I’ve got a confession to make…. I was sick of slot99.
I hadn’t been playing much, and when I did play I was just throwing money away. Chasing pots, making stupid bluffs – I had gone back to being a little fish in a big pond.
It kind of snuck up on me. I’d loved poker for so many years, I couldn’t imagine not liking or playing anymore.
It wasn’t just online poker either, but with everything to do with the game. I wasn’t reading my poker magazines -they still arrived every month, but sat in a pile, their envelopes unopened. I flicked through the cable TV guide, skipping over the poker show listings I once salivated over.
I ignored the emails and text messages from my regular live games. My own table was folded up in the garage gathering dust.
Was it because nothing was new and exciting in poker any more? Had I just gotten bored with it? Why didn’t I love poker anymore!
The day I noticed I had been neglecting poker, I had a good think about how it happened. I came to the realization that it was because poker had become a chore rather than a joy. It was going to take some work for me to get any better and I think that had dulled my passion.
I was good enough to beat some games, but had never devoted enough time to my game to become a really good player. I hadn’t put any hard work in, not enough to reach that next level.
And I hadn’t really expanded my repertoire past Hold’em. Sure I ‘know’ how to play most poker games. As in I know the rules…. But I wouldn’t even think about entering a big Omaha, Razz or Seven Card Stud tournament! The only big buy-in tournaments I had ever played were all Hold’em.
So I made myself a promise. I wouldn’t let my love affair with poker die without a fight.
I dusted off the table and invited some friends over for a game – of H.O.R.S.E! Most of them didn’t even know how to play some of the games, but it was the most fun we’d had around a poker table in years! We even invented our own game variation – D.H.O.B.S – Draw, Hold’em, Omaha, Badugi & Stud.
So now we have a regular DHOBS game, and I love poker again!
I started playing more Omaha & Stud online in the micro-limits. It was so much fun to go back and play for cents instead of dollars! I realized that the best thing about poker isn’t winning money – it’s more about making friends, having fun and trying new things. And I’d missed it…
So over the next few months you might see some changes on Poker.com. We’re going to start adding a lot more info about games other than Hold’em and start hosting our own tournaments featuring other games. We’re going to try and get everyone else enjoying more than just Hold’em. It may be the Cadillac of poker, but everyone knows it’s sometimes fun to drive an old Mustang too.
