Second Best

While the desire of every champion is to win, there will come times in everyone's life when he must settle for second best.

Having arrived at hat level many, many times, I believe I can speak up for people who finish second best. While it isn't first place, second best is better than no finish at all.

When I finished second in a tournament in Lake Elsinore, CA., I wheeped, wailed and gnashed my teeth. I would still be angry with the person who beat me out of first place if...well...she had been less attractive. She was above the barometer in the looks department and she and I enjoyed a memorable evening on the shores of Lake Elsinore.

Second best whether you are a beer or champagne drinker means softening the blow by sipping beer or champagne. That may turn out to be the best part of a tournament. You can learn a lot about poker and your adversaries in the aftermath of battle. They will reveal a lot about their strategy over a beer or glass of wine. While it may seem unseemly, all is fair in love, war or poker.

Some poker players have big leaks. If you can spot that leak, it's money in your pocket.

I like to reward myself after finishing well in a tournament. You'll probably find me at the bar tipping cocktail waitresses while I regale them with stories about the tournament.

It is fun to compare wit with your poker adversaries. You will find many commonalities of spirit with them and it will enhance your playability. A playability factor is important in getting invited to the best poker games, you know.

People feel sorry for second best and will often offer to buy you a drink. Accept the offer, of course, but don't overdo it.

The best thing about tournaments is that the management pays off 10 percent of the participants. So you could end up second, third fourth and even farther down the line and still make a profit.

No poker player ever achieves a perfect status. Maybe it's preferable to keep winding up second or third while trying to make it to that perfection. You can do better in tournaments as second best rather than competing for such honors in a cash game.

As your chips and chances vanish once you've made the final table, your confidence that you will be in the money rises. Each time a person is knocked out, your cash outlay rises. It doesn't get much better than that.

No, Kenny Rogers made a lot of sense in his road song, 'The Gambler.' You've got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them, and know when to run. You have to learn not to count your money in the middle of a hand. Once the hand is over and you're heading for the door, that's the time to count the cash.

Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.

(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).