It still amazes me that poker is seen as slightly dodgy, a bit snidey and certainly not a career move for a person who wants to be seen as an up standing citizen.
Maybe its the years of images such as sharp suited guys who sailed up and down the Mississippi doing nothing more than relieve gullible folks of their holiday money, sometimes by cooked means more times by superior play.
Today’s poker player are a lot less likely to be thieves but this doesn’t stop accusations of cheating being applied. In fact a game I was involved in the first player that got knocked out immediately made accusations that the game was crooked.
He lost because he was drunk and played his cards wrong, but in his mind he was robbed and nothing short of giving him his money back would satisfy his perceived injustice. Ah well as the great W.C Fields once said ‘never give a sucker an even break…’!
Having a poker face is one of the most demanding problems for a poker player but once you have it it is golden and thats where the problem probably lies. when you know a guy has the nuts and fold and then shake him down by playing the percentages it can be frustrating for a bad player. My heart bleeds with sorrow.
