Playing a little and enjoying it more.

I have played in the Brit Blogger the past 2 weeks. Yesterday it was like being in a Tuck Fard Tourney. All my Canadian friends were there. I'll be playing in the weekly Tuck Fard tourney this evening. My friend BamBam has threatened to pay my entry if I don't show up, haha.

Whatever disenchantment I am feeling for online poker these, it is not a money problem. I have not spent more money than the entertainment value for the games I play. On the other hand, I do seem to be spending more time than the allotted entertainment value for the games I play. In other words, I am spending too much fawkin time on the computer.

For those of us who are predisposed to a self destructive fondness for drugs and alcohol, gambling can too have its dark side. When I first started playing in a local home game in college, the idea was that there was a certain amount of money that I would have spent out in a bar, or on a date, etc. I took the minimum amount and set that aside each week for poker nite. This was the late 70's early 80's, and $20 to $30 a week was no small sum for me. I was in college for the first time then. (six years at the College of Charleston- almost 3 semester's worth of credit before I threw in the towel). I never missed a rent check, never missed a bill, etc. I always have had the discipline to pay the obligations before playing with what was left. Though I did have a room-mate who lost his tuition money playing Acey-Ducey (a game I learned quickly to avoid). Even during my drug induced, drunken, debauched, and degenerate days in my mid to late 20's, I always paid my bills. I didn't always dress so nice, but I paid my bills.

I did not have anyone to account to for my time. . .other than my boss, and he got my allotted weekly quota. I still played cards and gambled in those days, but Budweiser, cocaine and tequila were my main family, friends, and acquaintances. Cards was a time killer. I did have a penchant for the parley cards, but anything I won went to dope and booze. Now that I am older, mature (I hesitate to claim this character flaw), and married, the time factors into quality time with my spouse. Now that I run my own small business, the time runs into time spent making the business run. Now that my father has passed and my mother is on her own, the time runs into the things that she needs help from me.

I might not be lucky at cards, but in life, I am the luckiest man I know. I have a life that is second to none. . . a great family that I could not have hand chosen better, a wonderful wife, who hand chose me, and a job where the only drawback is I work for a prick (I only have myself to blame). Hell, on further review I might be the luckiest bastard in the world at cards, too. As stupid as I play sometimes, I still find joy and friendship at a card table.



Thanks for stoppin by. Ya'll come back now, ya hear.