Winning!

Winner!

Geez it looks like I'm holding only $300.  Doesn't take much, huh?

Ever since I wrote that football post yesterday, I've had winning on my mind.  I've won 1st place in my league for the last three years and funny enough the name of the pool's been changed to "Don't Let Josie Win".  I'll be playing against a mass of people all out to get me.  That's not really all that unusual for me.  In fact it reminds me alot of Survive Donkey Island.  As we approached the latter half of the series it seemed like everyone wanted to take me out.  The other team wanted me out and make no mistake, most (all?) of my own team wanted me out too.  All that adversity - I was the one to beat, yet no one could.  (I won)  This is even a bigger feat when you factor in that it was such a social game and alot of the other players were close friends.  I certainly didn't have any friends playing.  Not one. So I started nuturing friendships like a mutha fucka.  Was I playing poker?  Sure.  Medicore poker at best, but what I was really doing was playing the players.  Any successful poker player will tell you poker is a game more about people than cards.  I made a deliberate decision to play the game aggressively and to shape it to my liking, keeping my opponents on edge and playing defense.  I also studied and theorized about every move and looked at it from every angle before making the right decision.  I picked my way through the landmines carefully, putting more time into that game than it was worth.   And you know what?  Mostly I heard stuff like "You're only winning cuz you're a cute girl".  I shiat you not.  Most of you were there; you know!

As I said, I put alot more time into that game than it was worth.  Especially since Full Tilt still has my winnings from that series.  (bastards!)  Why?  Because I REALLY wanted to win.

When I really want to win, I give it everyhing. That means I pull out all the stops.  Learn as much as possible, pay attention to every detail, none too small.  I may NOT win, but I'll give it everything this tired little brain has.

Ken's been thinking about (me) winning too.  Below is an excerpt from KenP's post yesterday about how I prepare for a tournament.

Even the worst player approaches the game to win. Not everyone approaches it to have fun. Some will maintain concentration. Put them all together and you stand your best chance. And most times that still isn’t good enough. But, even then there can be success of a sort and you need to avoid taking it and yourself too seriously to see that success.

Let's break this down, shall we?

Even the worst player approaches the game to win. Yeah, no shit.  I think what he's really saying is that I'm not the only one who wants to win.

Not everyone approaches it to have fun.  I'd go a step further to say that although some fun may be had in the process, NO ONE plays this size tournament for fun.

Some will maintain concentration. Put them all together and you stand your best chance. And most times that still isn’t good enough.  You can do it all and odds are you still won't win.  I disagree with "most times".

But, even then there can be success of a sort and you need to avoid taking it and yourself too seriously to see that success.  Bull shit! If you lose, there is still success? Um, no.  Avoid taking yourself too seriously so you can see it?  Again, no. I could be wrong but I think this is Ken's way of saying don't let success swell that big head of yours any further.  Wrong!  When I win, I'll be singing my own praises because I earned it.

Play smart.

Josie