Why I Play Poker...(and it ain't the money!)

Whether he likes it or not, a man's character is stripped bare at the poker table; if the other players read him better than he does, he has only himself to blame. Unless he is both able and prepared to see himself as others do, flaws and all, he will be a loser in cards, as in life.

-- Anthony Holden ( from "Big Deal" )

I'll confess -- I really enjoy playing poker. If my wife reads this, I'm sure she'll be rolling her eyes. She's not big on the whole gambling idea, and I don't really blame her. It's easy to get addicted to, and you can lose everything you own. It's happened to better people than me. That's why I don't play for money. I play at the freeroll tournaments that are being held in nearly every bar in the Atlanta area. No-Limit Texas Hold-Em Poker is the biggest thing to hit Atlanta since Sherman held his little barbeque.

So if I don't play for money, why do I play? It's a question that I'm asked often by my lovely and understanding wife. The answer is not as simple as it may seem. When I really think about why I play, several reasons come to mind.

The first reason is because I'm a geek, and I love the math involved. Odds, outs, percentages, they facinate me. It's one of the reason I love to watch poker on TV -- you get to see the players' hole cards and the percent chance they have to win the pot at any given time. I've always liked math, and the math involved in poker is more than basic, to say the least. It changes with every turn of a card.

The second reason is the psychological aspect of poker. At its most basic level, poker is a game of psychological warfare. The most important weapon is being able to read your opponent. Can you bluff them out? Are they holding the best hand? These are questions that you have to answer without the benefit of current information. You have to answer these questions for yourself based on past experience. Your observation skills and memory are your best friends in this case. You have to remember how someone plays. For instance, I played with someone who I found would fold his hand if you bet the exact amount he had in his stack. If you just went all-in, he was likely to call. Think I won a couple of pots against him with nothing? You bet I did. I took his weakness and exploited it. Psychological warfare.

All that aside, the main reason I play is because the game's just plain fun. It's a good way to get together with friends, aquaintances, or plain strangers and have a good time. Especially when you're playing in a freeroll tournament. It's very rare that someone will leave mad, because what did he lose? He paid nothing to enter. And where else can you have five hours of fun for free? Last I checked, the arcade wasn't giving away tokens for free.

I play because I enjoy it, and for no other reason. I don't have a driving desire to win, I have a driving desire to have a blast. And I do, even when I bust out early. I have found that playing for the sheer fun of it makes it easier to be a good player. When you don't feel that your manhood is riding on whether or not you get taken out by the guy (or gal) across the table, you become a much more levelheaded player, and thusly a much better player overall. When you take pride out of the equation, it allows you to assess your own weaknesses frankly and honestly, and your play moves up a level.

So for those of you who play, have fun at it. Don't let it become an obsession, but have fun. For those who have never played, give it a shot. You may find that you are pretty good, and you may have found a new pasttime.