First off... We'll get the poker talk out of the way....
I was able to play 2 more times since I last posted.
The first time was in a very small game and in a casino I'd never stepped foot into until this past Tuesday. I first stepped into the casino with my wife as she intended to enjoy an evening playing bingo while I passed the time playing poker.
As we walked up to the casino, we were greeted enthusiasticly by a security guard who wished us good luck.... :)
I asked him if he'd point us in the right direction to the bingo hall and he got kind of a blank look on his face and said, "Oh.... there's not any bingo tonight."
I had called the place earlier to check on times, their location, etc... and had been informed that bingo started at 6:30 in the evening.
So, seeing as how I must've got some bad information, I asked the security guard what days or nights they DID play bingo on. Very matter of factly, he said to me, "Oh, they play bingo every afternoon and every evening here." I couldn't help but laugh a little bit and said to him, "I thought you just said to me that there's not any bingo tonight."
"Oh, there's not any bingo tonight, because they've got some kind of a party going on in there."
So, I kindly thanked the gentleman and my wife & I wandered in to see if we could get any good information on our own....for future reference.
Christine did get some info on bingo & I briefly checked out the poker room to see what they had to offer. Christine found out that they did indeed have bingo every afternoon and evening, barring a party in the bingo hall... :)
I found out the poker room had very small limit games that pretty much go 24-7.
We decided to come back the following morning so she could get her bingo fix....and we headed back to our apartment in Casa Grande. We enjoyed the little ride to and from the casino through a beautiful desert backdrop.
The next morning we were there by about noon and I promptly was seated in a 4-8 Hold-em game.
I proceeded to kill the little game for $354.00
It was an amicable enough game and I was really fortunate to catch a lot of cards and make a lot of hands...and as is usually the case in little games like this...I got paid off on pretty much every hand. Everybody always thinks I'm bluffing...and in games like this, I very rarely do....
I secretly wished to myself that I'd catch some cards like this in one of the games I usually play in, because there, it'd translate into thousands of dollars...
I enjoyed myself, but probably will not ever go back unless if Christine wants to play bingo there again in the future. She also had fun, but wasn't able to yell BINGO at all... :)
It was an enjoyable day.
I went back to the resort in Mesa on Thursday and ended up playing 8 hours....
After an hour or two, I was stuck $600 and couldn't get much going.
I finally got 2 aces dealt to me (first time this year) and ended up losing a monster pot to a guy who was kind of irritating to me anyways... He was sitting beside me....non-stop talker....believing he had this whole poker thing completely figured out... I guess the joke was on me...because he left with a lot more chips than I did... :)
After the beat he put on me, he was REALLY irritating to me... lol
I generally play better from behind. Most people play worse when they're behind. I just kind of buckle down and really get disciplined. I don't let a bad beat affect the way I play the next hand.
Anyways, I proceeded to really buckle down, lose a few hundred more...buy more chips... and finally start to win a few hands. I grinded it out for another 5 hours or so until I could finally show a profit of less than $100. At this point, I took a little break and texted Christine to let her know my status and to let her know I was going to play for another hour or so and then I'd be heading for home.
It's not super-important to me that I win every time I play....but it does seem more enjoyable when that happens. I am not one to play for hours and hours and hours....trying to get even.
I'll take my little losses and wait for another day.
So I get back from my break and get an AK suited, a AQ suited, and 2 queens in subsuquent hands. Every single pot was really big...by the time it was over. I had the misfortune of being involved until the bitter end in every pot and not winning a single one of them...
So within about 10 minutes of talking to Christine, I was stuck $700 again.
I was very near the point of having had enough for one day, but I thought once again, I'd try to play disciplined poker for the hour and see what happened.
After about 1/2 hour, I did win a few small pots, but I also lost a couple of small ones and I ended up losing $671 over the 8 hour session....
So for the year, I'm up $500 and change.... Not a whole lot different than the last time I posted.
I won the first 3 sessions of the year and lost the 4th.... Thus the 3 steps forward, 1 step back...
On the home front, I have a child who has a gambling problem. He has an addictive personality period.... I'm happy to say he does more things that make me proud of him than things that make me frustrated with him. He's a productive member of society and has devoted his young life to helping out the folks on the Rosebud Indian Reservation where he's a paramedic. Believe me when I tell you that it's not an easy job.... and it's not the easiest place to work.
So, I have some communication with my son tonight and he lets me know that his bank account has taken a serious hit, due to his having a bad day and deciding to go take it out on the world by going to a casino....and losing all his money.
I know....there doesn't seem to be a lot of logic in that, but in some weird kind of a way, I can kind of relate....
I've devoted quite a little time and effort into trying to get him to be more financially responsible, to live on a budget, to pay off old bills that have gone to collections, etc...etc....
