I was playing online poker the other night, Texas Hold ‘em of course, and I had ventured back into my real money account. I do get nervous, I admit. Anyway, I was playing there for about 40 minutes and winning a couple and losing a few, feeling rather smart because I was £2 up, which isn’t bad when the stakes are £0.10 to £0.20 max.
When you have over £2 sitting in front of you, there is always that nervous moment when you have a good hand and so does somebody else. But you don’t know that until the last card needs to be turned. The dreaded ‘River’ card. I had two pairs, K’s and 10’s. Along with the K and the 10 turned up on the table there were two A’s. If any of the other players had an A, I was shot, but there was that last card to come. Dealer turned up a 10. Full hand for me but what did the remaining player I was betting against have? He bet £2.40. I would have to go ‘all in’ to match that. Ah well. The gambling bug had me on this one. He had an A and Q. Boom! Boom! Thank you, sir! I opted out after that. My heart was going like a trip hammer over a lousy £2.40. The traps of gambling.
I am sure there are more exciting stories about gambling than that. What about the woman who is claiming that her £67 million winning lottery ticket had been put through the wash? If it’s true, it would be a heart breaker. I like to read the blogs by other gamblers. Some tell sad tales but true, while others preach a bit about bad habits. Then there are the ones who say that if gambling is played non-addictively, it can be a lot of fun. Here’re a few of my favourite characters.
http://jimmakos.com/gambling-blog/ This guy is a bit of a character. A Greek. I think he’s always trying to sell something but if you can avoid the ads and the giveaways, it makes interesting reading.
http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-blogs/2-daniel-negreanu/entries/561987-my-take-on-poker-and-gambling Daniel is a PokerStars cult hero. He won big, $10 million I think. That makes him a consistent player and plenty lucky. This is a very informative website, lots of plays and lots of news.
https://simonsblogpark.com/onlinegambling/simons-casino-blog/, The internet site might set you on the path of full-time gambling but you can get an idea of just what is out there. Online gaming is so popular and worth many billions of pounds.
http://progamblerslife.com/ The site has a lot of information on how machines are set up to win and lose. The writer seems to be a professional gambler, an exciting but dangerous way to make a living is my thought.
A lot of other sites are about gambling addiction and how to beat it. Bad luck stories and the like. Not the sort of happy things you want to read about when you’re about to plunge £2 on the fall of a card, is it?