You will have a friend, and he has a wife, with two kids.
And he will innocently ask about poker. And you will happily talk about it with him, and get him into it. For low stakes, because it's all just fun and everything. Just like you have for the rest of the people you know, because for most people, that is how it goes, it's just fun and they win sometimes, they lose sometimes, for small change.. maybe a grand over the year, who cares...
but this friend is different. He plays for the small change and wins a bit. And he decides that this game is really fun. So he plays a little bigger and wins a little more. And plays a little bigger, maybe he loses. But that was just being unlucky. And he is hooked now. And maybe a year later, or two years later. He is broke. And he lost his house. And his wife and kids, they have nothing. He became completely addicted to gambling. He lost everything. He is gambling his kids college money. His food money. He lost the house. He lost the car. Everything. His wife and kids have nothing. And his wife calls you up. You FUCK, Bradley. You fuck you did this. You introduced him to this you fucking asshole. The 16 year old daughter calls you up in tears. He borrows some money from some shady people and they show up at his house and hurt him or his family. Is it just fun then? Because one time, one of your friends, that is what is going to happen, for sure. One of these times, you're going to get unlucky and hit that jackpot. Hit the guy who is going to wind up at Gamblers Anonymous, or hit the guy who is going to wind up putting the gun in his mouth and killing himself once he is busto. And you started him on that road. I won't say I told you so, but I did.
It's like drugs, Bradley. Most people can do cocaine and not get addicted, that stuff they show us in school is lies for the most part. I know tons of people who have done coke and it's fine. But there is always that one guy who is not fine. That one guy is the minority. Think about it, if everyone who did coke wound up an addict, there would be so many addicts in the world you'd have to do some concentration camp shit to deal with them. If you liked to do coke recreationally, and you weren't addicted, and when your friends asked you about it you were like, yeah it's awesome and you got them into it, then eventually you are going to get unlucky and one of them will be the one winds up being an addict. Most of them will agree with you, it's a fun time, it feels good when they do it with you. But one of them will ruin their life, you can bet on that. You just think it is fun because you haven't found the one that ruins their life yet. But once you do find that one, and I hope for your sake that it isn't one that has anyone around him that can go down with him, you will understand why you should just be quiet about playing poker to people who do not play.
One day, one of these people you are showing off your knowledge to is going to wind up hurting his family or broke and dead and you are going to hear about it through the grapevine. Just think about that when you are jawing off your knowledge. It's not worth the little ego boost. Just if they ask if it is fun, go, "Yeah, it's all right, kind of boring, a lot of sitting around." They are your friends and you are protecting them from potential hurt. The poker world is a terrible place. You associate with people obsessed with money. With a lot of scumbags. With people indulging in schadenfreude. You get a lot of egos floating around. If you go to those clubs in NYC, they can get arrested or killed. And to top it all off, your friends are probably going to lose their money there too. There isn't any glamour. TV tries to put a shine on it, but look hard at those people sitting at the table and you can see what is really there behind them. I think if you care about your friends you would try to shield them from the world you are involved in.
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Date: 2006-02-27 21:59 (UTC)You will have a friend, and he has a wife, with two kids.
And he will innocently ask about poker. And you will happily talk about it with him, and get him into it. For low stakes, because it's all just fun and everything. Just like you have for the rest of the people you know, because for most people, that is how it goes, it's just fun and they win sometimes, they lose sometimes, for small change.. maybe a grand over the year, who cares...
but this friend is different. He plays for the small change and wins a bit. And he decides that this game is really fun. So he plays a little bigger and wins a little more. And plays a little bigger, maybe he loses. But that was just being unlucky. And he is hooked now. And maybe a year later, or two years later. He is broke. And he lost his house. And his wife and kids, they have nothing. He became completely addicted to gambling. He lost everything. He is gambling his kids college money. His food money. He lost the house. He lost the car. Everything. His wife and kids have nothing. And his wife calls you up. You FUCK, Bradley. You fuck you did this. You introduced him to this you fucking asshole. The 16 year old daughter calls you up in tears. He borrows some money from some shady people and they show up at his house and hurt him or his family. Is it just fun then? Because one time, one of your friends, that is what is going to happen, for sure. One of these times, you're going to get unlucky and hit that jackpot. Hit the guy who is going to wind up at Gamblers Anonymous, or hit the guy who is going to wind up putting the gun in his mouth and killing himself once he is busto. And you started him on that road. I won't say I told you so, but I did.
It's like drugs, Bradley. Most people can do cocaine and not get addicted, that stuff they show us in school is lies for the most part. I know tons of people who have done coke and it's fine. But there is always that one guy who is not fine. That one guy is the minority. Think about it, if everyone who did coke wound up an addict, there would be so many addicts in the world you'd have to do some concentration camp shit to deal with them. If you liked to do coke recreationally, and you weren't addicted, and when your friends asked you about it you were like, yeah it's awesome and you got them into it, then eventually you are going to get unlucky and one of them will be the one winds up being an addict. Most of them will agree with you, it's a fun time, it feels good when they do it with you. But one of them will ruin their life, you can bet on that. You just think it is fun because you haven't found the one that ruins their life yet. But once you do find that one, and I hope for your sake that it isn't one that has anyone around him that can go down with him, you will understand why you should just be quiet about playing poker to people who do not play.
One day, one of these people you are showing off your knowledge to is going to wind up hurting his family or broke and dead and you are going to hear about it through the grapevine. Just think about that when you are jawing off your knowledge. It's not worth the little ego boost. Just if they ask if it is fun, go, "Yeah, it's all right, kind of boring, a lot of sitting around." They are your friends and you are protecting them from potential hurt. The poker world is a terrible place. You associate with people obsessed with money. With a lot of scumbags. With people indulging in schadenfreude. You get a lot of egos floating around. If you go to those clubs in NYC, they can get arrested or killed. And to top it all off, your friends are probably going to lose their money there too. There isn't any glamour. TV tries to put a shine on it, but look hard at those people sitting at the table and you can see what is really there behind them. I think if you care about your friends you would try to shield them from the world you are involved in.