Am I too nice?

Lots of thinking

This year has given me a lot to reflect upon. Recent experiences has made me question some of my principles and I want to share this with you as my last post of 2018. Something to think about and something to help guide me into the new year.

Am I too nice?

STORY ONE: I recently played in a cash game in Perth. (don't worry I will write a Perth review next week) There was an obviously drunk guy who didn't know what he was doing. He called an all in with a J high flush draw on a 6688 board. He called my preflop 3b with K2o and on a QQQ flop he called again when I over pot shoved with my pocket tens. He already rebought 5 times and I get aces in big blind. Someone raised to 7x, he called, button called, I made it 20x. Everyone folded and but he called. Flop came QJ7 rainbow I insta shoved effective 70x and flipped over my hand. He said he had a 7 in his hand but folded. I was being nice to him and gave up a 70bb profit (granted I might have lost the hand if it went to showdown but...) but instead I was yelled at by the floor man. I continued to watch everyone take advantage of the poor guy and he ended up losing about 800bb before security came and took him away.

More thinking

STORY TWO: In my visit to Sydney, I stayed at an Airbnb. The location was fine until it was night time and cockroaches came out to play. On my first night I killed about 20+ of them. If you're keen I got a video of that. On my second night I killed another 30+. I did not report to Airbnb, instead I told the owner to fix the problem and I would not complain about it. He came by to did a spray but it did not work. It was so bad, I was woken up one night by a cockroach crawling on my leg. I couldn't take it anymore and reported to Airbnb. The resolution was I would receive 50% refund of my booking. I accepted it, even wrote a very "toned down" review of the place, mentioning the issue but given the host credit that he tried and would fix the problem after my stay. Instead I got the host's review as being a "complicated guest, high maintenance". I don't think expecting to sleep without cockroaches on my body is being complicated nor high maintenance.

One of the 50+ cockroaches I killed at my Airbnb rental

STORY THREE: At this moment in time, I am being OWED about USD 75k and I can honestly tell you I have much less than that in my bank right now. Some of this debt are good but some I can tell you I do not expect to ever see the money again. I help people whenever I can. Despite not having a job and steady income, I help others and gave friends time to pay up. I am not rich by any means and to be honest I am struggling a bit at the moment. But sometimes I get scolded when I ask for my money back, or some "friends" can quickly forget about you when there's money owed. Yet in my heart I forgive them and even feel bad for them that they can be so cold and selfish.

God is still better than any artist

I am not a saint and I have made many mistakes in my life. I am not writing this to boast or to show off. I am indeed struggling with this question. But one of the principles I have is not to do to others what I wouldn't want done to myself. There are so many cash games that I had to stay on playing after winning a big pot because I don't want to hit and run, even if I don't know the people nor will I ever see them again. Because of this principle I probably lost a lot of money over time for just sticking around. Others may owe me, but when I owe someone I will go out of the way to get it paid back, even when I am struggling. When we were arrested for playing poker, I volunteered myself to be jailed for longer so my friends can be released earlier. I gave to charity when I had a winning month even when I had a losing year.

Am I too nice?

After lots of reflection and soul searching, my answer is NO. This is who I am and who I will continue to be. I believe in karma and even if I don't get rewarded, knowing I am doing what's right is reward enough. Let this post and you reading it be a witness to my future. One day when I look back on this, I hope I can say, karma is a generous bitch.