Games people play...

So, I've resisted playing cards now for a few days. Punishing myself for donk play. I'm referring to my play the night of the Eagle's gathering with more than a few of you! How frackin' stupid was I pushing when I did. Hell, I was drunk and just out for the action. See the flop, drag a pot mentality. Losers remorse! No real damage to my finances. My pride and ego are a different story, and those are things which the game of poker is NEVER supposed to be about. When they do join in...there will be less money in your roll, and honestly once pride and ego sit down at the table with you, the two bastards are hard to get rid of! Take this for example: My buddy Frank described a hand over at River's Edge Poker, that was a part of the "Eagle" evening too. He was in the hand with... let's call him "Jack." Jack is uber wild and aggressive, with purpose. When the hand Frank describes occurred however it was early, BUT the outcome of this hand was merely a springboard for the rest of "Jack's" evening. Jack called the preflop raise with a 3-7os... After the flop he was on a gutshot straight draw...a 6 away from his made hand, although in truth one of the 6's was going to make a flush possible. So, theoretically he's got 3 outs in the deck, to call the bets post flop. No good reason on Earth to call the belly buster. One reason...to pray you'll hit it, to squash an opponent, to get in his head, and destroy his confidence. It's an in-your-frackin'-face play. It lacks finesse. It lacks subtlety. It lacks class in a way. It's a legitimate playing style, but I tend NOT to like it. It is a style which is employed most often by "Jack's" crew. If you win a hand against them when they're playing this way against you, you'll likely increase your bankroll, BUT still be left with the impression of "shit, they'll play anything, so I need to be careful." If you lose, you're devastated, and simply want revenge. Frank, made the smartest play, and called it a night. While Jack grinned and put in a few verbal jabs...what he should have realized was that some of the wind just got sucked out of his victory sails. Frank was leaving the table. Another person... ME... reacted differently, in my drunken state. I made a brief attempt at the same stupidity, and got it thrown in my face. Had I sucked out against Robert in either hand, that I outlined earlier, I can't help but think that Jack would have later pulled me aside and patted me on the back and said..."see that's how you gotta play, and make those gambles at those big pots." As it was though...I lost, and like Frank made my move for the door as well. Later when we got to the house, I did rejoin the game briefly, but the liquor finally caught up to me, and I made a retreat. I vaguely remember hugging the porcelain for a few minutes, to "clear the gut." But that's not important... funny, but not important. It would have been pointless for me to play well that night, after how I'd first started off. My image was damaged right from the start. Jack lucked out, early on, and it fed him well later, when everyone assumed he was still playing like a fool. He wound up with rockets once...and spanked his callers with them, because they made him for nothing. The strategy works, in this instance BUT what is important is that Jack had to hit the initial suck out play, for it to work. Had he busted for the first $20, he would have re-bought, and re-bought again, without hesitation. Frank, you and I can afford to do it, but our willingness to do it is something entirely different. Intelligence tends to get the better of us. The idea of throwing good money after bad is (to me) a losing proposition. Being drunked up...wasn't going to help, and it's a wonder I was able to get away from the game at all.

I say all that to say this. Frank I get it, you're taking a break from poker. And yes, I hate this frackin' game too! I understand...and have been there too. Suckouts are going to happen, but why do they always happen to us. But it's not just individual card games...it's all one long game. Take your break, but not for too long. We'll keep a seat open for you. When we're finally able to turn the tables on Jack, let's just make sure it's for one helluva BIG POT! Smile real pretty, think KARMA.

I started writing this post...intending to head in a very different direction. I wanted to avoid playing online for one : ) , but I was actually going to cover my attempts at downloading, installing, playing Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare. I successfully downloaded, and installed but never got to play. It seems I've developed video card envy. Well it just kinda happened. It seems in order to play this beloved game, I need to drop in the neighborhood of $300 for either an Nvidia Geforce 7800 or ATI Radeon X1800, video card. Information I could have used BEFORE downloading, both the game, Daemon Tools to mount the image, and surfing the crack channels for a while, and then installing. Here's a thought, maybe the game makers could have alerted a little earlier in the installation to my weak ass system. Of course, I guess I shouldn't complain, since I didn't lose anything other than my time, in the endeavor. So, as you can see, I suck at THIS game too. And honestly with the $300+ price tag for the card, and 50-60-ish for the game, legitimately, maybe I should stick to poker. It might actually be cheaper! : )

BUT, there's still hope for us all. The RED SNAPPERS have decided they want to get together to play something other than poker. Board games, like Scattergories, Dirty Minds, Cranium, hell maybe even charades. Maybe we can be just as terrible in these games. I might even play, on the inebriated side at these games too, but one things for sure, NONE of these will be effecting, or negatively impacting my bankroll! GAME ON!!!

Regards,

cheer_dad