A little thing called perspective...

No one's ever said poker players as a group are the most rationally thinking people in the world. Anyone who plays a card game for a living has to have just a little bit of weird in them, of that I am convinced.

With that said, most players are kind, normal people who are fun to be around. Except at one key time. The dreaded bad beat.

I recently starting playing MTT's online, en masse. I've been playing them alot, and one thing I noticed, outside of the complete lack of any level of skill or comprehension of poker in the slightest by about 99.99% of players, is "how bad I run" in them.

In fairness(and this is where perspective comes in), I've only been at it for a week, and I've gotten deep in 3 MTT's so far, making final two tables 3 times and final table twice.

In the latest one, I lost with 77 vs JJ on a 5/5/6/J/7 board early in the MTT(1200 players), and was down to 180 chips with blinds at 50/100. Fast forward a pretty amazing 4 hours, and we're final 13 and I'm 2nd in chips. That's when I get all in with the CL preflop, AA vs QQ, and he spikes a Q on the turn. Shit happens.

It's funny to me looking back now, at the perspective I've gained. At the time that happened, I was pretty pissed, complaining at how bad I run at key moments in MTT's like that.

So with that said, let me present the real definition of running bad :

In my last update, I talked about my dad going into the hospital for what would be the last time. That ended last Sunday, when he passed away. It sucked, clearly. It tore a hole through me, but with that said, I "dealt" with it, it was somewhat of a relief to see him put out of the agony he was in the last week or so of his life...so in that I found something I could take solace in, and things were okay.

Monday, the day after he passed away, we received a phone call from Orillia where my grandmother(mom's side) lives, she had suffered a severe stroke and was in the hospital. Well...isn't that fucking fun. So, naturally, we went up there to visit and we tended to that, mom, while dealing with losing dad, was now dealing with that.

Tuesday, the day after that, we got a call back from the hospital, from my grandmother, who was speaking, so that was amazing since on Monday when we went up she couldn't speak. Things were looking up.

Wednesday, on the dad of the visitation for my dad, we got a call back from the hospital again, saying they were transporting grandma to the hospital in Barrie because she needed emergency surgery. Oh, that sucks alot.

Thursday, we had the funeral for dad. We heard back from the hospital that things were okay with grandma, but the operation hadn't fully taken, they were going to have to do another one in a few days once she built up the strength again.

Skip ahead a few days...and we come to the latest in a string of "Fuck You"'s directed right at me and my family.

Today(Sunday), I am writing this in a notepad file on my computer...instead of in the blogger site like I normally do? Why? Because I can't log on the internet.

Why? Well, today we had a really bad storm and my house was hit by lightning. So far the losses are 3 TV's, 2 cable boxes and my modem/home phone(although those'll be replaced by the cable company), a portable air conditioner, a microwave, our dryer, a freezer and the garage door(electronically opened and closed).

So ya, looking back now at AA vs QQ, for what was a collosal chip lead with 12 left in a tourney with $6k for first place...seems so petty.

It's all a matter of perspective. Next time a bad beat twists you up, keep in mind : It could be alot worse.

Trust me.