Genesis 1:1
In no small part due to a steady decline in job satisfaction, I've afforded myself some time to incomplete a peruse of the massive volumes of poker scripture that has become poker blogdom. This is a world it seems comprised of would-be writers, born-again with the infectious Poker spirit spreading the holy Poker word URL by URL and no-limt rebuy after another. This virus is immune to bankruptcy, love, sickness, loss, ambition, et al., replicating itself in a looping round trip from mind to body, expanding in breadth and rabid intensity at each pass. An invisible virus, it directs and enables its hosts to vie obsessively for a rich and/or famous lifestyle based on the outcome of a card game (arguably) rooted in the fickle moods of chance -- perfect place for me to park my skeptical, envious and satirical commentary!!
After reading so many threads of dialogue, and pages of blogs, its plain to see that were people as passionate, reflectively driven and tireless about their careers as they are about poker, the level of productivity and competence in this country would be unrivaled. Perhaps this is more a function of people having abandoned their true calling, and/or settled for the ever toxic enslavement of the steady pay check, or the secure confines of that song Dolly made famous. But wait... Could so many people's true calling be Poker? I doubt it. I think it's a classic application of that axiom which professes the "ends justifying the means". It's not Poker that the masses love, but those glamorous trappings for which everyone strives without pause: flexibility, travel, easy money, cash, excess, self-management (or the illusion thereof), freedom, and oh, did I already say easy money? I'll be exploring the concept of 'easy money' in greater detail later as it is a subject matter which simmers dangerously within me.
I would like to throw my proverbial chips onto the felt. I too wish to send Ms. Alarm W. Clock packing, compose a witty and self-righteous f-u resignation letter to "the man", hire a PA not yet gripped by Poker to manage my blog and other "creative interests", contract my mother full-time to prepare and deliver ethnic lunch-time delicacies, find a good manicurist, nutritionist and yoga instructor, purchase result-oriented tracking software, buy an additional GB of memory and upgrade my PDA -- oh wait, I may not need that since I have a PA, but then again, she may call in sick), and then finally spend the rest of my days and nights check-raising my financial aspirations to one big glorious blind an hour.
I am from the old school of Poker wisdom. I believe in the three-tier pyramid of skill: Weak, Average and Great. "In between, there you are not", would say the old Jedi. You are as good as your worst habit makes you. I believe that a great player will always have his way against a weak player. I believe however, that a good player is a coin flip or worst against that same weak player. I believe that there is a shamefully infinite number of weak and average players alike who share, circulate, feed and sustain the same float of currency among each other, periodically losing a large portion to an occasional shark bite, but more regularly loosing a smaller but all too steady portion to the "Cost Of Doing Business" (CODB).
The CODB in casinos include but aren't limited to the rake, cocktail/dealer tips, impulsive wagers made at, and in transit to and from the casino, trade magazines and books, and other like expenditures; at home and online, the rake is omnipresent at a rate far more encroaching than in the casinos; at home, impulsive gambles yield to impulsive online shopping excursions ("I wonder what a titanium plated, 1000 count chip case might fetch on ebay?") or irrational call option purchases on MGG stock; fuel and car expenses morph into money-transfer and spiked utility expenses, technology upgrades ("I think I'm about ready for that metallic blue Alienware laptop"), and social costs whose repercussions can never quite be quantified (T.W.S. - twitching weirdo syndrome).
To me, those at the top of the Poker pyramid share in common a trifecta gift of instinct, anticipation, and luck which as a set, consistently elude the arsenal of most of the weak and average players.
A great player won't need cards to beat a weak player, whereas an average player will almost always need to rely on a good string of cards and/or draws to do likewise. As we've all heard before, you don't play the cards, you play the man. And though the legions of average and weak hacks ultimately clicking and/or riffling their way into financial ruin understand this premise, they don't truly live it.
Great players have a knack of bending the immutable laws of mathematics at the most critical crossroads which weaker players attribute to trickery or well lubricated horseshoes. Weak and average player have a knack at story telling, and spotting the lowest fee generating ATM.
To a great player, luck is a factor - an impassive consideration; luck to an average player is pure essential influence. An average or weak player will use bad luck as an excuse. A great player will use it as a challenge. A great player once told me that bad luck is unavoidable. He said that bad luck was just like traffic: Might take you a few longer frustrating hours to get home, but eventually, you get there. And great players get home year after year. Weak and average players are the source of those traffic-causing delays year after year.
Many have said that the top players are no more than a strong syndicate, bound together by tenure, (perhaps collusion), experience, mutual interest and silent wealthy benefactors . We'll see.
There's currently such a swell in Poker right now that it's hard to know where it will lead -- sponsorship, commissions, movies, documentaries, museums, leagues, etc.
You know it's center court when the church is spreading a 20$ Tuesday night limit Hold'em tournament to raise money. Go to a college campus any night of the weak and 2:1 says you'll find a nightly Poker game already in progress, or a gaggle of girls deciding between starting a voyeur site or a quick OMAHA freeze-out session. Hold'em excellence or JLO forever...? "Hmm... I think I'll take the former", utters Mr. Armageddon-buster with his best Lawrence Olivier impression.
