Poker: So Two Years Ago

I stopped attending my regular game a few weeks ago. I've been focusing on things other than poker lately, so I hadn't been studying, and I started to lose. I don't think that's the main reason I stopped, though. The main reason is that the people aren't cool anymore. It was fine when it was just everyone who had seen Rounders, but now it's everyone who's seen the Travel Channel, and for some reason that crowd just isn't any fun. With these people, it's all about money. There's none of the comraderie I want from my social outlet of choice.

There was another reason to quit, of course, but I hadn't been taking it seriously until now. A prominent game was held up at gunpoint a few months back.

This kind of crime is a no-brainer, and I had been wondering why nobody was doing it for years. There are poker games all over town. Most of them, on any given night, will have in excess of $3000 cash on the premises (most of which is in one dude's pocket), and less than zero security. I don't think I've met anyone who runs a game and even owns a gun. And what can they do, call the cops? "Somebody just robbed my illegal poker game, the profits from which I have neglected to declare to the IRS." Huh.

That's why poker games are illegal, after all: they attract crime. For a long time the cops turned a blind eye to games, as long as they were drug-free (and most reputable house games took precautions to make sure there were never any drugs). But now, evidently due to that robbery and perhaps others (I've been out of the loop), the cops have started cracking down.

That game I used to go to every Thursday? Well, I won't be going there anymore. It's been preemptively shut down, lest the cops do it themselves. At least in Atlanta, the poker craze my go the way of the dinosaurs shortly.

That's why I've decided to take up backgammon.