I was very disappointed to hear that he had "fallen off the wagon". We had an agreement that he was going to live within the constraints of a budget, (agreed upon by both of us) and he didn't live up to that agreement. I guess I'm kind of feeling let down by him right now.
That's the bad news....
Here's the good news..... He informed me that he had called the gamblers help line to ask for their help. He knew that once he made that call, he would, not ever again, be allowed on the gaming floor in ANY casino in the United States. He will be escorted out by security if he shows up there.
That's a big step. For that...I am proud of him...and feel somewhat uplifted.
Gambling is like many of the "gray areas" in life. It can be some good fun entertainment if it's not abused....and if it's kept in check. It also can wreck lives...just the same as alcohol, marijuana, crack cocaine, and other things can....
Over the years, I've run into young people at the poker table like my son... I remember one instance in particular. The guy playing had absolutely no chance of winning in the game we were playing in. This guy had JUST got married a few hours earlier and his new wife was behind him (with her gown still on) trying to get him to quit and take the few chips with him that he had left on the table. When he got up to use the bathroom, I followed him. I told him that I knew it wasn't any of my business, but I thought he should cut his losses and spend the day with his wife. I've seen his kind before, and I felt that I could almost see into the future with this couple. And they were such a cute young couple too... I could see him losing everything (including, but definitely not limited to, his marriage) over the next few years due to his gambling abuse.
I tried to talk some sense into him with the hopes that it wasn't too late.
If the other guys at the table knew that I did this...they'd be ticked at me...
He was like an open water spigot... Money just kept being distributed to us pros at the table...
So...I go back and forth on the morality of gambling, even though I played professional poker for years. I hate to see people get hurt by it. I'm not trying to 'toot' my own horn here for trying to help this kid. He wasn't the first and he won't be the last I'm sure....
This is exactly one of the reasons I play relatively high limit games. Most of the money being distributed to the pro's come from business guys, doctors, lawyers, etc.... who for the most part can afford to take the losses.
If you want to find the gambling addicts that play poker, you'll find them in very low limit games....for the most part. You actually won't find many period... in poker....because they can't seem to lose their money fast enough. There's not enough 'action' for them. The place you'd look for them is at the blackjack table, craps tables, roullette tables, and slot machines....
I guess I've rambled enough.... I'm not sure if there's a lesson in this for anybody or not....
I'm not even sure it makes any sense...
I still have a slight headache from the initial news I got from my son....
I was able to play 2 more times since I last posted.
The first time was in a very small game and in a casino I'd never stepped foot into until this past Tuesday. I first stepped into the casino with my wife as she intended to enjoy an evening playing bingo while I passed the time playing poker.
As we walked up to the casino, we were greeted enthusiasticly by a security guard who wished us good luck.... :)
I asked him if he'd point us in the right direction to the bingo hall and he got kind of a blank look on his face and said, "Oh.... there's not any bingo tonight."
I had called the place earlier to check on times, their location, etc... and had been informed that bingo started at 6:30 in the evening.
So, seeing as how I must've got some bad information, I asked the security guard what days or nights they DID play bingo on. Very matter of factly, he said to me, "Oh, they play bingo every afternoon and every evening here." I couldn't help but laugh a little bit and said to him, "I thought you just said to me that there's not any bingo tonight."
"Oh, there's not any bingo tonight, because they've got some kind of a party going on in there."
So, I kindly thanked the gentleman and my wife & I wandered in to see if we could get any good information on our own....for future reference.
Christine did get some info on bingo & I briefly checked out the poker room to see what they had to offer. Christine found out that they did indeed have bingo every afternoon and evening, barring a party in the bingo hall... :)
I found out the poker room had very small limit games that pretty much go 24-7.
We decided to come back the following morning so she could get her bingo fix....and we headed back to our apartment in Casa Grande. We enjoyed the little ride to and from the casino through a beautiful desert backdrop.
The next morning we were there by about noon and I promptly was seated in a 4-8 Hold-em game.
I proceeded to kill the little game for $354.00
It was an amicable enough game and I was really fortunate to catch a lot of cards and make a lot of hands...and as is usually the case in little games like this...I got paid off on pretty much every hand. Everybody always thinks I'm bluffing...and in games like this, I very rarely do....
I secretly wished to myself that I'd catch some cards like this in one of the games I usually play in, because there, it'd translate into thousands of dollars...
I enjoyed myself, but probably will not ever go back unless if Christine wants to play bingo there again in the future. She also had fun, but wasn't able to yell BINGO at all... :)
It was an enjoyable day.
I went back to the resort in Mesa on Thursday and ended up playing 8 hours....
After an hour or two, I was stuck $600 and couldn't get much going.
