LEt me preface this by stating that I'm not a fan of Vince Van Patten. I know it's his job on the WPT to babble, but he does take babble to an artform sometimes. Plus I can't even look at him without remembering his dorky jock role in the 1979 Ramones' Rock 'n' Roll High School movie - makes me giggle every single time.

But he has said something that stuck with me. A few weeks ago I was watching the WPT (don't even remember what episode it was, I was marking papers at the time), and there was a rookie who was limping on a really good hand. Well the really good hand turned to crap by the river, and the rookie lost. If he had come out with a bold bet, the marginal hand would likely have folded and that would be that. VVP's comment on that play was "timidly played, heavily paid".

And that's what happened to me last night at the WWdN #10 on Stars. I got to the table late (literally logging in while still in my coat, having run in the door seconds after the start time of 8:30), and lo and behold, I'm sitting with Joanne and Brent Stacks, two players who intimidate the crap out of me (insert a Wayne and Garth "I'm not worthy" moment here). And the rest of the table made it pretty apparent that at that moment in time, I was outclassed. In my defense, I'd spent the evening at parent/teacher interviews, and I was grumpy and tired and second-guessing myself at every level (love the kids but some of the parents, well......).

So I played tight. Or I thought I was. In retrospect I was playing timid, and more than a bit stupid. The only time I pushed was when I got the HAMMER, out of position, and ended up losing half my chips to Joanne when she pushed back. I managed to hang in for a bit, but then realized my heart really wasn't in it, and pulled the plug on the life support by the time we hit the fifth blind level. Ended up 31 of 67.

Spent the rest of the night watching Gilmore Girls and Monty Python while knitting. Much better for my frame of mind.