Don't feel guilty about winning. Ever. from Ansky. 18 February 2008, 1:01.

I have always thought it strange when people say "sorry" after laying a bad beat on someone. You aren't sorry, don't pretend you are. I think somehow there has been a culture created in poker that a dollar earned with good equity is somehow better than a dollar earned with bad equity. The same people who say sorry when they hit a bad beat, are probably the same people who don't show their friends the bad beats they put on other people, and who whine and cry about how bad they run when they run bad. I have had a number of insane downswings, and I am sure I bitched about running bad. But what you will never see me do, is somehow try to avoid showing hands where I got lucky or where I coolered my opponent. To prove this point here are two ridiculously sick bad beats I put on someone today. Both times I played my hand as good as I could have played them, but happened to be very unlikely I was up against monsters both times (but both times won anyway ).

booyah:

PokerStars Game #15365695852: Hold'em No Limit ($25/$50) - 2008/02/18 - 01:23:16 (ET)
Table 'Penelope' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 5: takechip ($10965 in chips)
Seat 6: supernova9 ($6022 in chips)
takechip: posts small blind $25
supernova9: posts big blind $50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to supernova9 [Kc Qs]
takechip: raises $100 to $150
supernova9: raises $400 to $550
takechip: calls $400
*** FLOP *** [Ks 8d 2h]
supernova9: checks
takechip: bets $750
supernova9: calls $750
*** TURN *** [Ks 8d 2h] [Qd]
supernova9: checks
takechip: bets $1675
supernova9: raises $3047 to $4722 and is all-in
takechip: calls $3047
*** RIVER *** [Ks 8d 2h Qd] [Qh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
supernova9: shows [Kc Qs] (a full house, Queens full of Kings)
takechip: mucks hand
supernova9 collected $12043 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $12044 | Rake $1
Board [Ks 8d 2h Qd Qh]
Seat 5: takechip (button) (small blind) mucked [2s 2c]
Seat 6: supernova9 (big blind) showed [Kc Qs] and won ($12043) with a full house, Queens full of Kings

and booyah #2:
PokerStars Game #15365450032: Hold'em No Limit ($25/$50) - 2008/02/18 - 01:05:59 (ET)
Table 'Mekbuda' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 5: takechip ($7224 in chips)
Seat 6: supernova9 ($5000 in chips)
takechip: posts small blind $25
supernova9: posts big blind $50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to supernova9 [7h Kh]
takechip: raises $100 to $150
supernova9: calls $100
*** FLOP *** [6h 5c 5h]
supernova9: bets $250
takechip: raises $500 to $750
supernova9: calls $500
*** TURN *** [6h 5c 5h] [Kc]
supernova9: checks
takechip: bets $1050
supernova9: calls $1050
*** RIVER *** [6h 5c 5h Kc] [Kd]
supernova9: checks
takechip: bets $5274 and is all-in
supernova9: calls $3050 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
takechip: shows [6d 6s] (a full house, Sixes full of Kings)
supernova9: shows [7h Kh] (a full house, Kings full of Fives)
supernova9 collected $9999 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $10000 | Rake $1
Board [6h 5c 5h Kc Kd]
Seat 5: takechip (button) (small blind) showed [6d 6s] and lost with a full house, Sixes full of Kings
Seat 6: supernova9 (big blind) showed [7h Kh] and won ($9999) with a full house, Kings full of Fives

Yes I got lucky. Yes it's ok to be happy and guilt free about sucking out like a motherfucker.

Overall feb has been pretty swingy, but I am doin well again. I already had a 100k downswing (thats number 2 on the year I believe...). I am becoming fairly numb to the swings of this game. 25/50 has been my regular game for like 6 months now, and I am having more fun playing poker than I ever have before. Pretty much my whole "career" as a poker player I have felt like at every stake I was playing I was buildin my roll to play a higher stake. Right now I really just want to focus on beating up 25/50 for the sake of beating up 25/50.

I leave for LA on Tuesday, so I am already feeling excited/ can't wait to get out there.

GL in life and in your poker games.
- Dani "Lucksack" Stern.