Play Money Play Poker Who is the Tall Talk Stranger

I am constantly amused at dinner, a party, social setting or an after work gathering when the subject of television comes up. Did you know that no one watches elimidate or Springer or Trading Spouses. All anyone watches is National Geographic and the History channel. I am not sure how the rest of these programs stay in business. Actually both programs are quite good by the way. No not Springer and elimidate but NGeo and the history channel. I admit to watching both.

So, it may come as a real surprise to most that the most popular programs on television today revolve around poker and the World Poker Tour. Surfing across the cable world it is impossible not to see old TV stars or even Nascar Drivers playing poker on TV. Poker is big. The programs draw huge crowds to watch at all times of the day. Huge poker rooms have sprung up where it is legal and Vegas poker rooms have gone all poker. What has done this is TV and Texas Hold em a form of poker which is quite easy to learn and has a competitive element that is seductive.

Across the internet, I do know that you know what the internet is or you would not be reading this, poker playing sites where you can play for free or gamble the real doh-ray-me are numerous. Millions of folks are playing this very second on web sites called U-bet, Poker Stars, full tilt and more. You can play for the real bucks using your credit card......YIKES or play at the free sites where I play. Yes, I play. Am I good. There is not one poker player on any of these sites who does not think they are a genius. I have won almost sever or eight million chips and lost seven or eight million and one. The seduction is the ease of competition and the desire to win both intoxicating.

One of my favorite television shows, I admit to loving TV, was the late 50's and early 60's Warner Brothers TV show Maverick starring James Garner as Brett Maverick. Remember the song.....

Who is the tall dark stranger there?
Maverick is the name.
Riding the trail to who knows where
Luck is his companion
Gamblin' is his game.

I loved that show. Year and years later in the 70's I discovered that Ted Turner on early cable would play Maverick at 6 am on Saturday Mornings. Those were the days I would work almost until morning working in a restaurant called Thirteen Coins http://www.13coins.com/ in Seattle Washington. After working all night I would saddle up to fiesty bottle of Chardonnay to watch Jack Kelly figure out what his brother Brett was going to do next. And of course poker was the game of choice for the Maverick family. Brett was too cool, handsome and inherently cowardly. His main goal was to move through life getting as much as he could without giving much. That certainly became unavoidable much of the time as his streak of bravery would unwillingly come out at the worst moments. Later Garner would make a hit movie call "Support your Local Sherrif" where the Brett Maverick character solved a towns outlaw problems and married the local mayors rich daughter all while crying that he was "just on his way to Australia".

I love playing poker. I love winning even more. I am so thankful that the "free sites" are available. Playing with the fake chips is good for by now I would have mortgaged the house again, sold the kids into slavery and been selling myself for sexual favors just to keep my addiction going. Fake chips make it easy. Today I lost 560,000 chips. Can't do that every day with real money and not want to watch CNN for hours as punishment. And addiction can be the word. I know some folks who play...........well 12 plus hours a day. Fake chips.............fake life.

Know what I recommend to those folks.....good dose of Jerry Springer and elimindate. Got to get them to round out there lives. Seems like a trivial matter in comparison. Of course much of life in comparison is fleeting. Wish I had Maverick on tape would play one right now.