The Changing Games
by Luckbox
I learned how to play poker playing for pennies or plastic chips that had no real value. I guess I really just learned the rules of poker at that time. You don't really learn how to play until there is some real money on the line.
In the past year, I've found there are 4 different places where poker is played for real cash, and I've found those games are all very different.
- The Home Game: This is, perhaps, the lowest intensity poker. It's generally played with people you know, or with people who know the people you know. Check-raising is often banned. Raises are often capped. Limits are often in place. Wild games like "Anaconda" and "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" are the norm. It's fun, and hopefully, no one goes home too angry.
- The Online Game: Here's where the intensity goes up. In fact, depending on how much money you want to put on the line, the intensity can go way up. There's one big thing missing... personal human contact. You don't have opponents staring you down. You don't have to pick up chips and move them into the middle.
- The Smoke-Filled Back Bar Room: This one has the potential to combine the various intensities of the previous two games. Some of the people you play with you know as friends, others you know only as poker opponents, still others are completely unknown. The chips are real. The other players are sitting right there beside you. There is always the potential for ugliness
- The Casino Game: It's the jewel of all poker games. It's the one that most poker players strive to beat. I've been there once, and I was a poker novice at the time. I might as well have had a sign reading "FISH" hanging around my neck. I can't wait to get back. Although, I'll probably still lose...
Perhaps there are other games I haven't had the pleasure to play. In that case, I'm sure it's just a matter of time!