This column is all about winning with a good attitude and losing with a bad one. I don't claim to understand why some of the following cases exist; I just know they do exist.
Time and place: a World Series of Poker seven-card stud tournament in 1998. I'm staking John Bonetti, who is leading the event when he takes a bad beat and shouts across the room to me, "Phil, I can't believe it; I had aces up and they hit the two-outer on me. Three nines, humph, I just can't believe how unlucky I am." After hearing this, I think, "Uh-oh, John has $65,000 in front of him with 22 players left (at least double the average stack), but I have a strong feeling he won't even make the final 15. And furthermore, I firmly believe he will start with the best hand repeatedly, only to lose pot after pot. In other words, I don't think he will go on tilt; I think he will be exactly as he says he is: unlucky." Why would I feel this way when I have one of the premier players in the game at the controls with a ton of chips?
It is the poisonous whining and negativity that I hear coming from my best friend, Bono. (I'm not picking on him, because I've been the worst when it comes to whining!) I try to settle him down and tell him, "You're in great shape, John. You can't be running that badly; you have $65,000 in front of you." But, alas, John continues to be negative. I have read this script many times before, and it always plays out the same way. Now, I expect Bono to start with aces or kings and lose to someone who started with a pair a notch or two worse than his. Of course, that's exactly what happens; John loses another big pot with kings when his opponent makes queens up on the river.
Just random occurrence, you say? Perhaps, but why then does it happen over and over again to both John and me? You think I'm crazy, that there is no such thing as attitude influencing results. Really? Ask Norman Vincent Peale (The Power of Positive Thinking), Tony Robbins (Awakening the Giant Within), Wayne Dyer (There's a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem), Og Mandino, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen (Dare to Win, Chicken Soup for the Soul), and Goethe, to name a few, what they think.
I have done the same thing myself a lot more often than John Bonetti. I will suddenly start whining about being unlucky, and whammo, bye-bye chips. It's amazing how often that happens to me. It's almost like a law of nature or something. When I start whining at the table about being unlucky, I'm in for some really bad luck. When I throw negative energy out there, complaining about my luck and berating other players, watch out, Phil! As Bono tells me, "Phil, you're crying with three loaves of bread under each arm."
At the 2001 WSOP championship event, many players who know me well were surprised when I didn't say one word when Phil Gordon beat me out of a $1.1 million pot with his 6-6 vs. my 9-9 all in before the flop. The reason I didn't go ballistic or even raise an eyebrow over the worst beat of my life was that I knew I couldn't afford to bring any negative energy to that moment in time – the WSOP's final event! Although I didn't end up winning it, I did recoup the $550,000 I lost to Gordon when my A-K held up against Carlos Mortensen's A
10 for about a $1 million pot.
Am I saying I believe that a positive attitude will help me win more tournaments? Yes, I am. For some reason, I've been talking and writing about all of the bad beats I've taken in key pots the last three years. Wayne Dyer says, "What you think about expands." If that's true, then perhaps I brought the bad beats upon myself! So, why not dwell on all of the big pots I've won in my life when I was lucky, including when my A-A beat someone else's J-J, and vice versa?
Do you think it was a good break for me that my A-10 suited beat Don Zewin's 10-10 and Steve Lott's 2-2 when Don and Steve were all in before the flop with four players left in the 1989 WSOP big one? Was A-6-5 a good flop? You bet it was! That pot enabled me to lock up at least second place. That pot enabled me to play Johnny Chan heads up for all of the marbles with a nice chip lead. That pot enabled me to achieve my dream of winning the WSOP. Would anyone ever talk about me if I hadn't won that pot, and that tournament?
You should hear my friend John Bonetti talk on the phone now; it's all positive, not one single word of negativity. The steady stream of positive comments I heard him make after he had won two tournaments in a row was incredible! It wasn't hard for me to believe, then, when he told me, "Four tournaments in a row for Bono!" (He recently won four in a row every other Friday in Louisiana.)
I hope you enjoyed this Hand of the Week. Good luck playing your hands this week.
Editor's note: Phil Hellmuth can often be found playing $4-$8 limit hold'em at UltimateBet.com, table "philhellmuth." To learn more about Phil or to read more Hand of the Week columns, go to PhilHellmuth.com.
