Now, as per my rules, this will NOT be a bad beat story, however, a story about taking bad beats. A fine line to tread to be sure, but at the same time, I'm the writer, I make the rules, and that also means knowing when I can break them in the poker room.

That having been said, it's always been my theory that the way to avoid bad beats, is to make sure you don't take any in the first place. And I've done pretty well in the almost two years I've been playing holding to this strategy for the most part. Yesterday, it all came to a crashing halt, as all that avoidance finally caught up with me, as I took three. In the same tournament. The last one busted me out. Coupled with the one I took three weeks ago, that's like four bad beats in a month, which is actually more than I've taken in my entire professional poker playing lifetime. Pretty incredible, huh?

You might be asking at this time, how have I avoided taking my fair share of bad beats? Without giving away too much of my playing style, which I have dubbed, Beyond Aggressively Tight™ or, BAT™ for short, it simply means that I go all in a little more than the average guy. In a poker tournament, most that would go against me with a worse hand, will simply fold, as they don't want to risk all their chips.

Of course, this playing style annoys the hell out of Phil Hellmuth Jr, so, I must be doing something right ...

72 and sunny in Redondo Beach.

Next time, I'll talk about poker. Be there. Aloha.

"Matches Malone"

Editor's note: Matches Malone has been writing for us for a couple years now, and you can read his blog notes at PokerAllStar.com

Note: All News and Press Release information on the pages of PokerAllStar.com is cited from public sources on the internet. Articles appearing on PokerAllStar.com are written by contributing authors, and the views and opinions expressed are those of the author only.