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Maryann Guberman has been a writer and editor with many gaming publications, including Sports Form, Card Player, Poker World, Player's Panorama and Systems and Methods. She also has written and edited numerous books on gambling.

Aug 12, 2006

Comfort Zones: Part One

I believe in looking reality straight in the eye and denying it. -- Garrison Keillor

Despite having to surf through myriad ads and overly designed pages that presented absolutely no focal point, I followed the 2006 World Series of Poker fervently, cheering for friends to advance and wondering what it might be like to slog through nearly 9,000 competitors on the way to the final table and multimillions of dollars. How about you? If you had to stare into the sunglasses of any of the pros who didn't make it to the final table, if you had to call all in against someone you know has more gold bracelets than rooms in his house, how would you handle the situation? Would your hands shake? Would your heart start beating a techno rhythm more appropriate for a dance floor? Would you suddenly develop the urge to run to the restroom?

Let's look at this question from a more reasonable point of view, one that doesn't require us to have our heads in the clouds above the Ghost Bar at the Rio.

Suppose you have an account with one of the online poker rooms and your starting bankroll is a hundred bucks. At what level of play would you begin to worry about losing money? In the same light, how much lost money would begin to get that vein in your neck to throb?

Suppose you decide to take the semester off from pre-med classes and try your luck at one of the high-rolling poker rooms in Vegas with a plan to turn pro if you meet with success. What do you think your reaction will be when you walk up to the room and see every table in action, every player performing chip tricks, every pot spilling over with capped raises? How prepared are you to start to lose immediately? How will you feel if you get wiped out?

As rudimentary as these questions seem, they are ignored by many people who are too anxious to play and not concerned enough about how long they might be able to do so.

There's no time for fantasy in poker. Nope, not even if you're there just to have fun. Poker is a game of crude reality. Poker is a game that presents more toll roads to unhappiness than boulevards to success. If you don't believe it and you might not if you're overly persuaded about the good life by the final table money in the big televised events just leave your wallet at home and go to the trenches like a war correspondent and observe the truth about poker.

When it comes to poker, this is a case where the man from Lake Wobegone would fail. This is a reality fraught with negativity that can't be ignored, but it's one that can be overcome. It's one where the negatives ions can be breached without totally focusing on them. We'll look at some methods next time.