Be Crazy About…

There are two kinds of poker players in the world.  The first kind is the poker player who wins some and loses some, in the long run probably loses or breaks even, and plays for the fun and fellowship of it.  The second kind is the elite group of players whose skill has given them an edge on luck and they win in the long run.  While I haven’t met one of the 10% or so who belong to the latter group, I know many of the others who play for fun.  We all have something in common, whether we win or lose, we remember those crazy hands that got us there, and we love to talk about them.

My good friend Jeff plays poker, but since we live 41 miles away from each other we only play together (or against each other, I guess) about 5-6 times a year.   Though our friendship goes much deeper than poker, poker helps us keep connected, and when we are not playing against each other, we are usually complaining or boasting about our games against others.  These infrequent emails are our war stories, and far-fetched they sometimes are.

But honestly, we all do it, not just Jeff and I.  Sharing war stories is half the fun of social poker play.  I have two friends that I frequent the local Indian casinos with and usually we carpool.  The highlight of each trip is discussing our antics on the drive home.  We boast about the big wins and lick our wounds from the big losses, and finally decide if the night was worth it.  We usually decide affirmatively.

A whole magazine is dedicated to poker war stories, Card Player Magazine.  A free version is usually available at card rooms around the valley, so I pick it up when I can hoping to gain something out of reading it or, if not something of value, at least a moment or two of entertainment.  While these war stories are from the pros–that 10% elite group–they still carry the same vocabulary of my emails with Jeff and my conversations with my friends.  Terms like “he chased”, “sucked it out”, “got lucky”, “played it right”, “no regrets”, “trapped him”, “read him right/wrong” and “I’d do it again” are all over those pages.

And that is what makes poker fun, not just winning or losing, but breaking it down in the end.  War stories from a poker table are the prize that even the loser can win every time he plays.