I finally got 2 aces dealt to me (first time this year) and ended up losing a monster pot to a guy who was kind of irritating to me anyways... He was sitting beside me....non-stop talker....believing he had this whole poker thing completely figured out... I guess the joke was on me...because he left with a lot more chips than I did... :)
After the beat he put on me, he was REALLY irritating to me... lol
I generally play better from behind. Most people play worse when they're behind. I just kind of buckle down and really get disciplined. I don't let a bad beat affect the way I play the next hand.
Anyways, I proceeded to really buckle down, lose a few hundred more...buy more chips... and finally start to win a few hands. I grinded it out for another 5 hours or so until I could finally show a profit of less than $100. At this point, I took a little break and texted Christine to let her know my status and to let her know I was going to play for another hour or so and then I'd be heading for home.
It's not super-important to me that I win every time I play....but it does seem more enjoyable when that happens. I am not one to play for hours and hours and hours....trying to get even.
I'll take my little losses and wait for another day.
So I get back from my break and get an AK suited, a AQ suited, and 2 queens in subsuquent hands. Every single pot was really big...by the time it was over. I had the misfortune of being involved until the bitter end in every pot and not winning a single one of them...
So within about 10 minutes of talking to Christine, I was stuck $700 again.
I was very near the point of having had enough for one day, but I thought once again, I'd try to play disciplined poker for the hour and see what happened.
After about 1/2 hour, I did win a few small pots, but I also lost a couple of small ones and I ended up losing $671 over the 8 hour session....
So for the year, I'm up $500 and change.... Not a whole lot different than the last time I posted.
I won the first 3 sessions of the year and lost the 4th.... Thus the 3 steps forward, 1 step back...
On the home front, I have a child who has a gambling problem. He has an addictive personality period.... I'm happy to say he does more things that make me proud of him than things that make me frustrated with him. He's a productive member of society and has devoted his young life to helping out the folks on the Rosebud Indian Reservation where he's a paramedic. Believe me when I tell you that it's not an easy job.... and it's not the easiest place to work.
So, I have some communication with my son tonight and he lets me know that his bank account has taken a serious hit, due to his having a bad day and deciding to go take it out on the world by going to a casino....and losing all his money.
I know....there doesn't seem to be a lot of logic in that, but in some weird kind of a way, I can kind of relate....
I've devoted quite a little time and effort into trying to get him to be more financially responsible, to live on a budget, to pay off old bills that have gone to collections, etc...etc....
I was very disappointed to hear that he had "fallen off the wagon". We had an agreement that he was going to live within the constraints of a budget, (agreed upon by both of us) and he didn't live up to that agreement. I guess I'm kind of feeling let down by him right now.
That's the bad news....
Here's the good news..... He informed me that he had called the gamblers help line to ask for their help. He knew that once he made that call, he would, not ever again, be allowed on the gaming floor in ANY casino in the United States. He will be escorted out by security if he shows up there.
That's a big step. For that...I am proud of him...and feel somewhat uplifted.
Gambling is like many of the "gray areas" in life. It can be some good fun entertainment if it's not abused....and if it's kept in check. It also can wreck lives...just the same as alcohol, marijuana, crack cocaine, and other things can....
Over the years, I've run into young people at the poker table like my son... I remember one instance in particular. The guy playing had absolutely no chance of winning in the game we were playing in. This guy had JUST got married a few hours earlier and his new wife was behind him (with her gown still on) trying to get him to quit and take the few chips with him that he had left on the table. When he got up to use the bathroom, I followed him. I told him that I knew it wasn't any of my business, but I thought he should cut his losses and spend the day with his wife. I've seen his kind before, and I felt that I could almost see into the future with this couple. And they were such a cute young couple too... I could see him losing everything (including, but definitely not limited to, his marriage) over the next few years due to his gambling abuse.
I tried to talk some sense into him with the hopes that it wasn't too late.
If the other guys at the table knew that I did this...they'd be ticked at me...
He was like an open water spigot... Money just kept being distributed to us pros at the table...
So...I go back and forth on the morality of gambling, even though I played professional poker for years. I hate to see people get hurt by it. I'm not trying to 'toot' my own horn here for trying to help this kid. He wasn't the first and he won't be the last I'm sure....
This is exactly one of the reasons I play relatively high limit games. Most of the money being distributed to the pro's come from business guys, doctors, lawyers, etc.... who for the most part can afford to take the losses.
If you want to find the gambling addicts that play poker, you'll find them in very low limit games....for the most part. You actually won't find many period... in poker....because they can't seem to lose their money fast enough. There's not enough 'action' for them. The place you'd look for them is at the blackjack table, craps tables, roullette tables, and slot machines....
I guess I've rambled enough.... I'm not sure if there's a lesson in this for anybody or not....
I'm not even sure it makes any sense...
I still have a slight headache from the initial news I got from my son....
