One Mistake

For two fifteen hour days in the biggest poker tournament of his life, Jimmy had played perfectly.  He was already thinking about his chip count for the next morning’s start when the director announced the last hand of the night.  Folding would be just fine with Jimmy, eager to get some rest, but he looked down at pocket tens in middle position and felt compelled to raise.  The only stack bigger than his called from the button and when Jimmy made a set of tens on the flop, he never saw the other guy’s set of jacks coming.  

A salesman worked for ten years at the same company and was a leading candidate to be promoted.  After meeting a young, female intern one morning and typing what he considered a light hearted email to a male co-worker about her looks, he accidentally sent it to the entire office staff.  His boss had no choice but to fire him the next day.  

A university president spent twenty years creating programs, wooing financial donors, expanding reach and resources for her students and faculty.  She covered up one scandal for fear of the damage it would do to her school’s standing.  When the same scandal made national news five years later and reporters revealed her actions, the board of trustees forced her to resign.

Exhausted and upset with himself for playing too aggressively with middle set against a bigger stack, Jimmy did the only thing he could think to do: he went to sleep and registered for a new tournament the next day.