Gambling Break

The past week has been great. No classes, no major external stresses, just a lot of work to be done, and a lot of it actually getting done. Pocket of Bolts and I have played some fierce games of racquetball, and spent a lot of hours in various coffee-shops with out computers back to back (in way that must look icky to everyone else, but it works so well for us...), getting shit written.

Two nights ago, after a long day of scholarship, we went out to play poker again. I'm not sure if I mentioned our last poker game. Some grad students and very junior faculty in PoB's department get a game together about once a month, Texas Hold'em, $20 buy-in. Now I was raised by a Quaker, and really shouldn't enjoy gambling. I was really hesitant to even try it the first time. While I was in China it was one of those things that PoB did which I was mildly disapproving of and worried about but held my peace. Then one of the nights, significant others were expressly invited and PoB talked me into going. Of course, $20 is REAL MONEY to me, not just small change, and given that I had never played before, I was pretty sure I'd lose it all. So PoB staked me, arguing (like they all do) that you'd spend that much hanging out with friends at a bar. Well, I don't do that either. But anyway, I went along with it, learned the basics of the game, showed up and did my best.

It turned out to be a blast.

Of course that first time I lost the entire $20, but it took me most of the night. This is a real achievement, because if you run out of money too early, the temptation to "buy back in" is horrible, and then you probably end up losing another $20 (but sometimes you end up winning it all back...). And they all say, well, it's still within the realm of what you'd spend hanging out a bar with your friends. This is not true of me in any imaginable scenario. Unless I were drinking top-shelf and really slowly, $40 would get me too drunk to walk home. But anyway, to make a long story short I had a really fun time.

So two days ago we went again and I used my own $20. I played very conservatively, and not only didn't lose my stake but actually came out up by $1! Maybe next time if I'm lucky I'll make enough to buy myself a whole cup of coffee, ha ha. But don't worry, I won't get hooked. I'm too miserly ever to win big, because I can't bear to bet big, even on a nearly sure thing. And I find bluffing nearly impossible. (Or so I will let everyone continue to think.....) It wasn't hard to walk away, even when I was only up by $1, as all I could think of was, "Wow, I even still have some money left!"

Mostly, though, it was a really fun time. I like the company, and social situations are always easier for me when there is some formal activity going on, with the talking taking place around the edges.