Some of the esteemed poker-bloggeratti have popularized the phrase "kicked in the junk", denoting taking a shot to the package, or a blow in general - maybe to your chipstack or your sense of emotional well-being. I took a couple of humbling ones this weekend myself. I woke up early Saturday morning with some pain in my abdomen, thought I was having a muscle spasm. Within 15 minutes I was on the floor, wondering how to get myself into the car so my wife could drive me to the ER. Turns out I was passing a kidney stone. For those of you who haven't had the misfortune to have one, it feels like someone has jammed a red-hot spear from just under your 9th rib out through the front above your groin. Oh, and the spear has hooks on it. And they twisted the spear. The ER doctor told me that women who have experienced both passing a stone and childbirth are generally split between which is worse. My ex-Navy Seal Irish Catholic father-in-law said his hurt worse than getting shot. Fun times.
What has this got to do with poker? Well, we've all taken those shots. This last weekend I slowplayed a set of 6's I flopped on a 6A6 board (checking from the BB) - got all in with it on a rag turn and was called (you see it coming, right?) I figured the caller for an A - well they had two and slowplayed them. Youch! That shock of seeing the rockets flip over was similar to the feeling when I hit the floor Saturday AM. The CT scan also showed that I've got two more stones sitting like little jagged pellets of pain, waiting to come down the pipe and kick my junk from the inside - and similarly, there are bad beats and expert plays waiting out there around the tables biding their time to come 'round at last and smack us into the dirt of humility.
I've thought about that a bit and researched my options. For the kidney stones I can pursue medical options, but they all involve a fair bit of collateral damage to tissues I hold dear. Alternatively, I can take some herbal blends that can help the stones to dissolve in the kidney, and pass in much smaller chunks. (TMI, I know - but if any of you have read Pauly's post about prop bets, this shouldn't bother you at all) Or, I can just continue on blithely like before, and hope that I die before the next pellet drops.
You see the parallels, I hope - in poker, if we get kicked in the junk, we have options in how to respond. We can just curse the lucky SOB, rant in the chat box and then go buy-in on another table. Or we could see if there might have been a way to prevent the beat - and since there often is, continue our education. One thing is for sure, the kicks are going to keep on a'comin', in life and in poker. If we prepare now, perhaps we can lessen the agony later.
What has this got to do with poker? Well, we've all taken those shots. This last weekend I slowplayed a set of 6's I flopped on a 6A6 board (checking from the BB) - got all in with it on a rag turn and was called (you see it coming, right?) I figured the caller for an A - well they had two and slowplayed them. Youch! That shock of seeing the rockets flip over was similar to the feeling when I hit the floor Saturday AM. The CT scan also showed that I've got two more stones sitting like little jagged pellets of pain, waiting to come down the pipe and kick my junk from the inside - and similarly, there are bad beats and expert plays waiting out there around the tables biding their time to come 'round at last and smack us into the dirt of humility.
I've thought about that a bit and researched my options. For the kidney stones I can pursue medical options, but they all involve a fair bit of collateral damage to tissues I hold dear. Alternatively, I can take some herbal blends that can help the stones to dissolve in the kidney, and pass in much smaller chunks. (TMI, I know - but if any of you have read Pauly's post about prop bets, this shouldn't bother you at all) Or, I can just continue on blithely like before, and hope that I die before the next pellet drops.
You see the parallels, I hope - in poker, if we get kicked in the junk, we have options in how to respond. We can just curse the lucky SOB, rant in the chat box and then go buy-in on another table. Or we could see if there might have been a way to prevent the beat - and since there often is, continue our education. One thing is for sure, the kicks are going to keep on a'comin', in life and in poker. If we prepare now, perhaps we can lessen the agony later.
posted by Sparky | 10:13 AM
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