in this episode of "The Nuts"

speaking of cards! So this one guy sits down next to me. He was a natural cooler - I hated that guy! My stack started dwindling and he was winning the hands that I should've won - although I can't recall if I would've played it the same way, he was just a calling machine with a couple bluffs that I wasn't in any position to out-bluff.

He relates an occasion of a funeral he recently attended, a friend who died at 40 from drinking. He fucked his liver irrefutably, I guess is the translation. I asked how many years and he goes on about there's ways of drinking and just drinking. Just tell me how many fuckin years he was drinking! I'm fuming inside, and I always have to piss when I'm nervous. But while I'm taking care of that, I tell myself, "Champions climb back up." A few hands later, luck keeps me in the game ( runner runner miracle), and then bam! I get pocket rockets. Short handed, I try not to chase them away, slightly raising. The wwek before my nerves were bad and I raised 16 times the pot. This game, I had been caught bluffing a few times and I hoped that was fresh on their minds. So I get two callers, one being my cooler. I hit my trips and hope no one noticed the twitch in my neck that felt like it shook my entire head. Both check to me, and I dont see any flush or straight danger on the flop so most likely I'll have the nuts all the way through, barring some runner runner catastrophe. They say only a donkey bets the nuts, but I thought if I checked, they would think I'm being sneaky so I took a risk and acted a donkey, a slight donkey. I think the first to act called my bet and the cooler went all in. I didn't have enough to just flat call him - or else it would be too obvious I was trying to invite the first guy in as well - so I went all -in, too, and we were heads up.

He proudly flipped over his two pair with the A8 and I flipped over my hand and the table went wild. He caught a full house on the river, but I already had the only hand that could beat him, and I said "Send it." and knocked his ass out.

How sweet it is! That night I came out on top. They'll be gunning for me next week. But it was a real boost to my confidence. I tried to make some adjustments to my style. I was at a low point.