MATH Recap, and One Thing I Love About Poker

71 boys and girls came out for the latest Mondays at the Hoy tournament on full tilt, creating a $1704 prize pool with once again well over $500 paying out to the last man standing.

This week saw four bloggers and four non-bloggers cracking the top eight ITM positions on the night, with the big money going to Dave who outlasted blonkament newcomer zackklemm, another of the Lucko crew, in a long heads-up match before finally securing his first ever Hoy title as well as the coveted BBT3 Tournament of Champions seat on Monday evening. Here are all of the cashers from this week's Mondays at the Hoy:

8. $59.64 willwonka
7. $59.64 ANIguy
6. $93.72 Schaubs
5. $136.32 katiemother
4. $187.44 PokerBrian322
3. $247.08 Chippy McStacks
2. $357.84 zackklemm
1. $562.32 PokahDave

And here is your updated 2008 MATH moneyboard, including this week's results:

1. Pirate Wes $959
2. columbo $928
3. astin $900
4. Breeze81 $825
5. lucko21 $650
6. dwal78 $597
7. corron10 $594
8. ChipyMcStacks $563
9. PokahDave $562
10. Tripjax $553
11. Roberto551 $545
12. fuel55 $512
13. surflexus $488
14. pureprophet $484
15. zeroluck001 $476
15. Jordan $476
17. tilt_away $461
18. TuscaloosaJohn $423
19. twoblackaces $409
20. Loretta8 $389
21. zackklemm $358
22. bayne_s $291
23. jmathewson_III $274
24. numbbono $261
25. Miami Don $224
26. Donkey Shortz $215
27. katiemother $203
27. VinNay $203
29. DaBag $202
29. Byron $202
31. recessrampage $198
32. PokerBrian322 $187
33. willwonka $185
33. mattazuma $185
35. buckhoya $150
35. Mike Maloney $150
37. ANIguy $149
38. iam23skidoo $144
39. BuddyDank $142
40. chitwood $127
41. cubanlinks $120
42. LJ $119
43. kevin_with_AK $106
44. BamBamCan $95
44. thepokergrind $95
46. Schaubs $92
47. bartonf $89
48. HotPants29 $74
49. Hoyazo $67
50. scottmc $63
50. jamyhawk $63
52. CheckinMyAA $62
53. PirateLawyer $60
54. DonkeyPuncher74 $56
54. RaisingCayne $56
56. pokerdad13 $55
56. waffles $55
58. jeciimd $52
58. zeroluck001 $52
60. AltronIV $47

Congratulations out to Dave for the big win, and to our four new cashers and four repeat cashers for 2008, including Dave and Chippy now in the top 10 on the current moneyboard.

So last night as I missed out on the Hoy to watch the Yankees smack down on the Rays from the third row of the stadium right behind home plate, I was thinking. About my poker game, and about how interesting and difficult it is to cope with running bad, immediately following upon a nice stretch of running really, really well. I was talking to a few of you on the girly last night about it when I got back in time to watch the second half of the Hoy -- when you're running well, it is almost impossible to imagine ever not doing well at this game. You're getting dealt cards, you're hitting flops, making draws on the turn and river. It's all coming to you and of course you're playing all these great hands like a champion and getting paid off. Running hot is so fucking great, so indescribably fun like that, that I find myself taking my time when I am running hot to constantly remind myself that it won't always be like this, and for me to try my damnedest to remember this feeling for the inevitable time not too far from right now when I will once again be running cold and find myself longing for the good old days.

But it is running cold that highlights for me one of the coolest aspects of this game. Coldest, maybe, is even a better term. Because when I'm running bad, poker life is just the total opposite of what I was describing above. It seems that no matter what I do I simply cannot build up a stack. I get no cards and every time I shove with shit, I'm suddenly getting called and beaten. If I do happen to suck out on someone on the flop, before I know it the river brings the resuck and I am back on the rail once again. And the craziest part is, I run bad for a little while, and then I start downright playing bad as a result. And I mean sometimes willingly, knowingly, just playing bad poker.

This is the aspect of being a regular poker player that just fascinates me the most, and ultimately one of the main things that keeps me coming back to this addiction habit hobby I have enjoyed so much over the past few years. As bad as being on tilt and playing bad and knowing that I'm playing bad is, I still like the feeling. I actually like it. I crave it. At the end of the day, poker is just about the only thing I know that can ever give me that feeling of hopelessness, that challenge to just make it through the night eeking out a tiny profit on the day.

See, at work, I am basically the same arrogant prick you read about here every day. I am really great at my job, and sure I guess from time to time something might upset me a little bit at work, but for the most part I just do my job and do it very well. Sure the lawyer on the other side of a negotiation can be a whiny little bitch and make my life more difficult than it should be. Yeah I sometimes have clients within my own company who bitch and moan so much that they can really put a damper on my minute-to-minute enjoyment at the office. But truth be told, there is literally nothing at work that can possibly bug me as much as I am bugged most nights that I play poker, because "random bad luck" plays almost no role whatsoever in my daily comings and goings in the office. I am basically always "on my game" when I am working, and little things might unsettle me a tad here and there, but I'm never "running bad" as a lawyer for weeks and weeks on end. It hasn't happened for hours on end. My job is simply not susceptible to that kind of work variance, if you will, like poker is so much subject to.

Similarly, in my life itself unrelated to poker, yeah my friends might piss me off from time to time, and sure my family drives me fuckin crazy at least as much as the next guy, etc. But once again, nothing really ever puts me on life tilt to the degree that taking three bad beats a night for a week can do to my poker game. Nothing outside of the world of poker even comes close, when it comes right down to it. Poker has a unique ability, a unique position in my life, of being the only thing that can basically turn my brain and my confidence on its head, and leave me feeling like a beaten man, someone who just cannot win a large percentage of the time.

And the sick thing is, I love it. I love that there is something on god's green earth that can make me feel that way. Yeah the feeling itself is gross, I don't deny that, but just having something that can reduce me as close to the quivering blob of protoplasm as anything out there, it is exciting in its own way, as much as it is unnerving. I can easily see where someone who constantly feels flustered, hopeless, beaten down at work might not want to come home and deal with the bad turns (pun intended) and constant variables that poker regularly throws your way. I'm not the least bit surprised that someone with tons of personal problems at home or deep-seeded issues with one's parents or children would not be looking to invite poker into his or her life as well, with all the beatdowns and suckouts and long runs of poor play and even poorer results. But for me, poker provides the one constant place for me to be reminded that I am human, that I am very much not infalliable, and in fact that sometimes, I can do just the right thing and still get a dick shoved in my ear as a result.

For me, that feeling actually works. It feels right. And strangely enough, sometimes I think it keeps me coming back more than just about anything else about this game.

Well, that and the mobneys. Lots and lots and lots of mobneys.

Skills Series HORSE tonight at 9:30pm ET on full tilt as the BBT3 rolls on. I will definitely be there and I am expecting to final table this bitchsnot tonight. I deserve at least one good run in the Skills event before the BBT3 is over, don't I? Oh and don't forget the Blowdog tournament at 9pm ET either, if that's how you roll.