In the beginning...
I have always considered myself to be a hardcore gamer, especially when it comes to PvP (Player vs. Player), but lately, the games just haven't been doing it for me.
When it first launched, I was a huge fan of World of Warcraft. I had several max level characters, had been to all of the major areas, etc, but then they ruined the game for me. All the while I was playing, I was merely awaiting the release of the ever-promised PvP part of the game, but instead they implemented some stupid "honor system", which basically meant that the more time you put in, the higher you are rated, and then you get better stuff, which helps you hold your higher rating (along with putting more time in), and has absolutely nothing what-so-ever to do with skill.
This is a trend in online gaming that has absolutely been killing me... WoW wasn't the first game, nor the last, to break my heart that way.
Right about the time this happened, Guild Wars was being released. They made promises of basing the whole game around PvP... Fair PvP. What it turned out to be was an endless grind, attempting to "unlock" the necessary pieces required to play the PvP side of things, and just as I was getting exactly that done (3 characters of all 6 classes, with every skill unlocked... no small feat, as any GW player will confirm), they made changes that, for me, trumpeted the downward slide into, "play more, not better".
I understand this trend, and I could write hours upon hours about it, and certainly my closest friends have listened to many a drunken oral dissertation on it already, but it doesn't pertain to poker, so we're moving on.
From time to time, throughout my life, I have always come back to playing poker in one form or another. The last few years, it has always been what I do in my downtime between whatever online game has just lost my attention and whichever one will become my next gaming obsession. During these "between games" breaks, I seem to watch a lot of TV. But although watching TV is partly addictive (just HAVE to see what comes next), it is also far too passive (I get bored easily), and a good SNG on my laptop is the perfect compliment to whatever advertising-laden crap I'm consuming at the time.
But this time, this break, for some reason, was different.
Playing in the free rooms has always bothered me, but this time, I just couldn't take it. I was getting pissed off on every single play. "No fucking WAY would that jackass do that if he had real money on the line!", screamed at the top of my lungs, at least a dozen times an hour...
Turns out I couldn't have been more wrong, but we'll get back to that.
It was crystal clear (again, at the time) to me that the only reason I did so well on the free tables is because nobody there had anything to lose, and therefore didn't mind dumping their chips to me. I wasn't playing the real game. The only way I was going to be able to truly enjoy poker would be to play for real money.
Understand that normally, I'm a rather impulsive guy, but the timing was bad for me. Having gone through some bad shit recently, I honestly didn't even know how I was going to pay my rent, so I made the right call and decided to put it off.
The next day, as I was running over my financial situation, I realized that not only did I have enough money to pay the rent, but I had an extra fifty laying around, so I'd be able to eat this week too...
or play poker.
This is why I'll probably never be a professional poker player. I make bad decisions. Sure, this particular story has a happy ending, but the end doesn't justify the means, and in poker, shit catches up with you. Ask any fish. Actually, don't bother, the reason they're fish is because they don't quite understand that part yet.
So about 5 minutes after realizing I have food money, I decide to get serious. Being the smart fellow I am, I google for the most popular online poker room (not the best), for what should be obvious reasons.
Find it. Make my first deposit. Hop into a $10+$1 SNG.
Adrenaline.
I think to myself at this point, "I'm fucked". I haven't gotten adrenaline from a game in at least 5 years. The last time I specifically remember it was playing on a PK MUD a long time ago... and I must admit, I'm a junkie for it. Not a single card has hit the table, and I'm already high.
It gets better though. I'm on the button. Cards are dealt, I get the bullets, no shit. Everyone folds all the way to me, and I'm devastated, but not wanting to scare off the blinds, and any potential future income, I just call. Flop comes Ace - somethin - somethin. A good poker player would probably remember what the other two were, but I don't.
SB bets minimum. BB goes all-in...
What.. the... fuck?
I stared at my screen. No flush draw, no straight draw, no way he has anything higher than me. Maybe he has two pair. Maybe one of them is an ace. Maybe he flopped a set too. Doesn't matter... I call.
Again, I don't remember what the guy had, except that he didn't have a fucking thing. Not even a pair. I knew then that I was fucked... not on that hand obviously, and not for that SNG (I placed 2nd), but for life.
How wrong I was all those times I'd yelled with confidence, "No fucking WAY would that jackass do that if he had real money on the line!". I swear that they play just as bad in the real money games. Maybe even worse, as some of them appear to be just plain desperate.
This is exactly what I've always wanted in a game. Me versus any taker. A rating system that is clearly defined (by bankroll), and perfectly accurate. I was happy, amazed, fucking euphoric, and know even now that even though I'll probably never go pro, I'll definitely be supplementing my income with poker.
