As part of the isolation that a pandemic foists upon you, Wednesday nights saw a group of us battle boredom by turning our phone devices into high-stakes gambling screens. Actually, the only stakes were bragging rights, but that's neither here nor there...
What a game it is. Having played a lot of poker with my buddies over the years, we've seen crazy bets, bad-beats, shit-luck, gritted teeth and a few centavos changing hands.
But I'll never be convinced that it's a skilled game. People will argue that they can 'read' someone, but it's easy to just play up nervousness, or get a bit fidgety to induce calls. Or you bust out a slow-play and let others dictate the action while you rope-a-dope. Being able to calculate percentages is all well and good, but an 87% chance of winning is eff-all good to you when a river card gives an opponent a full boat. It was always fun for me as long as I brought the desire to keep it fun, and the willingness to lose.
Snapped a screenshot of the best poker hand I've ever had. I won the hand, but not the game...