Check, Call and Raise

I miss poker. Go figure, they're playing poker games on television almost every other night. I try not to watch, but oddly enough, there's always nothing even remotely interesting going on at the same time. So I do, and each time I find myself itching to head to the nearest poker room to hear the sound of ceramic chips falling all over themselves on the felt. I manage to somehow keep myself in check, (no pun intended) and make a sandwich instead. Dunno how long I can keep this up, though.

Fortunately, the fellas have scheduled a poker get-together over the weekend. Mercifully, I can look forward to that night to get my poker fix. Otherwise, I don't think I have the fortitude to last another week.

I've sworn off poker for the year, in case you didn't know. I figure that I can't afford to since I've been trying to get myself in the black. You can't gamble with money you don't have, so I don't gamble anymore. But every now and then, there comes the urge and I find myself wondering how my luck is doing. Last year my luck was pretty good, figure I've won a pot-load in cash games amongst both strangers and friends. But that was still a gamble, and I might just as easily lose as much or even more than I've won.

*****

I have to wonder, my dad used to have a weekly poker game with friends and officemates, but I have no idea if he won more times that he lost. This was way back in the day, when Texas Hold'em was just another game they played with all the other poker game variations. We used to play this kind of poker back in college, but I was never really any good in it, too many things to think about and rules being changed with every hand. I won some of the time, but not a lot to say I was good at it.

Anyway, I do remember something he said about poker, that it was a great way to know the true nature of the people you play with. There were sore losers, bad winners, impatient betters, calm collected thinkers and there were just those people who pushed their luck as much as anyone would let them. But this is only half of the story, it's really about what you do about this knowledge, and that's not only in the game, but in the real world.

So far, I don't think I've put that knowledge into any good use. I can't say I'm illiterate when it comes to being a judge of people, what I'm saying is that I haven't done anything with the knowledge than I've gained. Should I at least try? I just can't help thinking that it's a bit sinister, manipulative and just downright evil.

*****

I'm trying to recall where it was that I've read that life is all just a big gamble. It starts with your own inception, how did that one sperm manage to outswim and outmaneuver all the billion others into penetrating the defenses of that egg? Then there's all the other chances that you had to take, from surviving pregnancy, the first few months, the environment you lived in, the schools you went through up until the job you got. Could it really be destiny or just plain luck that got you where you are today?

At any rate, the mere fact that I'm here writing this, and you're there reading this, is a sure sign we both got lucky so far. To celebrate, I'm getting my snifter and saying cheers to this wonderful game called life. I'll bet it just gets better from here.