorly. Because I have the wrong attitude. I can’t imagine any poker player has ever fared well when expecting run bad. Right now, I anticipate run bad before the cards are even shown. And I am certain no poker player has ever enjoyed being at the table when he or she is certain that run bad is taking dead aim at them. For the moment, I’m not having fun (yes, I know I will get over it like a college freshman who drinks too much, gets sick, feels hung over, vows to never drink again, and then of course does drink again).

I’m not talking about taking a long break. Just long enough to shake my doomsday expectations.

This leads me to something I have been contemplating for a while now.

I think I am at a bit of a crossroads in this thread. Well, actually, I know I am. I just haven’t taken the fork in the road, because what I have been writing in the thread has been generating a lot of views recently. The thread is closing in on 100,000 views, which was not something I thought was at all possible when I first started. And the speed of the increasing viewership numbers seems to be getting faster and faster lately.

So, I can only assume that people are finding something worthwhile in the content I have been providing. Of late, this content (which started with me solely detailing my Las Vegas WSOP trips) has been heavy on detail regarding the online tournaments I have been playing in with an eye on improving my play in WSOP 2026. But even though the views keep increasing at faster speeds, I have been feeling for a bit that the content is getting a little stale. At least it feels that way to me.

Back in the day when I was a professional sports writer, I used to tell people that I’d write to entertain myself, and if I entertained myself then I was pretty sure what I put out there would entertain my publication’s readership. Lately, I have started to feel like I’m not entertaining myself. Or at least not entertaining myself as much as in the past.

So why have the views been increasing at the same time I feel like my writing is getting a bit stale? I think it is because there is not a lot of poker writing that speaks the poker player’s language while trying to entertain with good writing and more importantly good story telling. I think podcasts fill that void. But I don’t think there is a lot of poker writing that embraces good story telling. From what I see, professional poker writing is more about reporting results or poker strategy than anything else. Feature writing is not especially prevalent. First-person, written story telling in the tournament sector seems like an ignored skillset by professional writers. Dr. Pauly used to fill this void brilliantly, but I’m not aware of a present day version of this. And books that tell an author’s story in the poker tournament world? It seems like that has gone the way of the dinosaur.

Am I going to stop writing altogether? No, that’s not what I am saying. I intend to continue writing in this thread. Just not quite as much for the time being. For starters, how many ways can I describe getting knocked out A-K suited versus Q-Q? I am transitioning to slightly higher buy-ins in the Global Poker NLHE world, but I don’t think the story telling changes all that much. Different opponents, different levels of skill, similar stories. Or maybe I am completely wrong about this. Time will tell.

The other reason I think I want to scale back on the writing a little bit, is the writing is pretty time consuming. If I make a deep run in a tourney, I really don’t have the time to write it up, edit it, create A.I. artwork AND play in additional tournaments that night. I’d like to get more volume in as a player – well, more volume once I finish my short break from bad cards and bad beats, ummmmm, I mean once I finish my short break from playing in online tournaments.

This does not mean I am going away. I’m not going to “blasted” this thread moving forward. I hope I can find fresh subject matter. It just won’t be nightly.

For instance, for several months I have been collecting chat box commentary from players in tournaments I play in, and filing it away. At some point I will start writing about it. I think I have quite a bit of interesting material. I just need to organize it and write up different stories. I’m not going to use these players online names/avatars in order to protect the not-so-innocent. Last night, for example, I played in a tournament. After I got knocked out, I gave my dog Astro some attention, and then I went back to the tournament to see how the player who knocked me out was doing. In doing so, I stumbled upon one of the most despicable trash talkers I have encountered online. I followed him for over an hour. His behavior was horrible, which is to say it has the potential to be highly entertaining in the hands of a good writer. I’m not going to use his online name when I write it up. He would deserve it if I did, but it’s just not my style to choose to embarrass someone. But if anyone ever deserved it ...

I’m sure over time I’ll find other interesting stories to tell.

And while I won’t be writing about my trials and tribulations in tourney play every night, I will still provide updates when I think there is something interesting about my journey to write about. I suspect the level of opponents’ skills will be different at higher buy-ins (and I think I need to stop playing turbo bounty tournaments since that rewards a level of risk taking that probably will get me pulverized in live, deep stack tourneys at the 2026 WSOP). I think the mental aspect of dealing with competition that can be very swingy and at times feel unfair due to the ruthlessness that is variance is also something worth writing about (as I have done at the start of this post, but, note to self, it can’t just be bad beat stories). I’m also kicking around the idea of doing some Las Vegas-based poker fiction writing that I might decide to post here.

Another avenue I think I might choose to pursue is to come up with a poker topic and reach out to some of you via Personal Message for your thoughts on the topic and turn it into a feature in the thread. I’m just spit balling here. The point is, I don’t want to keep writing the same thing over and over and over. Instead, I’d like to try to keep the content fresh.

In any event, as I usually do, I’ve written a lot of words in this post. I don’t write short. I didn’t when I covered the National Football League many years ago, and if you’ve been paying any attention to this thread, you know I don’t write short about poker.

The point being, you now know where my head is at poker wise as it relates to this thread. It’s not the end of the thread. Maybe it’s a new beginning, a new direction for the thread.

Just trying to be rpInteresting and not rpRepetitive.

Cold streaks are inevitable in tournaments. I've had some brutal stretches. We always want to be self-aware and try to recognize areas of strength/weakness, but that can be difficult in such a luck-driven game. Sometimes it's hard to separate the signal from the noise. Are we playing badly or running badly? Is the latter causing the former? If monster-under-the-bed-itis is creeping into your process then a break of some length might be helpful. I'm primarily a tournament player, but tournaments are very hit-or-miss by design. Mostly we will miss. I've found that the occasional cash session can help recapture a sense of control after some rough tournament runs. You can play for an hour or two, win a modest amount, rack up, and remind yourself, "Oh yeah, I don't actually suck at this game." Losing days will also happen in cash, but it's much easier to have a winning session in cash than to make the top 10-15% in a tournament.

