Calm Before the Storm

... ok ... Before I illustrate what happens when arrogance, a false sense of skill, and bad luck collide, let me begin this post by sharing my furor about Starbucks raising (no pun intended) their price for Soy milk by over 100% !!

Is it not enough to pay ridiculous premiums for frothed milk, syrups and a few ounces of coffee? Are we not inconvenienced enough by having to wait up to 15 minutes for the servicing of this product? Must we absorb the costs of Soy commodity increases and inflated stock price?

I guess since I'm a raging addict whose sole source of nourishment in the morning comes courtesy of a Gay Starbucks Barista nearby, the answer is a painful "no". I'll have to chalk it up to having to earn another big blind an hour.

Preamble:

The streak factor in online tournaments requires some examination. Because the shuffle *appears* to produce such deliberately precise randomness, it's seemingly more difficult to "finish" someone on account of sensing that it's simply not their day.

In B&M poker rooms, when you sense a guy's having a bad session, or when it seems that you have the PIN code to a guy's ATM card, regardless of how few outs exist, you or someone else at the table can usually put him away. He might ask for a change of deck, dealer or underwear and it won't make a significant difference.

We've all been able to tap into this force from time to time; however, online, that randomness is impervious to manipulation, straddle or anticipation.

This has far reaching consequences, notable among them, my eventual demise in the last tournament. I attibute this to the aformentioned phenomenon of which ample illustration is forthcoming.