The Long Game

Guest post
by Jake Bible

I have to admit something which you really aren’t supposed to: I’m a really good poker player. Like really good. Good enough that I used to play online for hours a day and actually win. I won tournaments, sit and go tables, stakes tables.

At least until the tide turned. Online poker started getting flooded with rookies that played wild and didn’t have a clue how the game worked. They threw enough chaos into the mix that even my best moves would lose. You couldn’t bluff them because they were too stupid to be bluffed. You couldn’t bully them because they were too stupid to be bullied. All you could do was hope the luck of the cards would come your way on a showdown.

And I don’t play by luck. I don’t. So I quit playing poker online. Just cashed out and walked away. I mean, why sit for hours on end in front of a computer screen when you have no clue if there will be a pay off or not? Continue reading “The Long Game”

Roulette or Poker?

I don’t think of myself a gambler. It is not the sort of thing I like. I have no problem with people who enjoy gambling. I am just not one of them.

For me, it’s not any kind of ethical or moral issue. I just can’t get past the idea that never—in the entire history of casinos—has there ever been a scene where the mobsters sat around taking the count at the end of the night and saying, “Man, we really got screwed tonight.” It is as impossible to consider as a used car salesman coming to the realization that some yokel just ripped him off. It just doesn’t happen. The odds always favor the house. You have to know when you walk into a casino they didn’t pay for all that—the garish opulence, tigers, and girls wearing little more than smiles—by losing a lot of money. Continue reading “Roulette or Poker?”