In terms of the content, you've hit upon a problem for poker media in general. After a while, it all tends to feel very same-y. Even as a general fan of the game, I can only watch so many "people playing for zillions of dollars" cash games or nosebleed tournaments before it starts to get stale. It's hard to get excited for broadcasts like WPT, Triton, and High Stakes Poker after you have seen many hours of those shows already. There will be new hands, characters, and situations, but the product will be repetitive in a general sense. I've had these thoughts about my own summer TRs. After the first few years, it's been a lot of the same. The TRs likely have more value to me than they do to anyone else. I think it would be very difficult to keep a product like the PokerNews podcast fresh and engaging. To some degree, there's nothing new under the sun.

All that being said, I still watch the WSOP every year. I still peruse the TRs on here. The appeal is multi-faceted. The WSOP streams offer unique characters, intense sporting drama, and random viral moments. TRs can be appealing for various reasons like humor, strategic content, or storytelling. They can provide a window into exciting experiences. I'm not sure poker lends itself well to a long-term daily digest type of format, but there are compelling angles here and there.

I'm going to be honest , yes you are getting a lot of views, but I only click on your thread so it shows as read in my feed without reading a word unless you are playing live. Road trips with live poker and Michigan football pics are great. Maybe It's a me problem, but I also find the AI generated cartoons add little to no value, since there is really no talent involved to create them.

Realistically, this thread should be in Poker Goals and Challenges if you want to chronicle your on line adventures and study habits.

Next WSOP, a new fesh thread is going to garner a lot of views, but if you add to this one, new viewers aren't going to wade through the number of posts in this thread to get to the new content.

My mom was a kindergarten teacher and hammered into my brain that if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all. But I think we'd get along in real life and I'd be remiss if I didn't tell my friend how I felt.

We’re all very fortunate that you share your writing talents with us and I’m sure you’ll come up with a way to keep it fresh and entertaining, not just for us, but also for yourself.

In terms of poker, your dedication to improving your game is commendable, but if I could offer two cents of advice; sometimes less is more. I don’t play that much online but I can imagine night after night of online tournaments can get frustrating. Yes, volume helps, but sometimes so does a week or two without playing a hand.

I also agree with dogface. You might find an hour or two cash game session more beneficial than just endless online tournaments.

Sort-of agree with this one, as the online content is simply not as captivating as live play. It's clear that you are a very seasoned writer (I wish I could write TRs like that), but there is no need for gigantic 10 paragraph highlights from an online tournament that you didn't even cash in for example.

Just a friendly suggestion obviously, not going to tell you what to do with your own thread. I would say that if you enjoy writing, keep doing it. That's really what I do with my own threads; I want them there so that I can read them back later for myself - not necessarily because I am looking for thousands of views.

DogFace, CowboyCold, Tony Soprano9, BigWhale,

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I think I am done with posting play-by-play commentary of my online tournaments. The reason I did so for a while (perhaps more than a while) is the fact that all roads lead to the WSOP for this thread. My online play began as a way to become a better player for WSOP 2026. So, while perhaps it may have been a better fit for Poker Goals & Challenges, I included it in this thread as part of my WSOP journey. But I think that part of my story is played out as far as the thread goes. I will continue playing online but I am going to tone it way down in terms of writing about it.

As for playing cash, while I understanding what is being suggested, I don't think I will go that route. From what I can tell from my extremely limited understanding of the cash streets, the game (i.e. pre-flop bet sizing for example) seems different than tournament play. Even though tournament play can have long stretches where you don't cash, it is a style of poker that I really enjoy. Tournaments speak to me. Cash games just don't move the needle for me. I don't know why that is, but it's what I feel. I also like the discipline of playing tournaments and capping what I can lose. My fear is that if I have a bad session of cash, I'm not sure I'd have the self control to know when to stop. Also, a good tournament result (i.e. cashing at a WSOP event) means waaaaaaaay more to me than a good cash result. I'm not in this for the money. I'm certainly not willing to play big enough in cash to have an outcome that would be meaningful to me. But the rush of cashing in a WSOP event, knowing how inexperienced I still am, is a rush. It would take an enormous win in a cash game to give me a similar rush, and I have no intention of playing that large. Does my fixation on adding to my Hendon Mob WSOP results make me sound like an amateur, a newbie, a silly recreational player? Yes, it probably does, but (hand it in the air) that's precisely and unabashedly who I am.

Regarding my use of A.I. artwork for the thread, I do so because I think it makes a lengthy post more visually appealing. It's kind of like in a magazine. If there were no pictures and just huge blocks of copy, it would be visually unappealing and make it much less likely the audience would want to read an intimidating avalanche of pure words. Plus, I think the A.I. drawings are fun. They entertain me.

As for some of the non-poker tangents the thread takes, I try to include what I think is interesting. It may have nothing to do with poker but it is a part of my story. For example, when I watched in person my Michigan Wolverines win the national title game two years ago I wrote about it and it was extremely well received.

As for views, I don't write the thread with a goal of a certain number, but I do monitor views to get a sense of whether what I am writing about is getting interest/attention. If the numbers flatline that tells me I am on the wrong track. If the views are increasing rapidly, that tells me people are attracted to what I am writing about. It's a far from perfect metric, but it's the best I can come up with to read the room.

As for am I writing this thread just for myself. To a certain degree, yes. I enjoy writing it. I like the fact that I have created a diary of my journey that I can look back upon and reflect upon somewhere down the road. But that's not the only reason I have continued to write long beyond what I originally intended. I like the fact that people seem to enjoy what I am writing. If I sense some day that people have had enough then I will have to make the decision whether I should stop, or whether I should continue for my own personal reasons. But I don't sense that people are sick and tired of the thread.

