Aria 1pm Tournament #3: the curse of hesh
fellow poker players,
i've been playing the Aria afternoon $125 daily tournament for almost six months. approximately 150 total plays of which 125 have been at the Aria.
throughout this time i have honed my game to point where i only donkey 1.5 times for every ten plays (down from 3.5 donkeys per 10). my goal is to get to 0.5 donkeys (without resorting to ultra tight play).
throughout the course of my run (nirvana for a man just turned 50) i have learned two key lessons:
1) i am a streaky player. three times i have gone four straight weeks (25 plays) without getting in the money. then i seem to go on a tear. once i got to the final table four days out of six and another time i got to the final table five straight days (apparently tying an Aria record). it is one of those deals where when you are winning you can almost will top pockets, great flops, folds on your bluffs and most importantly "fades." what i notice while i am winning is that there is a rhythm to the game akin to a baseball player on a hot hitting streak.
2) never tempt fate. preceding each of my cold streaks a friend of mine in new york city messaged me on facebook asking for $100. each time i told him i would send it but then balked (afraid to taint my modest bankroll). BIG MISTAKE. hesh is a mystical figure who lives by couch surfing in the city and boroughs of new york. he is one of those guys who has an incredible fine art eye and knows the myriad of scenes that comprise the greatness of new york city. oh yeah, and he looks like jesus christ (he is a jew).
its not so much about my spirituality or religiosity but rather about LUCK. as a gambler i now know better than to suck into bad luck. so i hope all of you poker players out there learn from my hard won experience. never temp lady luck even if she comes in the form a dude named hesh.
its been four weeks since i didn't pay hesh's tithe and in that period (20 plays) my stack has not risen above 30% of buy in. my hope is that this missive or time passed will finely reverse the "curse of hesh."
good luck,
mj luvvy
I too suffer from the same curse. I have played 50 noon tournaments this year. Not at the Aria. I have cashed 8 times and am up a few hundred dollars for the year. I think there is a term for this. No it is not luck. Nor is it a curse. Its called variance. If you play 100 tournaments ( even if you are a very good player ) you will probable cash 15 to 20 percent of the time. From my example above it works out to 16 percent. Think of all the times you sit down and get 0 cards to play with. Then you get blinded off. I too have cashed three times in a row. It means whatever you want it to mean. I wish you good luck in all your tournaments at the Aria. I wish for myself I could run better.
During your 125 plays how many times have you won?
I always say, "when it rains, it pours". I'm a firm believer that most things in life are streaky....especially poker! When you're winning, the game is easy, hands hold up, and confidence is high. When losing, you just know that one of your opponents outs will always fall on the river, flips will lose, etc....and nothing goes right. It's always difficult to tell if luck powers the confidence, or if confidence powers the luck & good decisions.
Either way, playing tournaments only is pretty tough on the mind...minutes of glory between miles of misery.
@GaminDeBuci
i figure 15 wins out of 100 plays. win for me is cashing in top 3 on a chop.
outright first place wins 6 (most chips or outright win heads up).
@JonFriedberg
well said....