I mean, it's not that I expect a real poker game needs drunk guys stabbing each other with forks, or rooms filled with cheap cigar smoke, to be valid. Just the opposite, in fact....but I'll get to that later. The thing I don't like about the tv shows is that they are all about the show and not the game.

 

There's a difference.

 

The fact that folks smoke and drink and bankrupt themselves to their compulsions don't have anything to do with poker, as a game. Poker is just like life, really: You're put in a situation where all of your assets and liabilities are defined, i.e., what your cards are, how much money you have, etc., and then you're asked to deal with your opponents based on what you perceive their assets and liabilities to be.

 

People say that it's about probability, and the likelihood that you'll be dealt a certain hand. I guess there's an element of that. But to me, I'm less concerned with what the odds are that I'll draw an inside straight, than  that I'll be able to convince the guy across from me that my hand is at least better than his. Even if it's not.

 

Which brings up my next point, and that is that folks seem to think poker is inherently dishonest, or that "bluffing" is the same as lying. That's just stupid. I don't know what anyone else's cards are; how could I lie about my hand being better than yours, when I don't even know what yours is? All I'm doing is, I'm acting braver than I think the cards warrant. Isn't that the definition of courage? Or stupidity, one of those, Courage if you win, and stupidity if you lose.

 

It's really about people, and understanding them. And calculating risk. And accepting loss.

 

Which is exactly what I was trying to teach this bunch of six year olds who asked me to teach them a game. And to make it clear, I wasn't playing poker with them, I was teaching poker to them. And I just started to wonder why we don't do this in school, like we teach kids Chess and it's supposed to make them really smart and stuff.

 

Here's what you can learn playing poker:

It just goes on and on. Seriously. And it's not like I'm blind to the dangers. The reason folks get all freaky about it is because there are too many dumb asses out there who see games like this as a way to make money or even earn a living. It doesn't work that way and it never will.

 

At least, that's what I explained to the group of irate mothers who each owe me like $150.00

 

To all you concerned parents out there: It was a joke. There was no money involved. All I did was teach them the hands. But thank you for being so concerned.