Moving forward I will continue to seek new off roads to my poker journey as a way to keep myself and LVL entertained. The one thing that is significant to whatever areas I pursue in this thread, I will conclude by re-stating something I wrote in the opening paragraph of this post, which is "all roads lead to the WSOP."

The poker hand I've named "the leon"

OK, so I didn't follow through on my vow to briefly step away from the online poker tournament grind.

The night, unfortunately was full of negative coolers and bad beats (I was dealt K-K three times tonight and lost each time, twice I was dealt A-Q in the small blind and both times the big blind had A-K, yadda, yadda, yadda).

But I did have one positive hand tonight. I limped with 4-4 and the flop was 4-4-A. I'm calling it "the leon" for obvious reasons as it relates to his ongoing high stakes video poker thread.

I offer a short competing posting:
Cash is not the same as tournament and the players who are good at both play them differently from each other. So cash won't make you better.
The training you did before prior wsop might be a better use of your time than micro stakes tournaments if wsop is your top goal period.
People who don't want to read your write ups can not read them and I respect their right to be disinterested. But...so what. Others think you're interesting. Count me in. Write for yourself. You're not monetizing your views here regardless of their count. Appreciate your past many words.

The worst starting hand in poker is K-K

I played in one tournament tonight. I was dealt K-K. Again. This is one day away from yesterday when I was dealt K-K three times and lost each time.

Tonight my Kc-Kh is up against Qs-10s. There are no Aces on the flop, so no perceived danger. Villain makes his flush on the river. That's at least four times in a row I have lost with K-K. And, going from memory, the streak is probably longer than that. With one exception I have been consistently (and by consistently I mean almost every time) losing with ridiculous frequency when dealt K-K of late. It's more than just the last two days.

I really think I should just fold K-K from now on. Which is stupid of course. On the other hand, the evidence is piling up. Maybe I need to spend some time with a solver to see if K-K is a bizarre pre-flop fold.

Pretty big news about Michigan football today:

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6879864/2025/12/10/michigan-sherrone-moore-coach-fire-policy/

The Athletic

Fired Michigan coach Sherrone Moore in police custody after dismissal

I don't follow college sports that much but I'd guess this is a bit surprising.

by jrrdesert m

Pretty big news about Michigan football today:

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6879864/2025/12/10/michigan-sherrone-moore-coach-fire-policy/

The Athletic

Fired Michigan coach Sherrone Moore in police custody after dismissal

I don't follow college sports that much but I'd guess this is a bit surprising.

Apparently there had been rumors for quite some time, but yesterday everything exploded leading to Moore's firing as the head coach.

Was it surprising? Yes, it came out of left field to outsiders. The timing is kind of not great since head coaching changes had already pretty much played out across the country and Michigan has to find someone to hire after the game of musical chairs had seen the music stop. For example, Matt Campbell who Penn State recently hired would have been a great fit for Michigan.

It's another scandal, which is not good for the program or the University. But purely from a football aspect it may end up being very positive. I say this because it was becoming clear that Moore was not a good head coach. Had none of this happened and he remained as head coach I think the program may have stumbled around in mediocrity or slightly better than mediocrity for the next few years. It was clear he is not THE guy. Now they have a chance to go out and try to hire THE guy.

It's Michigan so a number of current head coaches who seemingly weren't looking to leave their current schools two days ago now might be gettable for a top job like Michigan. The Alabama head coach is many people's dream scenario, but I'm not sure he's gettable and his timetable may work against this happening since his team is in the playoff. The current head coaches at Arizona State, Washington, and Vanderbilt as well as the L.A. Chargers defensive coordinator would all be upgrades over Moore. The Indiana coordinators are interesting since Cignetti's coaching tree is likely to expand in its reach.

In the short run it will hurt in terms of decommitments and transfer portal losses, but if they hire the right guy it could be very beneficial with a longer view of things. Moore was not going to win big at Michigan. They hired him when Harbaugh left to try to create some stability and continuity. But even before yesterday's personal and professional meltdown, it was becoming very clear that the job was too big for him.

It’s official, I’m on a cold streak

I played in three tourneys last night, trying to end what has become a lengthy losing streak. A cold streak. I seem to have forgotten how to finish in the money in online play.

1st tourney of the night, I’m incredibly card dead early on. I’m folding nonstop.

I try one bluff and it fails: UTG limps, it folds to me in the big blind with Q-8, I check. Flop is 6-8-9. This favors my range. I bet 50%, get called. Turn 2. I bet 50%, villain goes all-in. This is the first hand I’ve played and it’s level 4. I thought my aggression would get respect. Opponent is not an aggressive player. I feel strongly she has it. I have to fold.

Finally, I get Q-Q (blinds 100/200). 3 limpers, I go all-in 1,900. 2 callers A-Ko and QJo. Of course, there is a K on flop and I’m out.

Fatal flaw that has become increasingly prevalent: I can’t win a coin flip.

.....

2nd tourney. The crucial hand of the tournament is when I’m the button with A-J, which loses to the big blind’s A-9 on a cruel A-9-2 flop for a hefty portion of my stack. The flop seemingly was great for me, Seemingly, not actually.

Fatal flaw that has become increasingly prevalent: Whenever I am significantly ahead pre flop, the deck does me dirty.

I still have enough chips to think a comeback is possible. But I get no playable cards and my patience in folding is not rewarded. Eventually the blinds force me to get it in light sb vs bb when it folds to small blind who puts me all-in, I only have 600 chips left and I call. It is Q-6 for me versus Q-8 for the small blind. Villain flops an 8, I turn a 6 and a straight draw. Blank on river. I’m out.

