It finally got down to me and Daylan last night. I limped home with seven dollars, which meant a net loss of three for myself and Tina. Daylan behaved admirably. I threw cards on the other hand. I was smiling when I did it, though. I did it when Daylan beat my second boat with his second four of a kind. Thank goodness he’s not the most astute bettor in the world, otherwise my seven dollars would have gone home with him.

I shouldn't have gone and played poker last night. I felt like shit. I had a headache, I was hot at first, and then cold. I had to sit on the end of the table, and they used crappy plastic cards that Nathan had gotten that you could barely read because they had an off-white background instead of a bright white background. I felt lucky to make it out even. Actually, I am a little proud that I made it out even. Still, it goes against my credo to only play when I have the best of it. I guess I felt like I was due for a bad night, and talked myself into playing when things were stacked against me and to see if I could get out as cheaply as possible, to keep my karma flowing. It's hard to go seven winning nights in a row. I might as well throw in a break-even night. Now maybe I can have six more winning sessions in a row.

Of course, I have a lot of theories on poker. My number one theory here lately, and one that seems to be winning me some money, is to bet an amount of money that is precisely enough so that you don't have to give a shit whether your opponents call or fold. If you have a hand that will win seventy percent of the time, bet enough that they'll fold thirty percent of the time, and call the other seventy percent of the time. That way you win more forty-nine percent of the time, get folded to thirty percent of the time, and lose only 21 percent of the time. That cuts a lot of the bullshit out of it. The only thing is when you are 100% guaranteed to win, and have to figure out exactly enough to raise to get maximum value, without going over the magical, make-him-fold number. I was doing my best to draw out a call when I had that nut flush against Larry. I was trying to act nervous like I was bluffing. I was trying to make sudden movements. It was crazy. I usually don't do much acting. I find I'm not very good at it, as the last few years have been spent nullifying any emotional response at the table one way or the other.