Poker Perambulation

In fiction a wish is a supernatural demand placed on the recipient’s unlimited request. When it is the center of a tale, the wish is usually a template for a morality tale, “be careful what you wish for” writ large; it can also be a small part of a tale, in which case it is often used as a plot device. –Wikipedia

Today’s post was going to be something entirely different. Craig’s article on the young player and Linda’s post today create an atmosphere that’s palpable. I can’t resist it even though writing an acceptable advice column should always be left to Dear Abby.

Poker has an allure to it. Especially if you have some success and feel pretty good about the results. For a young person with a bit of confusion about what life offers it can be pretty heady stuff to look at a five or six figure amount. Contrast that to the grind of nine-to-five and it looks a whole lot sweeter.

If you sat down with someone like Linda or myself and we spoke freely, you would find that life has been a series of changes, challenges, joys, disappointments, and forks in the road that we never anticipated. And we now recognize that the control we think we have or had can become transitory in the next instance – that is real life.

Doyle Brunson is the poker gold standard. How he got there is told. Riding Texas roads to back rooms here and there wasn’t a easy route. Going broke any number of times put pressures on being a good provider. He was lucky and survived all that and the boom gave it a style that he never anticipated.

The young aspire as they should. Aspirations come – go – change. It helps to have fall back options. Parents aspire for their children. Often those aspirations seem strange or out-of-step to the young with less life experience.

So, you are part way through a college education that caused some sacrifice by your parents and you have $143,262.18 in your playing account and it looks like you can go through life a god — maybe. But you’ve built a tenuous path without a solid fall-back option. That is what that degree will provide. If you don’t need it, great! If you do end up needing it but don’t have it, that is a real bummer.

The more options you have in life the easier it is to slip through the hard spots or be the force that changes direction to your benefit. Blinders are great on a racehorse going around in circles. They don’t leave options. Building a good life for one’s self is helped by options. You are then the controlling force.

So, ends my little morality play. It makes for a lousy blog. Being lectured to is certainly going to lower my blog rating with most folks. It is a lot more fun to talk up a few dial-a-shots or such. I apologize and will get back to the fun topics tomorrow. In the meantime, I have this jewelry in my case and this ring looks like it was made for you – only twenty-bucks. What do you say, guy?

Addendum:

I stopped by Doyle’s Room last night. I’d played there for a bit and frankly didn’t care for the blind structure and left. I probably hadn’t loaded their software in a year or more. The revisit shows it is a pretty nice site in other respects. You can use their ‘lobby’ to chat. You can get an online chat with a support person and they respond quickly””I tried it. I looked around the Omaha area and it looked very playable. I was looking at the PLOH area and it looked like I could compete there with my starting skill set. If you are on the move because your site is locking you out, it looks a very viable option.

I am not sure why; but, here…

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 26th, 2006 at 8:37 am and is filed under Journal, Poker Other. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.