Fatal flaw that has become increasingly prevalent: Whatever I have, they have just the tiniest bit more.

Other than when I am down to crumbs, I am not getting it in bad. In fact, I almost always get it in good or at worse a coin flip, and the deck will not cooperate throughout the cold streak. I can’t win with K-K to save my life. I can’t win a coin flip. And when I bluff after patiently folding for quite a while, I keep running into big hands.

Not only am I not cashing, I’m not coming close. Up until this cold spell, even when I did not cash, I was almost always making it to, at a minimum, pretty close to the money bubble. During this cold streak when I bust, I can’t even see the money bubble with a telescope.

I have failed to cash in 18 out of my last 19 tournaments. I checked and prior to this stretch I had been making the money about 50% of the time. This massive decline in making the money has me mystified. It feels like nothing I try, nothing I do, works. Am I running absurdly bad now, or was I running absurdly good before the cold spell started?

I don’t think I am playing poorly. Which means one of two things: 1) I just have to wait out the run bad, or 2) I am playing poorly and I am in denial about the way I am performing.

OK, if I am going to write about a losing streak, it needs to be a round number. Writing about the fact that I have failed to cash in 18 of my last 19 tournaments lacks literary oomph. It needs to be 20 tournaments, not 19. OK, let’s get this over with (how’s that for a proper attitude?). Let’s play tournament number 20 in the freezing, icy, arctic cold spell. Maybe I should turn up the thermostat.

.....

Tournament #3 for the night. I have A-K UTG. I 3x open in level 3 (30/60) Another player goes all in massive for 50 big blinds. Sigh. Do I really need to play a 50 big blind pot with A-K? I have yet to see someone make this play with A-A or K-K. Typically, players make this ridiculous move with hands they don’t want to make a difficult decision on after the flop. Hands like A-K, A-Q or 7-7 through 10-10. Against this type of range and bet my belief is either I am significantly ahead or it’s a coin flip. I will be really shocked if I am behind. I don’t like playing for stacks with a pretty hand that is nonetheless a drawing hand. I’m not thrilled about it, but I call. He has A-Q. My hand holds and I double up. My hand actually held up. Given how I have been running, this seems nothing short of a miracle. I have 5,602 chips (9th place out of 73 remaining players).

I flop a set of 5s for a big pot. Maybe this is finally the tournament where variance leaves me alone and the deck looks kindly upon me. I have 9,334 chips (13/35). Fifteen players will get paid.

We go on break. I have 7,804 chips (15/23).

I get it in great with AA that is up against an extremely aggro player who has 7-7. Once again, I have the better hand going into the flop, and it actually holds up. Again. I look above, and the storm cloud that has been following me is gone. Is my run bad finally over? I have 16,628 chips (4/22).

The premiums keep coming. I have A-Q. Even better there is an Ace on the flop. I add to my chip stack. The deck likes me. It really likes me. Finally. Hello toasty warm deck, it’s been a long time. Is it possible we are about to become friends again? I have 19,028 chips (2/22).

Small blind versus big blind confrontation alert. I am in the big blind and have Ac-7d. It folds to the small blind who is very LAG and he opens fairly big. I’m not a believer and I raise, SB calls. I was hoping to take the hand down right there. The flop is 7 high with two hearts. I have top pair, top kicker in a SB vs BB confrontation, so I bet, small blind calls. Neither one of us has a ton of chips left (I didn’t write down how much). The turn is a third heart. SB goes all-in. I am pretty much priced in and I reluctantly call. Villain has Kh-Qh and made the second nut flush (remember this, the second nut heart flush – in case I need to beat you over the head with my point, this is foreshadowing).

I am down to 5,283 chips. Darn it, I was ahead until the turn. Instead of taking a seat toward the top of the scoreboard that is the penthouse suite of poker, I instead join the riff-raff at the intersection of poker poverty and desperation grinding a short stack. Although I was ahead until the turn, I wonder if I really needed to play this hand so big. Pre flop, villain is very LAG, so I think raising his open with A-7 was fine. A lot of the time he just folds right there. Instead, he was very high up in his opening range. Even so, I was ahead. On the flop of 7 high, two hearts, that’s on the very high end of what I couple possibly hope for. If I’m ahead, it makes sense to bet. On the other hand, while my hand is fairly good at the moment, there is a lot that could beat it (none of which did the villain actually have). Perhaps this was a spot for pot control. But if I go the pot control route, there are a ton of turn cards that will be scary to a pair of 7s with an Ace kicker. When I think I am ahead, my style is to be aggressive. I think this is defendable, but maybe I need to rethink just how aggressive I am with good hands that are probably, but not definitively, ahead. Playing these hands so aggressively has been getting me knocked out a lot during my losing streak. On the other hand, if the deck weren’t being so ruthlessly unfair (or maybe uncooperative is a better word) to me of late, I would not be having this internal debate.

Back to the action. I have enough chips to make a comeback, but there is an urgency to find a hand to go with. I get J-K suited and I open. A big stack calls light, I’m ahead going to the flop, and he doubles me up when I make a flush that wasn’t actually needed since BigStack never improved. I have 12,326 chips (12/17). Two away from the money.

I make the money 12th in chips with 14 remaining. Now is a good time to try to make a move since spots 10-15 all receive the same min cash.

I find such a hand when I am dealt K-Q UTG+1, I go all-in and everyone folds. I have 12,286 chips (10/14)

The next hand I play is a small blind versus big blind confrontation. I am in the big blind. The small blind is aggressive and has shown he will bet with rags. He in fact does make a 2x open. I’m not a believer. He would make this open if he were merely holding two thumb tacks. I have As-3s. It’s not a monster, but against a min open by an extremely loose, aggressive player, I think it is likely that I am ahead. I go all-in, and villain folds. I have 15,066 chips (11/13).

