DUBLIN BELLYBUSTERS

February 10th, 1996: the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue beat Russian Chess Grandmaster Gary Kasparov for the first time.
February 10th, 2009: LAPPIN gets torn a new asshole by his Full Tilt opponents as he loses a 4-figure sum for the first time.

I usually love to set new personal records. This latest one, however, is nothing to write home (or indeed a blog?) about. According to Sharkscope, today is my new 'WORST DAY EVER' as I dumped $1163 during a 7-hour and 38 game session between midnight and 7am. My previous worst day was December 10th '08 when I lost $931 in 57 games, followed closely by December 18th '08 when I lost $882 in 49 games.

Sickeningly, the session could have been super-profitable:
- I came 13th in an FTOPS satellite where 12 got seats.
- I made 5 45-player Final Tables (3 of the 69ers), coming 9th, 8th, 8th, 7th and 6th. In four of these I had better than average stacks when the FT began.
- I had a 10th and two 11ths in 45s.
- I made a deep run in the 50/50, coming 42nd of 1300, getting a lousy $150 for my troubles!
- I probably shipped $100 or more to Paddy 'Dr Fill Good' McAllister in random side bet/prop bet/last-longer/pick the colour of the next 11 flops/who will win the next hand/who will bubble/who will get to a 20K stack first/'how many fingers am I holding up?' action!

Curiously, I'm not too blue. I'm okay with the idea of 4-figure bad days because I've been playing higher stakes the last 3 months and there have been way more 4-figure good days as a result. Poker thresholds are always going to be pushed. As you move up, it's just something you have to get used to. (I am reminded of Jennifer Harman's story about the first time she lost a million dollars in a session.)

Kasparov rebounded over the next five games against Deep Blue, winning three and drawing two, to soundly 'pwn' the machine over the series. I have the opportunity to salvage the day, possibly saving it from its 'Worst Day Ever' status if I manage to make a couple of hundred this evening before midnight.

Leave a Reply