The Poker Diaries: Arguments With Myself

(As usual with the Poker Diaries, feel free to skip if this does not fit your definition of Sports. It doesn't really fit mine either.)

So there it is, right in the middle of 20 -twenty! - New Year's resolutions that were made in a fit of self-loathing self-improvement that I have, somewhat unpredictably, held up for a week now.

No Casino Poker

What the hell, angry little man who shares this body with me? We love casino poker. It paid for our Labor Day vacation, one of the better ones that the Shooter Family has had. We made money at this. We don't spend our time at the table cleaning up after people, like we do at our home game. We felt Big Gambling Thrills.

And yes, that is the whole problem, really.

I have a pretty simple rule for my home game: life is too short to play cards with jerks. And being a jerk isn't just a matter of taking my chips, honestly. Rather, it's the constant and tiresome swearing, the inability to take any beat, let alone a bad one, with grace... or my biggest pet peeve, being too big for the game.

I get that the $1 / $2 table is softer than the $10 / $20 that's been handling you like a speedbag, Sport. So coming to the table with your ability to five-bet any pot is going to buy you some weak fish money, and well, whatever. A man's gotta eat, and I'm not going to deny you the right to throw chips around and be all Dangerous.

But to put on airs like you some Negraneau clone who can read my pre-flop playback as Kings instead of Aces? Gimme a freaking If you where that good, you wouldn't be at the kid table of people hoping to milk an evening of entertainment from their stack, rather than a couple of sledgehammer shoves.

So in common casino parlance now, I am a nit, a tightwad, easy to read and devoid of heart and... Whatever. It gets tiresome, and not nearly enough fun, and I'd rather - much rather - play a home game. Mine, really. Where the players have class by the pound, and everyone makes fun of the $10 / $20 Crazy Aggro Guy.

(In other words, check back with me in a few months. I'm sure the angry little guy will take some time off at some point...)