I tell myself to remain aggressive, because there are no pay bumps until the final table

The next time I am in the big blind, one player limps and it folds to me. I have Kh-9h. It’s a good hand. I’m not convinced it’s a hand that I want to blast off with. Let’s see a flop and assess.

The flop is glorious. Three hearts. Qh-10h-7h. I have flopped almost the entire world. The second nuts. Plus, if I want to be really greedy, the Jh will give me a straight flush. I just check/call all 3 streets of aggression from villain and I am all-in after the river. I have the second nut heart flush. I can picture the mountain of chips coming my way. The long, terrible losing streak is ending, and it is ending with a vengeance. The run bad has been vanquished. The recent losing streak notwithstanding, maybe I don’t suck at poker after all. This must be the hand where I get my mojo back. Mark it down. If I go on a run, this is the turning point.

And this is where the story goes careening off the rails. The run bad just escalated to run BAD, run WORST, run HORRIFIC, run TERRIFYING.

Villain turns over Ah-4h for the nut flush. I turn over Kh-9h for the second nut flush. He wins a pot of 29,352 chips. I'm poker roadkill.

Villain: Ah-Qh-10h-7h-4h
rppoker: Kh-Qh-10h-9h-7h

Talk about an unexpected gut punch. How can there be this many hearts in play in one hand? But ... but ... but ... I had blockers. Blockers! I am not 4th in chips after this hand as I anticipated. I am eliminated in 12th place. All of that for a min cash. Disappointing. Distressing. Devastating.

I mean, are you kidding me? I flop a King high flush and lose to an Ace high flush for heaps. Earlier in this tournament I lost to the second nut heart flush. Now I lose with the second nut heart flush (earlier foreshadowing is now complete). This is what I have been dealing with the last 20 tournaments.

Fatal flaw that has become increasingly prevalent: No matter what I have, villain always has just a tiny bit more ... or, put another way ...

I am officially pissed off at poker. I’m not talking to poker. I’m not acknowledging the existence of poker. I am raging mad at poker. OK, fine, I’m not raging mad. Not my style. But I definitely am pissed off at poker. Yeah, yeah, I know, get over it!

On the one hand, cashing 2-out-of-20 tournaments is not that mathematically absurd given only 15% cash. But in the context of, I was cashing around 50% of the time prior to this recent cold spell, 2-out-of-20 cashes feels dismal. My perspective is kind of strange. If I were to cash 10% of the time at the WSOP I would be thrilled because that would pretty much mean I would cash in one event each summer given the volume I play. A cash a summer works for me. Validation on a small scale for a rec like me. But when I am cashing only 10% of my last 20 online tournaments, it feels like an existential crisis,

.....

Recently I said I was going to take a short break from poker to clear my head, but every night I keep playing. I know taking a little time off is the right move to get over this feeling of poker victimhood. But I really do enjoy playing, even in the midst of this run bad. Does that make me a glutton for punishment?

And yes, I know you are probably thinking of writing in the thread that 20 tournaments of run bad really is a small sample size. That may be, but to me 20 tournaments of run bad is a pretty big sample size.

I really do think I should take a short break from poker. I keep saying it, and then I find myself playing in online tournaments each night.

I think there is a decent chance I finally make good on my vow to stay away from the online tournament streets for a brief period of time. The key is, find other stuff to do.

Tomorrow is the Army-Navy football game which I always enjoy watching on TV. Tremendous tradition and pageantry during the game. One of my favorite games of the year. Go Army, Beat Navy! (My dad was an officer in the Army during the Korean War. In hindsight, I regret never taking him to see the Army-Navy game in person while he was alive). Army is an underdog. The goal, as always, is to “sing second.”

Sunday has plenty of NFL action.

I also think it’s time to read another book.

So that’s the road map.

Let’s see if I can follow these directions.

Taking my mind off of my poker cold stretch

I've selected the book to read this weekend as I take a brief break from online poker.

It's the latest book from the awesome Mitch Rapp series. The character was first brought to life by author Vince Flynn, who wrote 13 Rapp novels. Unfortunately, Flynn died way too young. After Flynn's death, the Rapp series was continued by authors Kyle Mills (9 Rapp novels) and more recently by Don Bentley (2 Rapp novels). In my opinion, Mills and Bentley have maintained the Rapp character very smoothly and true to the style of the original author since taking the reins after Flynn died.

The same cannot be said for the one movie that was made about the Mitch Rapp character. The movie, American Assassin, did not capture the written version of Rapp. The actor who played the lead role was Dylan O'Brien. I think this was a poor choice. The movie version of Rapp was not as badass, not as much of a relentless force of nature as is the written version of Rapp. Supposedly, before this movie was made there had been talk of making a movie of one of the other Rapp novels, which would have been about an older version of Rapp. The actors considered for that role were said to be Gerard Butler, Colin Farrell and Matthew Fox. Butler would have been sensational in this role a la his performance in the movie Law Abiding Citizen. Farrell would have been good, but his persona is more brooding (see his performance in the Miami Vice movie) and not enough stone killer for this role. I don't know anything about Fox, so I have no opinion about him. The point I am working toward is if you saw the movie, don't let that deter you from reading the books. The movie did not capture the spirit or the greatness of the Rapp series. Hugely disappointing.

If you are looking for a mature series (24 novels and counting) of thrillers about a CIA counterterrorist agent who will stop at nothing (and I mean NOTHING) to complete his mission, I highly recommend the Rapp series. If you do so, start with the Vince Flynn books, then read the Kyle Mills books, and then read the Don Bentley books.

Mitch Rapp is one of my very favorite charters in the written world of action thriller books.

