So Sick

This will be short. Just finished writing a column for USA Today for the July 6th issue and thought I’d let y’all know what exactly happened to me in the main event.
Never have I played worse. Comically bad. My bust out hand is just so fundamentally bad I’d be hard pressed to come up with any kind of logical argument for the way I played it: Player limps next to the button for 200 I call on button with 33. The small blind makes it 2000, the first limper calls, and I call. Now, if I had 50k in this spot, I could see some value in trying to flop a set, but after the call I was left with 6175… yup, I called. Just awful, especially in a three way pot. Flop comes 10-10-7 and the small blind bets 4200, other guy folds. I tank forever until I finally decide to call a clock on myself! I put it all in, he has QQ- bye. Let’s backtrack a little and try and figure out what went wrong. All WSOP I didn’t shake hands, avoided getting sick, and felt good the whole way. The night before play I was a bit sniffly so I took a Tylenol Cold before bed. Woke up ok, but about 10 minutes later my nose started dripping like a faucet. I took another one and figured I’d be fine.
I get down there and find out I’m at the featured table, yet my nose won’t stop dripping. Someone throws me a Claritin- I take it. I assume it’s a bad mix or something, I was so drowsy, woozy, and sneezy I couldn’t think straight at all. Had an easy table, but the most simple poker concepts were lost on me. I was sloppy, weak, loose, and just bad. I wasn’t lucky either, missing a few open ended straight draws in spots, but the truth is, if I was even half “there” I would have easily won both those pots with a bluff. I got home and hit the bed and then it started to just get worse. Head pounding harder, coughing, body aches, etc. I’m still not any better. There was no chance I was going to make it through the day in the condition I was in, no chance at all. I think subconsciously I knew that, and just went spew crazy. I canceled all of my interviews and activities. I’m still in bed, and if I don’t feel any better tomorrow I’m going to the hospital or at least having a doctor come by the house. Dang it, terrible timing, but at this point I just want to feel better. The sting of being knocked out pales in comparison to the head pounding and body aches.
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