This past Saturday, I decided to play a mini-deep stack tourney at a local casino. It was a $100 buy-in, good structure, and my bankroll can afford the loss. Unfortunately, by the time I got there, all the seats were taken, so I decided to jump into the 1/2 no limit cash game.

Long story short, I played outside my bankroll and lost. It’s days like this when I doubt my love for the game. Because losing sucks! I treat poker like I do any venture. The object is to make money. But, like in any business, its not all rainbows and butterflies. There will be days when you lose.

The key is not to put all your eggs in one basket. Why shouldn’t I put all my eggs in one basket you ask? Because eggs are delicate, fragile. If I drop the basket and my eggs break, what I am to eat? 😀

Same goes with my poker bankroll. No matter how good I think I am, I’m still susceptible to tilting and getting unlucky, which is a big part of the game. Same goes for life. If I can’t afford that beautiful $100,000 car, $1,000,000 home or $300 shoes, I shouldn’t buy them.

I imagine the feelings of stress, doubt and inadequacy could be avoided if I play within my bankroll. Same goes for life. When it comes down to it, I believe poker and life is about constantly reaching higher while doing so in a intelligent manner. Living outside the means just leads to unnecessary stress and pain. Thank you poker for yet another humble lesson.

My buddies and I stroll into Horseshoe Casino in Hammond on Christmas morning around 3a.m. Its our first annual tradition. No, I’m joking; we usually hit up the boat after Christmas Eve dinner. We were only there about 3 hours, I played the 1/2 no limit hold’em, and bought in for $200. I quickly lost. I got into a situation where I was supposed to win, but simply lost.

***The next few paragraphs might not make much sense unless you play poker. Try to understand them, but it’s not necessary if you don’t.***

Within 10 minutes of starting my session, I look down at A5 of hearts (h) in early position six-handed. I open the action to $6. Middle position, dealer, small blind and big blind calls. We go to the flop with $30. Flop is 10h Qh 6c. Small blind and big blind checks, I bet $15, middle position folds, button calls, the blinds fold. $60 in pot, and turn is a Jh. I complete my Ace high flush, and I’m focused on how to get max value from my presumed nut hand. I think I bet $35, button calls. $130 in pot and river is a blank. I check, button bets $35, I raise to $70, he pushes all-in, I snap and he shows Kh-9h for the straight flush. Out of the remaining 47 cards in the deck, he needed one card and one card only to stack me. He hit it, and I lost $200.

In similar situations where we both make strong flushes on the turn, I will win $200 6 out of 7 times for a revenue of $1,200. 1 of the 7 times I’m beat and will lose $200. Overall, that’s a net profit of $1,000 for me. Still, it hurts when you lose.

***End of poker talk***

Point is, life is not always fair. You could be ahead, you mathematically should win, but you don’t. You work hard, wait for the perfect spots, people make mistakes, they outdraw you, and you lose.

Nonetheless, if you play to the best of your ability, you will come up on top in the long run. The poker gods give, and the poker gods take. We go through peaks and valleys, trials and errors, highs and lows. You just have to take your bad beats, keep your head high and just keep swimming.

I think the worst thing you can do in poker, and life in general, is quit when you’re down. Everyone gets down; losing and being in the gutter is just a mathematical and universal truth. But, if you stay down, you will never be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

So thank you poker for teaching me to always do my best. Through the statistics of the game, I’ve learned to better comprehend the timeless truth, “always do your best and things will work out.”

Last night was a new journey for me. It was the first time I was financially backed to play poker. That means I can gamble without risking my own money. If I lose, my investor loses. If I win, the investor takes 50 percent of the profit.

I think it’s a fair system, and it allows me to play and get better. Its also an ego booster to know someone believes in my abilities. Being backed is nice, since you don’t have to stress about losing money you can not afford to lose; nonetheless, losing money that is not yours is also stressful.

We were playing a dealers choice, with mostly consisted of texas hold’em and omaha, with a little bit of pineapple thrown into the mix. The blinds were $1, and my backer gave me a $100 to start.

Early on, I was able to build my stack up to $150 until I ran into some bad luck and went down to $40. Then I ran into some fortune and built it up to $260. I eventually would give some back and walked out with $200. My backer and I split the profit, and I walked away with $50.

Staying calm and collected when losing is important. Anything that can help is useful. For me, that is eating properly. That is why I enjoy this oatmeal breakfast. This breakfast will make sure you have enough fiber, which is important when you’re making a decision that can make or break your night. You want to have enough fiber so you are not thinking about going to the bathroom at the same time.

Nerves, backers, fiber, risk, loss and profit. They are all important parts of poker. In this game, everything came together nicely, where both my backer and I were able to profit.