Straight from the online poker tournament chat boxes

During the past several+ months when I have been playing online poker tournaments, I have been copying and pasting interesting/obnoxious chat box comments to share in my thread. Here are some of the more interesting examples (or at least interesting to me) of poker chat box warriors:

...........

Dude, she paid her entry fee. That means she can play whatever two cards she likes.

After a player made a flush with K-2 suited, a player not in the hand (I repeat, not in the hand) writes, “SMH at making call pre flop with K-2.”
K-2 player writes, “It was suited, I was in late position and we’re deep so It’s OK to make that call.”

...........

Tough to make friends amongst the players you beat

Two players chatting about military service. The guy player compliments the woman player and tells her, “You keep being you.” She responds, “That’s nice to hear. Most people on this site despise me.”

...............

Is this streamer boring or reckless?

After I get knocked out of a tourney, I stick around to watch the table. A new player to the table posts in chat his stream address. He is live streaming the tourney. He is advertising this to his opponents. There is like a 2-3 second delay on his stream. This seems highly -EV for him. Why not a five- or 10-minute delay?

I suppose he is safe because he has it set up that his cards cannot be seen on the stream. How is that interesting? He folds for a long time. I’m getting bored and am about to leave, when he gets in a hand. I can’t hear what he is saying because I have a college football game on TV. He goes all-in on the turn. If he hasn’t said what he has, this is tedious. If he has said what he has, that seems crazy reckless since his opponent could be watching. So, the choices are either tedious or crazy reckless. Which is better? Are those the only choices?
I watch for a while with the TV muted so I can hear what he is saying on his stream. He folds a bunch. Finally, in the BB he gets in a hand versus the SB. After the flop he bets, gets raised and folds. He doesn’t say what cards he had. That’s all I needed to know. I turn the sound back on my TV and leave the poker stream.

.........

Chatty MonkeyTiltGuy ... quick to scold ... quick to flirt with an avatar? ... quick to set a big chip stack on fire

Medium stakes tourney ($55 entry fee)

I go to table to observe tourney chip leader

Player scolds another player: “Don’t raise my blind. You punked my blind with A4. Nice turn. You hit the ace. Mr. Sneakypants, check the turn ace.”

To another female player, he writes, “You sexy lady.” Later when the female player wins a hand against someone else, he compliments her. He’s hitting on an avatar.

Table breaks. New table.

Same player has a huge stack of 40,000 chips and calls a really big UTG all-in for half stack with A7s and loses. Very next hand calls another UTG all-in with A7s and loses. Down to 3BBs. Well short of money. Seems to go on monkey tilt and keeps betting and keeps winning/getting people to fold. Up to 23,000 chips.

Goes all-in and types, “Please call.” Opponent folds and says made a big fold. MonkeyTiltGuy claims had AK and adds “wanted a call, double or out.”
SB w/A6 goes all-in, monkey tilt guy calls w/AQ. 6 on flop. MonkeyTiltGuy loses and is down to 3bbs.

Next hand goes all-in w/QJ and called by KJ and loses. Out of tourney. All happens in like 20 minutes

43 players to start, goes out in 14th, 7 get paid, $875 up top for first

……..

Spewy goes down talking

Spewy player who kept getting it in bad and winning finally gets knocked out. During the knock out hand the table is chatty.

Tablemate 1: lol ur crazy
Tablemate 2: Is (Spewy) a real player? Wins so many suspect hands.
Spewy: I'm the real deal
Tablemate 2: then you live by Luck!!
Spewy: Never surrender

And then Spewy immediately goes bust.

Tablemate 1: We killed the beast
Tablemate 2: Well done you guys
...............

Bounty envy ... It’s not the size of the ________ that counts

Head’s up of a 101-person bounty turbo tourney

TeenyTinyBounty: GG
BigBountyKing: same to you
TeenyTinyBounty: sorry my bounty is so small
BigBountyKing: LOL np

BigBountyKing’s bounty is 8.59
TeenyTinyBounty’s bounty is 0.75

TeenyTinyBounty comes from way behind and wins the tournament.

................

Kumbaya only lasts until a bad beat

MisterFriendly: Congratulations on making final table everybody. May the luckiest player win.
MissNice: Thanks. You too!!
MisterFriendly: TY
MissNice: YW
EyeRoller: so sweet
MisterFriendly: Yeah I mean we all in the money and apparently broke so let’s have fun with it
MissNice: Haha. Agreed!
EyeRoller (who now has come around to the positive mood of the extremely civil table): ya man
Shortly thereafter another player suffers a bad beat and is not happy. The time for kumbaya is over and the unlucky player writes ...
MisterFurious: Moron.

........

Player keeps rudely poking the bear and finally justice is served

I miss the lead up when I join new table but I infer that MindingHisOwnBusiness had a big stack, got too aggressive in pursuit of bounties and lost a bunch of chips.

MindingHisOwnBusiness: nh
PokingTheBear: Exactly what I said
PokingTheBear: You’re giving this tourney away. Six more to go (until the money)
MindingHisOwnBusiness: Mark my words, you'll have less bounties than me in the end (he has four times more bounties but half as many chips at the moment)
PokingTheBear: Doesn’t matter
MindingHisOwnBusiness: It does
PokingTheBear: Place in 1st or second and it does
PokingTheBear: Keep your own bounties in 1st
MindingHisOwnBusiness: That's not as easy
MindingHisOwnBusiness: Bounties along the way are the way to ensure you get paid
PokingTheBear: It is if you fold a lot and put your chips in when it matters
MindingHisOwnBusiness: (The table chip leader) can snatch your chips in one fell swoop
PokingTheBear: Can if I do not have the best hand
MindingHisOwnBusiness: Telling you ...
MindingHisOwnBusiness: ... yours is a precarious strategy

MindingHisOwnBusiness gets knocked out AJ vs AK two short of the money

MindingHisOwnBusiness: gggl
PokingTheBear: LOL. Told him. nh
PokingTheBear: AJ is terrible all in hand

Later a strong regular gets knocked out on a really bad beat, and PokingTheBear feels the need to needle the departing player.
PokingTheBear: LOL
Classy.

