Ray knew better than to feel good. The very idea of playing cash games professionally hinged on the ability to ignore individual wins and losses. No one hand mattered, no one day ever mattered. Everything had to be transient, everything was noise; the game was the only signal, the way his choices fared against theoretical perfection the only meaningful measure. Besides, if you start allowing yourself to feel happy after a good hand, how do you stop yourself from feeling terrible after a big loss? And if Ray was still far from perfect when it came to ignoring the sadness of losing, he was a very accomplished professional at denying himself the pleasure of winning.