At least, I hope so, because deep down in my gut, I know that every fish before me has felt the same.
-Tommy
When it first launched, I was a huge fan of World of Warcraft. I had several max level characters, had been to all of the major areas, etc, but then they ruined the game for me. All the while I was playing, I was merely awaiting the release of the ever-promised PvP part of the game, but instead they implemented some stupid "honor system", which basically meant that the more time you put in, the higher you are rated, and then you get better stuff, which helps you hold your higher rating (along with putting more time in), and has absolutely nothing what-so-ever to do with skill.
This is a trend in online gaming that has absolutely been killing me... WoW wasn't the first game, nor the last, to break my heart that way.
Right about the time this happened, Guild Wars was being released. They made promises of basing the whole game around PvP... Fair PvP. What it turned out to be was an endless grind, attempting to "unlock" the necessary pieces required to play the PvP side of things, and just as I was getting exactly that done (3 characters of all 6 classes, with every skill unlocked... no small feat, as any GW player will confirm), they made changes that, for me, trumpeted the downward slide into, "play more, not better".
I understand this trend, and I could write hours upon hours about it, and certainly my closest friends have listened to many a drunken oral dissertation on it already, but it doesn't pertain to poker, so we're moving on.
From time to time, throughout my life, I have always come back to playing poker in one form or another. The last few years, it has always been what I do in my downtime between whatever online game has just lost my attention and whichever one will become my next gaming obsession. During these "between games" breaks, I seem to watch a lot of TV. But although watching TV is partly addictive (just HAVE to see what comes next), it is also far too passive (I get bored easily), and a good SNG on my laptop is the perfect compliment to whatever advertising-laden crap I'm consuming at the time.
But this time, this break, for some reason, was different.
Playing in the free rooms has always bothered me, but this time, I just couldn't take it. I was getting pissed off on every single play. "No fucking WAY would that jackass do that if he had real money on the line!", screamed at the top of my lungs, at least a dozen times an hour...
Turns out I couldn't have been more wrong, but we'll get back to that.
It was crystal clear (again, at the time) to me that the only reason I did so well on the free tables is because nobody there had anything to lose, and therefore didn't mind dumping their chips to me. I wasn't playing the real game. The only way I was going to be able to truly enjoy poker would be to play for real money.
Understand that normally, I'm a rather impulsive guy, but the timing was bad for me. Having gone through some bad shit recently, I honestly didn't even know how I was going to pay my rent, so I made the right call and decided to put it off.
The next day, as I was running over my financial situation, I realized that not only did I have enough money to pay the rent, but I had an extra fifty laying around, so I'd be able to eat this week too...
or play poker.
This is why I'll probably never be a professional poker player. I make bad decisions. Sure, this particular story has a happy ending, but the end doesn't justify the means, and in poker, shit catches up with you. Ask any fish. Actually, don't bother, the reason they're fish is because they don't quite understand that part yet.
So about 5 minutes after realizing I have food money, I decide to get serious. Being the smart fellow I am, I google for the most popular online poker room (not the best), for what should be obvious reasons.
Find it. Make my first deposit. Hop into a $10+$1 SNG.
Adrenaline.
I think to myself at this point, "I'm fucked". I haven't gotten adrenaline from a game in at least 5 years. The last time I specifically remember it was playing on a PK MUD a long time ago... and I must admit, I'm a junkie for it. Not a single card has hit the table, and I'm already high.
It gets better though. I'm on the button. Cards are dealt, I get the bullets, no shit. Everyone folds all the way to me, and I'm devastated, but not wanting to scare off the blinds, and any potential future income, I just call. Flop comes Ace - somethin - somethin. A good poker player would probably remember what the other two were, but I don't.
SB bets minimum. BB goes all-in...
What.. the... fuck?
I stared at my screen. No flush draw, no straight draw, no way he has anything higher than me. Maybe he has two pair. Maybe one of them is an ace. Maybe he flopped a set too. Doesn't matter... I call.
Again, I don't remember what the guy had, except that he didn't have a fucking thing. Not even a pair. I knew then that I was fucked... not on that hand obviously, and not for that SNG (I placed 2nd), but for life.
How wrong I was all those times I'd yelled with confidence, "No fucking WAY would that jackass do that if he had real money on the line!". I swear that they play just as bad in the real money games. Maybe even worse, as some of them appear to be just plain desperate.
This is exactly what I've always wanted in a game. Me versus any taker. A rating system that is clearly defined (by bankroll), and perfectly accurate. I was happy, amazed, fucking euphoric, and know even now that even though I'll probably never go pro, I'll definitely be supplementing my income with poker.
At least, I hope so, because deep down in my gut, I know that every fish before me has felt the same.
-Tommy
posted by Tommy at 8:25 AM
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