Show me anyone who calls himself a Poker player and I'll show you someone discretely setting up a TIVO season's pass to TILT. It's a craze alright. Hundreds, if not thousands of aspiring souls wanting to fully immerse themselves in a culture which provides a multi-dimensional high speed trip, emitting an exhilarating breath of fresh life, adrenalin-charged intellectual stimulation, and a forum of readership for whom to chronicle the whole volatile ride until it hits celebrity, or the place where it all started. And I'm willing to jump in and gamble that it won't be at this desk at this keyboard minimizing and maximizing the screen every few minutes.......
First stop, Casino Arizona.
After reading so many threads of dialogue, and pages of blogs, its plain to see that were people as passionate, reflectively driven and tireless about their careers as they are about poker, the level of productivity and competence in this country would be unrivaled. Perhaps this is more a function of people having abandoned their true calling, and/or settled for the ever toxic enslavement of the steady pay check, or the secure confines of that song Dolly made famous. But wait... Could so many people's true calling be Poker? I doubt it. I think it's a classic application of that axiom which professes the "ends justifying the means". It's not Poker that the masses love, but those glamorous trappings for which everyone strives without pause: flexibility, travel, easy money, cash, excess, self-management (or the illusion thereof), freedom, and oh, did I already say easy money? I'll be exploring the concept of 'easy money' in greater detail later as it is a subject matter which simmers dangerously within me.
I would like to throw my proverbial chips onto the felt. I too wish to send Ms. Alarm W. Clock packing, compose a witty and self-righteous f-u resignation letter to "the man", hire a PA not yet gripped by Poker to manage my blog and other "creative interests", contract my mother full-time to prepare and deliver ethnic lunch-time delicacies, find a good manicurist, nutritionist and yoga instructor, purchase result-oriented tracking software, buy an additional GB of memory and upgrade my PDA -- oh wait, I may not need that since I have a PA, but then again, she may call in sick), and then finally spend the rest of my days and nights check-raising my financial aspirations to one big glorious blind an hour.
I am from the old school of Poker wisdom. I believe in the three-tier pyramid of skill: Weak, Average and Great. "In between, there you are not", would say the old Jedi. You are as good as your worst habit makes you. I believe that a great player will always have his way against a weak player. I believe however, that a good player is a coin flip or worst against that same weak player. I believe that there is a shamefully infinite number of weak and average players alike who share, circulate, feed and sustain the same float of currency among each other, periodically losing a large portion to an occasional shark bite, but more regularly loosing a smaller but all too steady portion to the "Cost Of Doing Business" (CODB).
The CODB in casinos include but aren't limited to the rake, cocktail/dealer tips, impulsive wagers made at, and in transit to and from the casino, trade magazines and books, and other like expenditures; at home and online, the rake is omnipresent at a rate far more encroaching than in the casinos; at home, impulsive gambles yield to impulsive online shopping excursions ("I wonder what a titanium plated, 1000 count chip case might fetch on ebay?") or irrational call option purchases on MGG stock; fuel and car expenses morph into money-transfer and spiked utility expenses, technology upgrades ("I think I'm about ready for that metallic blue Alienware laptop"), and social costs whose repercussions can never quite be quantified (T.W.S. - twitching weirdo syndrome).
To me, those at the top of the Poker pyramid share in common a trifecta gift of instinct, anticipation, and luck which as a set, consistently elude the arsenal of most of the weak and average players.
A great player won't need cards to beat a weak player, whereas an average player will almost always need to rely on a good string of cards and/or draws to do likewise. As we've all heard before, you don't play the cards, you play the man. And though the legions of average and weak hacks ultimately clicking and/or riffling their way into financial ruin understand this premise, they don't truly live it.
Great players have a knack of bending the immutable laws of mathematics at the most critical crossroads which weaker players attribute to trickery or well lubricated horseshoes. Weak and average player have a knack at story telling, and spotting the lowest fee generating ATM.
To a great player, luck is a factor - an impassive consideration; luck to an average player is pure essential influence. An average or weak player will use bad luck as an excuse. A great player will use it as a challenge. A great player once told me that bad luck is unavoidable. He said that bad luck was just like traffic: Might take you a few longer frustrating hours to get home, but eventually, you get there. And great players get home year after year. Weak and average players are the source of those traffic-causing delays year after year.
Many have said that the top players are no more than a strong syndicate, bound together by tenure, (perhaps collusion), experience, mutual interest and silent wealthy benefactors . We'll see.
There's currently such a swell in Poker right now that it's hard to know where it will lead -- sponsorship, commissions, movies, documentaries, museums, leagues, etc.
You know it's center court when the church is spreading a 20$ Tuesday night limit Hold'em tournament to raise money. Go to a college campus any night of the weak and 2:1 says you'll find a nightly Poker game already in progress, or a gaggle of girls deciding between starting a voyeur site or a quick OMAHA freeze-out session. Hold'em excellence or JLO forever...? "Hmm... I think I'll take the former", utters Mr. Armageddon-buster with his best Lawrence Olivier impression.
Show me anyone who calls himself a Poker player and I'll show you someone discretely setting up a TIVO season's pass to TILT. It's a craze alright. Hundreds, if not thousands of aspiring souls wanting to fully immerse themselves in a culture which provides a multi-dimensional high speed trip, emitting an exhilarating breath of fresh life, adrenalin-charged intellectual stimulation, and a forum of readership for whom to chronicle the whole volatile ride until it hits celebrity, or the place where it all started. And I'm willing to jump in and gamble that it won't be at this desk at this keyboard minimizing and maximizing the screen every few minutes.......
First stop, Casino Arizona.
posted by stefNfloyd | 4:22 PM
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