Eric Rizen Lynch

One tough stretch

First off, I really hope everyone had a Merry Christmas (or a Happy Holiday if you have different religious beliefs). Mine was great being my first Christmas with a child, it definitely puts a different slant on things. He's spoiled half to death by everyone though so my living room is filled with all kinds of noisy toys.

I wish my poker game was going half as good. I was able to sneak away a little time and play between updates. I played Thurs night in 5 tournaments without cashing (but still playing well IMO) which brought me up to 20 straight tournaments without a cash. I can't complain being significantly up for the month overall, but for a person who cashes about 20% of the time, 20 tournaments can be a big stretch and be a bit demoralizing.

I didn't get down though, and Saturday night I got to play in a few of the later tournaments that had some overlay being Christmas Eve. I played in 5 of them, and did manage to cash at the FT of the Empire Happy Hour (took 5th for $800), but with only 70 players it didn't feel like a very big accomplishment. I did get to play another 5 tournaments last night, and it was quite brutal. I played GREAT poker, but some people made some horrific calls and got lucky.

Last night was the first time in a while I was steaming. I'm not going to share bad beat stories because that's against my nature. I should be happy when people like to get their money in against me as a 4 to 1 dog, and I'll gladly let them do so over and over again understanding that sometimes they will get lucky. Last night everyone got lucky and after getting near the money in 3 separate tournaments I bubbled them all.

At any rate, I've now cashed once in the last 30 tournaments. For those of you out there that maybe don't have the long term track record to fall back on like I do, it's not at all uncommon to go through dry stretches, no matter how good you are. Luckily I know I'm a winning player long term, so the down stretches don't bother me too much, although I did want to punt something last night.

Always remember, you can play perfect poker and still lose, and you can play horrible poker and still win. It's the nature of the game, and unfortunately while it can be maddening at times, as long as you know you're making the correct decisions, you'll be a winner long term.

-Rizen