Why Do I Play Poker?

I think some­times I’m too nice.  I like to think of myself as a hard-nosed player.  But I’m not.  Some­times It hits me that I want peo­ple to like me almost as much as I like chips.  Espe­cially at home games.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to be the dick who begrudg­ingly gets an invite when the game is short.  But I’m not giv­ing away infor­ma­tion any­more in the hopes of being liked.

Here’s my pledge.

1. No more show­ing my ace to make my oppo­nent feel­ing good about his fold.
2. No more show­ing my suc­cess­ful bluffs even though it prob­a­bly is the most sat­is­fy­ing activ­ity in existence.
3. No more show­ing my aces in the big blind when every­one folds in hopes of some sympathy.

Truth­fully, I don’t even think show­ing hands gives away that much infor­ma­tion.  It just wreaks of coop­er­a­tion and that has no place  at the poker table.

If there’s still some part of my per­son­al­ity that needs to be liked I will com­pen­sate by bring­ing more snacks, bet­ter beer.  But I will not show my cards.

I used to play poker to make friends.  As of today, I play to win.

Why do you play? Let me know at stories@whydoiplaypoker.net