John Tabatabai

	I’m convinced that someone has got a voodoo doll of me they’re sticking pins into

After narrowly missing out on a bracelet in last year’s World Series of Poker Europe Main Event, I ventured to Las Vegas at the start of June with a bundle of dreams and a parcel full of high hopes packed tightly into my luggage. And given that the legal age for all things exciting in Vegas is 21, there would be no 18-year-old girls blocking my path to glory this time.

Sadly, however, I’ve spent much of my time walking around my hotel room with double-thick slippers fastened to my feet and a sense of intrepidation. Given my current run of form, luck, or whatever you want to call it, I’m convinced I must have cracked a mirror in my hotel room.

Either that or someone has got a voodoo doll of me they’re sticking pins into. I’m convinced that these are the only possible explanations for the woeful misfortune I’ve had to endure so far.

I know that there’s almost nothing more boring than a poker player on a bad run, but given that I’ve been given column inches to talk about my poker life, it’s your misfortune that you will have to read it this month.

So what can I say? I’ve lost every session so far. The cash tables have been as welcoming as flatulence in a crowded lift. I came third on the starting table of the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout, which comprised fellow Betfair pro Sorel Mizzi, Roy Winston, Alex Jacob and a couple of Full Tilt pros.

I played two $1,000 events at the Bellagio, finishing 19th (the top 18 got paid) in the first, and coming ninth for $2,000 in the second. And when I entered the $2,000 at the same casino I ran my 5-7 on a 6-8-9 flop into the apparently unbeatable Q-Q!

Silver lining I am, however, a man of meagre optimism and I refuse to allow you to absorb only doom and gloom from this meandering moan. On the bright side my hotel is very nice, I hear it’s quite sunny in the UK and that England are doing pretty well in Euro 2008. (Sorry guys, best of luck in 2012!)

There’s also a silver lining to the dark clouds, and something that should be remembered at all times, by all poker players. Poker is, and will always be, a mathematical game. If you’re an 80 percent favourite it means that two times out of 10 you should expect to take a bad beat.

The poker gods, in all their wisdom, do not account for the size or importance of a hand, and as such you never quite know when the eerie hands of fate are going to reach around your neck and try to strangle the life out of you. What I do know, however, is that I have pretty much absorbed as much bad luck as is possible in my first couple of weeks, and I should be due a good run over the next few weeks.

It’s no surprise that the best poker players don’t win every tournament, simply because the cumulative odds of each hand holding up are very low, even when you’re getting your money in ahead every time. With more and more great players and increasing aggression, variance must play a bigger part in the game as players look to exploit marginal situations.

I write this with three weeks of the WSOP to go and a mounting hotel bill. Yes, I’m hacked off, and yes, my wallet is feeling decidedly slim, but I’m not ready to give up. There’s plenty of action to be had and I’m still in search of a golden bracelet.

Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, ‘I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm.’ Well, as I sit at my computer, surrounded by teary tissues, I feel a fury and determination ignite inside me: this worm will not be turned!

John Tabatabai was runner-up in the 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event and is sponsored by Betfair Poker.