LAPC Day One: Bad Luck

I heard this Social Distortion song "Bad Luck" for the first time on the radio the other day driving to Commerce.

Some people like to gamble
But you, you always lose
Some people like to rock 'n' roll
You're always singin' the blues
You gotta nasty disposition
No one really knows the reason why
You gotta bad, bad reputation
Gonna hang your head down and cry

Chorus
You got bad, bad luck
Bad, bad luck
You got bad, bad luck
Bad, bad luck

I listened to this song about five times during the first day of the LA Poker Classic $10k main event. We're always talking and thinking about how important it is to stay positive in poker. It's absolutely crucial. So listening to songs like this over and over and bemoaning my bad luck wouldn't seem to be beneficial.

I rarely get good hands or favorable situations anymore playing poker. Today I didn't have aces, kings, a set, a flush, or a straight in 12 hours of play. And it's not like I wasn't playing many hands. The idea is, if I got bad, bad luck, then I am going to have to outplay my way into the chips. I am going to have to make some huge moves and some great calls and thin value bets and basically just own everyone since I won't be getting anything in terms of cards.

I made a couple huge bluffs early in the tournament today, and they are the reason I am still in. One was against a good young player named Tom Koral, who folded KJ on the river on a board of J43K4 when I had 75. It was a monster move that I don't usually make. At the time I didn't need the pot, but I sure needed it at the end of the day because I had complete shit the whole way and lost a ridiculous pot with Q9 against QJ after I bet a flop of 932 and a jack hit the turn. I finished the day with 20,400 (we started with 20k) and a spring in my step. I think I may have started to turn a corner here today, and will be looking forward to the next tournament no matter the result of this one.