I'm All Out

So one of my weekly rituals for the last year or so was to play in a poker game. It started out as just a group of friends but has gradually gotten bigger and bigger. We play for $20 a game where first place takes most of the pot and second gets their 20 back and half of any buy ins. You can win a decent amount here and there, but it's really just for fun because eventually you break even. I always just saw it as something to do and good practice for someone who usually plays online only.

We started off with one guy who would talk a lot of trash. We got used to him because he'd act like a poker guru and then proceed to lose just as much as anyone else. You smack talk doesn't count for much if you don't actually have the chops to back it up. Even still the true pros just sit back and rake in the chips. I say let your actions dictate not your mouth (you hear that Hellmuth?). He was an acquired taste, but we just learned to accept it, ignore it and he'd usually shut up eventually when we didn't respond to his antics.

Now we have a lot of new blood. The original talker is gone and like some sort of evil hydra a new even more obnoxious head has sprung from the severed wound. I realized something this last weekend that my friendly game that I used to look forward to and was with from the very beginning is not the same game anymore. The stakes haven't changed but the attitude has. Last time, before I got there, I was in one of the best moods I can remember being in for a very long time. Then I get to the game, play the way I always do and leave pissed off and in a terrible mood. It's then that I realized it's time to cut my losses and move on.

Sure you can talk to somebody and ask them to change the way they behave, but you're always going to have that hanging over you. You're not going to forget it and they certainly won't. In the end it just isn't really worth it. There are some weeks I didn't want to go because I'd rather just take a precious weekend day off and relax. Others I knew I didn't feel like putting up with the BS involved with the entire scene. Now I feel justified to just walk away altogether.

This really is all just backstory to say what I really feel about the whole thing. I hate trash talking. I'm all for friendly ribbing and everything but the people who don't know where to draw the line and have actual venom behind their remarks have something loose in their noggins. Not to get all psychological on the subject, but I really feel that the people who come off the loudest actually have very tiny egos. They're insecure and they feel like if they make enough noise then people won't notice how scared they are. It's like turning up the amp really loud to cover the fact that you really can't play guitar. Most people who are secure with themselves and their abilities don't feel the need to broadcast it to everyone around them. This is why you'll hear plenty of times when Phil Hellmuth is walking away from a table after losing how he is "the best player in the game." Well Phil, the best player who can do no wrong would be at the final table every single time. You might as well call yourself an expert dice thrower because poker is both a game of luck and skill. You may be good, but you can't control luck.