#68 - Poker 07/30/18

I....love....poker. If I'm being honest, I would almost consider playing poker for a living instead of stand up, if not for two things;

1) I'm not good enough. And a poker education isn't cheap.

2) I'm afraid making poker into a career would take a lot of the fun out of it.

I've read countless posts on poker forums by players that decided to quit their jobs and make their hobby into their career, only to find that after playing long sessions every day for a few months, the novelty starts to disappear. The game becomes a chore. Staying up late every night playing cards in casinos with no natural light, no windows. Your co-workers are fellow poker players, and you're all trying to take each other's money.

I can't imagine the stress that comes with the swings when you're playing for a living. Anyone that's played poker can tell you how much fun it is when you're winning, and how stressful and frustrating it can be when you're losing. Magnify that stress and frustration by 100 when you pay for a living, because it's not your beer money someone else is stacking in front of them, it's your rent. Even the best players have downswings (losing streaks), and I don't know how strong you have to be mentally (maybe foolish is the right word?) to battle through a month of losing at poker, knowing that there's no paycheque waiting at work to reload your bankroll with. I like my life to have as little stress in it as possible. Life as a poker pro doesn't sound like it jives with that at all.

As a hobby, though? Pokers the best. I don't really even care about the money. I don't want/need to play high stakes, I just love the game. The math of it interests me, but it's the psychology I like the most. Winning a pot with the best hand is great. But winning a pot with the perfect bluff, and getting someone else to lay down the best hand? That's magic. I love doing chip tricks, that *clack clack clack* sound of someone shuffling their chips...even the *snap* cards make as you peel up the corner of your card and then it fall back to the felt.

I vastly prefer live poker to playing online. I know playing on your computer/tablet whatever is more convenient, and wayyy faster, but it's not the same. I like sitting at a table with my friends and playing while we drink beer, or being at a casino watching SportsCentre in between hands. And when you play online, you don't get to stack your chips when you win a big pot! That's the best part!!

Poker is the shit. Comedy is my job now, but poker will always be the Robin to stand up's Batman. One of my biggest motivations to reach the headliner level as a comedian is to start making more money, so that I can afford to kill some of the time I have between shows on the road playing poker. That sounds perfect to me. Playing in the $10,000 buy in Main Event at the World Series of Poker will be at the top of my bucket list until it happens.

So, if anyone needs a comedian.....

Thanks for reading!

Adam