PokingTheBear gets eliminated in 7th place as his Kd-Kh gets cracked by 10c-8c when the flush gets there on the turn. Karma.

......

It’s easy to project confidence with quads ... Silence during the walk of shame out of the tournament

91-person tourney, final table is down to seven players remaining, the player who is dead last in chips writes, “Got u guys right where I want u.”

Three hands later he has KK, goes all in, gets called by A-4 suited and A-Qo

Board run out is Kc-6d-Qs-3h-Ks

Quads for Mr. Confident, who then writes, “Easy game.”

His A-J gets busted by A-7 when he is all in. He leaves without comment.

......

Way to kick a guy when he is down

Final table 6 handed
Small stack on btn goes all-in with A-A. Big blind table chip leader calls with 8-3o. Chip leader rivers a straight. Another player not in the hand writes, “lmao”

Really? How about a little compassion.

.........

Chat warrior finally gets someone to engage

ChatWarrior: That's what you get for trying to trap me
ChatWarrior: Lol
PlayerNotInHand: U talkin to me?
ChatWarrior: No
ChatWarrior: Apparently I'm talking to myself because you're the first person that's ever responded

......

Some people don’t deserve to be forgiven

FedUp: never said you were
FedUp: just that you typing that was very lame
Agitator: So does my lame comment mean that we're not best friends now?
FedUp (willing to be forgiving): Nah we can be.
FedUp: What’s up?
Agitator: Tell me how I can fix this. Anything. I don't want to lose you bro, you're so important to me. What if I give you my sister?

....

Don’t tap the fish tank

A massive fish is playing every hand. Doesn’t matter what two cards he has, he plays them and he plays them aggressively, insanely, stupidly. It’s what you see in fake money tourneys, but this is for real money. The problem is MassiveFish keeps getting there. Then he also has the ability to bluff with impunity since his stack is so massive compared to rest of table. Eventually, a tourney regular builds up a massive chip stack of his own, mostly by winning a couple of big pots versus MassiveFish. When they are the two tournament chip leaders a loooooong way from the money, all their chips go in the middle preflop. TourneyRegular has A-J suited. MassiveFish has 6-5o. The flop has a 6 and TourneyRegular never improves.

TourneyRegular: Clown show
MassiveFish: Thanks
TourneyRegular: You're a fish dumbass

......................

Justice at the poker table? Yes, sometimes it does occur

The hugely aggro final table chip leader punts it all off to the same player in two consecutive hands and is out in 8th place
PuntRecipient: Lol.
PlayerNotInHand: lol
PuntRecipient: That’s what he gets
PlayerNotInHand: A rare occurrence in this game

............

Say you are a newbie without saying you are a newbie

GuyWhoWonHand: Nh
Newbie: Not being funny but what does NH mean? I’ve saw it several times now in a poker chat lol

......

Filthy beat

Player, after delivering a really, really, really bad beat, rather than taking a chat box victory lap, speaks the truth.

AdmitsTheTruth: I feel nasty, gonna need a shower now

......

Talking chips

Five and six-handed in a medium/smallish buy-in tourney, a real loud mouth in the chat box has repeatedly shown his bluffs whenever he gets a fold. He is relentless with his commentary.

He types 16 consecutive comments since I started following the table before someone responds. I went to table to see how player who knocked me out was doing (not LoudMouth).

LoudMouth: Someone was supposed to shove all in preflop for me to double me up lol
LoudMouth: 3 hi bro, nice shove
LoudMouth: Like I said
LoudMouth: so card dead all tourney
LoudMouth: that AK suited looks playable to me
LoudMouth: yeah nice flop bud
LoudMouth: that desperation bet worked that time LOL
LoudMouth: I had 99s, but KQ offsuit was good on that flop
LoudMouth: Gotta show them bluffs if u want action
LoudMouth: can’t just bluff and expect to get called
LoudMouth: just 22 lol
LoudMouth: nice bet
LoudMouth: someone double me up so I can run away with this tourney
LoudMouth: catching up
LoudMouth: thanks
LoudMouth: was going to call that min raise with 24 offsuit LOL

And then someone responds. My God, don’t encourage him.

EarsBleeding: I wondered what it would be like to play with Martin Kabrhel. Now I feel like I know…
LoudMouth: who is that???
EarsBleeding: Look it up. That comment was fire.
AnotherPlayerAtTheTable: Lol

Unaware that he was the butt of a joke, LoudMouth goes back to nonstop chat box typing.

LoudMouth: At least I show my bluffs tho
LoudMouth: This is my 3rd final table in a row
EarsBleeding: NOT LIKE THAAAAAAT!!!
LoudMouth: and all I see is random players
LoudMouth: I have never seen any of u guys at any FT
LoudMouth: Except (one other player at the table), we were just on a FT together
LoudMouth: 😃
LoudMouth: lol RIP (after a player suffered a bad beat at hands of another player)
LoudMouth: Cool hand
LoudMouth: AT offsuit
LoudMouth: had no pair
LoudMouth: 6 hi nice bet LOL
LoudMouth: any 7, 8, 9 , T, J Q, K A is ahead of me LOL

Down to 4-handed
Down to 3 handed
LoudMouth: Looked like a safe flop for 44s (flopped a set of 4s vs KQ) (Very next hand loses to a set of 4s)

Gets it all in A-Jo vs K-K and rivers a straight to beat the Kings and writes
LoudMouth: ONE MORE DOUBLE UP PLEASE!
LoudMouth: LET ME RUN AWAY WITH THIS TOURNEY!!!

