Sometimes in poker as in life you have a ‘what if' moment. A moment when your life changes direction based on something that may or may not have happened. Based on luck.
I had one such moment when I started out in poker. A friend told me about a great deal on pacific poker (now known as 888), in which they gave you $50 free with no withdrawal requirements. I thought it couldn't hurt to take a look but had never played any poker at all and didn't know the rules.
I got my $50 and sat straight at a table with $20 or so, I can't remember exactly. But I will never forget the hand. I looked down and had an ace! Two guys went all in and I called. Well I had an ace after all!! Now granted, my other card was a three and this helped me hit the straight and take down the pot. And then came my ‘what if' moment. The two guys went mental at me, calling me a fish and proceeding to tell me why I made such a bad call. To such an extent that I never made the same mistake again. I read lots, learnt lots and ended up making a fairly decent amount of money.
‘What if' those two guys hadn't berated me? Chances are I would have lost that money fairly quickly and never play poker again. Had I lost that first pot? Same result. And there in that moment, a couple of guys tapping the glass turned me into a poker player.
I have had another ‘what if' moment this weekend. I was on the wrong end of a streak that had me £150 down out of a total BR of £600. That is a fairly massive downswing for me, considering I play only £1 games at a time as a rule. This was £70 down on sky and £80 down on betfair. I had £10 left on sky. I put half that on Liverpool to win.
Then I put the other half on Tottenham. They scored the winner on 88 minutes. My last £5 won and that was my moment. I went on a winning streak on DoN games and took my BR up to £27. That same night, I came second in the BRM FR on party and scored some cash wins. Last night, a couple more wins at cash on party and then on to tonight, winning a £48 seat in a freeroll and taking cash rather than play the target game.
With that I have withdrawn all losses on Sky and left £5 to play with. Party has £50 on it and I have another £20 or so spread about some minor sites. This means my BR is £570 on skrill with another £75 on other sites. Well past my losses and nearly as high as my monthly target of £675 total. Had spurs lost, I would likely have lost the brm freeroll, and the resulting wins wouldn't have come.
Your ‘what if' moment will come. Take it with both hands and ride the waves!
If not you, who? If not now, when?
