In the moment

I made at least two horrible mistakes during the first hand I played tonight, and it cost me on every street. That's not the way I wanted to start after taking the weekend off because of this nagging cold.

Lucky for me, the cards have no memory. Each hand is an individual event with no dependence on what has come before.

When each new hand is dealt, it's a new beginning. All sins are forgiven; all mistakes are erased. Any errors in the past can be corrected from this moment forward.

Only you, your opponents, your bankroll and your hand histories have any lasting remembrance of what came before.

Tilt is a futile expression of past mistakes affecting future decisions.

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Bill Rini recently posted about the poker wisdom of Tommy Angelo. It's some pretty interesting stuff, especially when you go through his contributions to the 2+2 forums.

In one of Angelo's posts, he asks what a player should do with AA in the big blind after everyone limps -- a question similar to what I wrote about in my last post.

I was satisfied to read that his conclusion aligned with the idea that a large preflop raise is appropriate in these situations.

Then I delved into Angelo's poker articles, which I found to be insightful and well-written. One article is a classic -- his tale of the happy folder. I had linked to that article previously but didn't realize Angelo was the author.

I also enjoyed "the worst play ever." I'm looking forward to reading more.

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After finishing tonight's session, I was reminded of a post from Human Head written a while back. He wrote about the danger of expectations at the table -- about how they can blind your decision-making once you're no longer playing the hand in front of you.

The cards have no expectation. They show no favoritism for one player over another. The poker gods don't hate you any more than they hate everyone else.

Hope and expectation are results-oriented goals. Focus on the task at hand rather than the outcome you want to come of it.