Mama Didn't Say There Be Days Like This

Regardless of what people believe, I'm sure we all have a hidden sense that nudges us -- and sometimes kicks us in the butt -- to let us know we should not be doing something. Disregard the naysayers! We do have some kind of silent voice going on in our space; it's the reason we "feel" something mentally and not via our tactile methods.

I'm thinking of this guy, Mike, who lost a goodly sum of money last week when he went out to play poker after his senses told him that staying home would be a better option.

His day started off badly. The phone woke him up at 10 a.m. It was his wife asking him to look up the Triple A phone number. Somebody creamed the back fender of their Honda in the parking lot at the mall and part of the body was pressing against the wheel.

Mike's one of those fellows who can't go back to sleep after being awakened, even though he tries, so he decided to get a cup of coffee, get dressed and maybe go out and play some poker.

He poured the coffee down the drain because he likes his Joe with plenty of cream and there wasn't enough to bring the color to ecru. Usually it takes three cups to get his motor running smoothly.

And naturally, since his wife was stuck at the mall with their car, he couldn't go out to play poker; he'd have to go online. Three hours later he had exhausted his online account. It wasn't a lot of money -- just enough to mess around with when it was too late, too early, too cold or too hot to go traipsing out into the Vegas environs.

When his wife returned with the mechanic's bill for ripping off the body parts that were interfering with the movement of the back wheel of their car, Mike was already on tilt. He didn't even care that she had pieces of fender in the back seat.

He skulked around the house for a while, picked at some leftovers in the refrigerator, and then took off for his favorite poker room.

Except for the usual frustrating tangle of traffic that clogs both surface streets and freeways since the rest of the world discovered Las Vegas, nothing negative happened to Mike, except that he forgot to stop at the bank to withdraw some cash. It irritates him when he has to pay extra to get money out of the casino ATMs but he did it anyway -- three times.

He hadn't been gone from home more than four hours and he was technically broke, having reached the limit he was allowed to ask the unforgiving machine for.

It was just one of those days for Mike, the kind of day that makes you wonder why you got out of bed at all. Of course Mike could remember why he got out of bed two hours before his usual time. And he could remember all the negative things that had happened throughout the remainder of the day, right up to the point when he looked at the damage to his car and shook his head.

Any one of the incidents should have made him wonder if his mind was in a good enough place. Could he depend on it to help him make good judgment calls at the table?

Probably not.

We really do have days when Murphy's Law seems to rule.

These are the times you should refrain from playing poker -- or any other game that's important to you. These are the times it takes nerves, heart and patience to keep your entire world from unraveling.