Makes a flush on turn and all 3 remaining players are even in chips

Calls big flop and turn bets and folds on river:
LoudMouth: Cool, the one hand that u will get me to fold
LoudMouth: KQ spades
LoudMouth: just too much bad history with that hand

Makes another flush
Wins monster pot A-9 vs 7-7, board is 9 high:

LoudMouth: Top pair
LoudMouth: top kicker
LoudMouth: learn to read a board

He is the massive chip leader afterward.

LoudMouth: u did all that bluffing just to get out played at the end of the day
LoudMouth: 6 hi
LoudMouth: nice bet
LoudMouth: KQ diamonds
LoudMouth: nice flop
LoudMouth: u should have shoved preflop
LoudMouth: I would have called u
LoudMouth: check your math on that one bud
LoudMouth: thats why I started the final table as the short stack
LoudMouth: but now look at me

Loses the massive chip lead when caught bluffing with 10-2o

Loses massive all-in pot with J-J vs A-K. Flop has A, turn has K. Now 3rd in chips. A distant 3rd

Doubles up AQ suited vs A-4, 2nd of 3

LoudMouth: 94 offsuit
LoudMouth: great bet

Doubles up QQ vs AJ suited, tied for chip lead
Knocks out guy just doubled up on when AJ vs KQ holds

LoudMouth: Now u want to play tight? lol
LoudMouth: excellent strategy
LoudMouth: Yeah nice try bud
LoudMouth: He was trying so hard
LoudMouth: that’s what is funny about it (Apparently offended that other guy who he just busted was playing back at him a lot)

Loses huge hand when his AJ loses to 54 suited when 54 makes a straight

Gets it in bad, makes a straight, still down 2-to-1 in chips
Is quiet head’s up
Takes chip lead. Is outplaying other guy. Running over him. Bluffing and showing a ton.

LoudMouth: Dang this hand is really that bad
LoudMouth: cool lol
LoudMouth: I'll just let u live

LoudMouth: Yeah I love to show u that hand

LoudMouth wins the tournament when his A-7 holds vs A-4
Truly an insufferable douchebag. Effective, dangerous player. Won the tourney, losing at life. Tempted to show his name, but I won’t.

Interestingly, when I was proofing this post I came across LoudMouth who was at The Final Table of an online tournament, grinding a short stack the whole time. Never got any traction and went out in fifth place. Interestingly, he did not type up a single comment in chat the entire time. I guess he only chirps when he has a ton of talking chips.

......

Sarcasm is not dead

There are 13 players left, 12 get paid, table chip leader is abusing the other players with non-stop opens.

BubbleAbuser: love it
BubbleAbuse: stone bubble, bitches!
SolidPlayer: he always attacks my blinds
BubbleAbuser: Yes, that's against the rules

Soon after the bubble bursts, BubbleAbuser continues to bet aggressively.

VictimOfTheAggression: Lil shiiiiittttttt
BubbleAbuser: me?
VictimOfTheAggression: Yes lol
BubbleAbuser: I had AA
VictimOfTheAggression: All good

Next hand, BubbleAbuser wins a big pot and shows AA
BubbleAbuser: AA again
BubbleAbuser: That's basically all I play

2026 WSOP dates announced ... sort of

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2025/12/2026-wsop-europe-schedule-released-new-home-new-dates-50239.htm

pokernews

2026 WSOP Europe Schedule Released: New Home, New Dates, and 15 Bracelet Events

"...the 2026 World Series of Poker dates have been confirmed. The Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas will be packed to the rafters from May 26 until July 15, 2026."

That's all that is released in the article. The start date and the end date of the series. So, not really helpful. Can't wait for full schedule to be released, so I can make my plans.

Back in action ... boo hoo, boo hoo, boo hoo ... It's time for an Ocean's 13

My short poker break is over. Let’s see if the run bad is over. No, that’s the wrong approach. After a little bit of time away from poker to clear my head, I am ready to bring a positive mindset to the online streets. Time for some run good. Yeah, that’s the right attitude. It’s my time to get hit by the deck. It will be glorious.

I play in three tournaments. I get pulverized in three tournaments. It was not glorious. Bust out hand of each tourney is below.

Tourney 1: After the turn, I am all-in. I have a pair of Aces. Villain has a pair of 10s. River 10.

Tourney 2: I have not played a single hand. Not exaggerating. Not one hand. Totally card dead. Blinds are 100/200. Five players limp. I have K-J in the big blind. Best hand I’ve seen by a wide, wide margin. Not a premium, but there is a lot of passive, dead money in the middle. I go all-in for 2,200. Four players fold and then table big stack (12,000 chips) calls with Q-6. Flop is 6-6-8.

Tourney 3: My Ac-Qc versus Jh-Jd. Flop is 9c-6h-2c. All the chips go in the middle. I have 15 outs. Any club, any Ace, any Queen will get the job done for me. It’s a coin flip. I have not been winning coin flips during the run bad. I miss the turn. River is a Js. The black Jack is the wrong suit. Villain rivered a set, which was unnecessary, but I guess that was run bad sending me a message.

So, now what? I don’t want to keep whining and telling bad beat stories in this thread. I don’t want to keep complaining that I can’t win coin flips. You probably (and by probably I mean definitely) don’t want to read these tales of woe over and over and over.

I think it’s time to stop writing for the time being. I’m going to keep playing online, but I think I’m running out of anything new to write about from the online streets. I think I should wait until I am playing live to start the thread back up again. There may be a late winter poker series I play in. Emphasis on “may.” I will definitely be playing for a couple weeks in WSOP 2026, and I will certainly write about that experience.

To quote the movie Ocean's Thirteen, "See you when I see you."