I love playing poker, real poker. Nothing bothers me more than getting invited to a “dealer calls” home game and the host calls a game like Baseball, Kings and Little Men, or even Five Card Draw with sevens, threes and one-eyed jacks wild. In fact, I always ask first, does your home game use wild cards? If the answer is yes, I don’t play. I was once in a discussion with another card player in which he tried to tell me how much fun game with wild cards are, and how much action it creates. For me, it just adds another element of luck that hurts the skill players.
You see, I really enjoy the skill of the game. The last time I played the game Kings and Little Men, I was dealt four queens, Now if you don’t know this game, it is a guts style game in which Kings and your lowest card is wild. You get 5 cards, decide if you are in or out (If you lose, you match the pot – no betting), and then you can change any cards you want with the deck. So I get dealt a king, 2 queens and of course my lowest card is automatically wild. 4 queen! I commit to the hand and ask for 1 card. The only way my hand could improve is to get a fifth queen. This could happen if I was dealt another queen, a king, or my low card pairs up. One other person also stays in. He asks for 4 cards. He kept an ace. My hand didn’t improve but his did. He got a king, a jack and two three. The jack was the same suit as his ace (I don’t remember which). So, he ended up with a Royal Flush, beating my four of a kind. $25 dollars out the window. Fuck that game!
I enjoy PLAYING poker with people who know how to play poker. If I get to a Texas Hold ‘em tournament and sit down at a table with a bunch of new players, my heart just sinks. I know, unless I get real unlucky, I’ll take their chips, but that’s not the point. I want to play poker. I want the chess game that is Texas Hold’em. I have a friend whom is a few good player (For a home game player, like me), and a love sitting down at a table with him. I know I’m going to have to think, to put puzzle pieces together. When I win a game with him, or people like his, I know I’ve accomplished something.
Of course, at this point, I am not playing for my livelihood. That might be a different story.
And there is the skill of playing bad players. I remember it look me a while to learn to adjust me game to be able to beat them, which is basically, play your cards, don’t be too tricky and bet big. Inexperienced players don’t have enough sense to fold. Of course, this depends on how they play. Sometimes I’ve played new players and they will fold to any raise, others seem to call any raise. Figure them out and play accordingly.
Anyway, poker for me is more for personal growth that a way to build a fortune. Hopefully, one day, I’ll be able to do both.
