Poker poll

Do you play these?
  • Poker
  • Bridge
  • Neither

0 voters

Just because I’m curious.

Cool! Polls!

I was trying to figure out how the voting was 40% - 40% - 40%, and then I realized one could choose more than one option.

So I almost went back and chose all three.

I used to play poker. But gambling took up way too much of my time (cards, horse racing, casino, sports betting).

Gave it all up for good about 10 years ago.

It got problematic, though not an addiction.

For me, gambling was an investment of my time and money, not just an entertainment outlet.

Nowadays, pretty much the only gambling I do is a few moderately-priced Super Bowl boxes (like $5, 10, 20) and a couple days in the summer at the racetrack with my family. I bring about $50 for the day. In the olden days, I’d bet multiple times that on single races. Like 3 or 4 days a week. I used to get my haircuts at the track I was there so much.

(Sidenote: horse racing tracks can be a good family time, especially if they have a picnic area where you can bring your own food and beer, etc)

Sounds a lot like an addiction, though I am no the rapist.

1 Like

Can we start up another AO poker league thing kthx.

Wait… GoA… not AO.

I’m new here.

It was more of an intense hobby. I never succumbed to several of the symptoms of gambling addiction. I never bet more than I could afford to lose. Never tried to make up all losses with one or two big bets; I took my beatings like a big boy and moved on to the next session. (And each gambling activity stood alone. I had a few bank accounts set up: one for track betting, one for casino gambling and one for bookie gambling. My card playing nights were from my discretionary income. I never used one account to cover for another.)

Short story long: The guys I hung out with were big gamblers; some did it for fun, and for others it was degeneracy. I would place bets through them, usually, or accompany them to the track and wagered a few bucks here and there. Before long, I wanted to get into the lifestyle. So I started with three shoe boxes, each with $1,000, and I pledged to myself, whenever any of them got to zero I would stop that sort of betting.

Throughout the next year, the various boxed got filled up and lowered, up and down. After a while, I created 3 bank accounts and just put the money in there. As to the highs and lows, my casino account at onetime had only $12.50 in it. It was as high as $15,000.

The other accounts were up and down, too. Never did one get to zero.

But after a while, I got tired of the lifestyle. Driving to AC at 10 pm, gambling until 3, grabbing a room for a couple hours shuteye and then drive an hour and a 45 to work takes a toll. That, and betting a dime on the Hawaii–Oregon game going off at 1 am, one doesn’t get restful sleep. I wasn’t poor, but dropping $1,100 on a college hoops game kinda soured the stomach a little in the morning.

I also saw the toll the degeneracy was taking on my friend. They were gambling away rent money and car payments. Pleading (rightfully so) poverty when the bookie came knocking. They were constantly trying to borrow money that would hardly ever get paid back. Always chasing that $500 4-team parlay for that 20-1 payout.

So, one day I had enough. Cashed out the gambling accounts and put it in my main account.

That was the mid 2000’s. Since then, I’ve been to AC a handful of times, and like I said, I played some minor Super Bowl boxes. Family outings at the track. Oh, and some scratch offs and Power Ball tix from time to time.

And even though it was a very big part of my life, I don’t miss it much, if at all.

And online gambling and sports betting is allowed in NJ where I am, and I’ve had no inkling to open an account whatsoever. If this was the year 2000 instead of 2020, who knows how it would have affected me.

I’ve never played poker, and I will never do it. I still can’t understand why you guys spend so much time playing it.

:popcorn:

1 Like

Why does this bot have such a, um, personality?

I’m curious what the edit will be.

1 Like

Perhaps if someone explained the nuts and bolts of how poker works Melody would then understand.

2 Likes

I’m sure she’d find it fasten-ating.

1 Like

same here
:grimacing:

Riveting!

1 Like

Wow, that was a riveting segue there from poker to compliance infringement - well done!

Wait, what as there a new one I missed?

Yep - actually the same name that SteveGrondin responded to above (and they answered like they were the same person).

I’m still waiting for MelodySawyer up above to edit - they appear to be playing the long game there. :popcorn:

Mansplain it?