$64,000 Question

This morning I had just $2000 and now I have $64,000.

Not bad for about 30 minutes work.

http://www.warwickwoods.com/images/Texas_Hold_2.jpg

Of course I am not talking about real money. The $62,000 that I have accumulated during the day is unfortunately virtual and cannot be used to purchase anything in the real world.

I have to admit that this virtual money was won by playing poker, Texas Hold 'em, to be precise. I played carefully today and within a relatively short time managed to increase my original stake by 32 times. Just imagine if I could do that in real life...

Of course in real life I would be much more careful. Firstly I would never visit a casino with the equivalent of $2000 and start betting it all on a game which relies on chance but also on quite a bit of skill. To be good at poker you have to be able to calculate odds, you have to be able to recognise the different scoring hands, you have to play tactically and you have to learn the tactics and plays of your opponents...In a real casino those other players would be better than me.

In virtual poker I am always aware that the money is make believe, therefore it really doesn't matter if I win or lose. It really doesn't matter if on a risky pair of 5's I go all in. If I lose, well never mind, tomorrow I will be gifted some more cash and I can start again. If I win, I might win big but the odds are likely to be against me. I real life I would never be so reckless. Once the cash was gone there would be no chance to win it back.

http://yeijen.com/blog2/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/GamblingChips.jpg

Of course most of my opponents would no doubt be thinking the same thing. This must really change the dynamics of the game. I have only played poker for money a couple of times in my life but I am pleased to say that the last time I left the table with more money that I arrived with.

The crazy thing about virtual poker is that there is always an opportunity to buy virtual chips with real money. This I struggle to understand. I wonder just how many people become so fixated with the game that they need to actually spend money to keep playing.

It is quite amazing how quite addictive gambling can be.

Anyone like to bet that I can double my money in the next thirty minutes?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sparkly bathroom prevented by natural chemical equilibria

Image
I have had the pleasure of cleaning the bathroom today. I have used a number of different products over the years to find a chemical that will remove the annoying marks from the tiles, taps and shower screen. The hard water means that no matter how clean and sparkly I get the taps, they are only two showers away from being once again covered in the annoying white powder.   Crystals of limescale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kesselstein_k.jpg) There is a lot of interesting chemistry involved in limescale. It is essentially deposits of insoluble calcium carbonate left behind from the hot water. But how does it get into the water in the first place and why doesn't it stay in it? Limescale initially starts as limestone, chalk and other similar sedimentary rocks that formed from the bodies of tiny calcium containing sea creatures that lived in warm shallow tropical seas millions of years ago. See the BBC clip at this learning zone site. Since their formation these rocks have been
Read more

Polka dot, 7 inches, 15 minutes, luke warm

Image
January 2010 and a new craze hit Facebook. Across the social network women started to post colours as their status. Some posted beige, some ivory, some hot pink, some polka dot. For a while people across the world were confused, intrigued, indeed fascinated by what these colours could mean. In fact the colours referred to the colour of the bra the woman was wearing that particular day. This 'craze' was in aid of a breast cancer awareness campaign a fantastic cause and in my opinion a clever and innovative use of Facebook. Over the last couple of days some of the ladies have begun to post a length measured in inches followed by a time in minutes. This has resulted in a status that might read '6 inches 25 minutes'. Oh how amusing...I like a bit of smut but I found these updates strangely annoying. Obviously it doesn't mean what it says and is code for something fairly inane and boring. So slightly intrigued and determined to crack the code I did what I always
Read more

What's Your Station?

Image
One of my most vivid memories is completing my Silver Duke of Edinburgh Expedition in the New Forest one October half term. It must have been 1987 as Mike Smith was the Radio 1 breakfast host and I remember cooking bacon on the Trangia stove, in a field behind a scout hut in Fordingbridge, whilst listening to T'Pau's new single China in Your Hand, it was a gorgeous Autumn morning.  http://asymptotia.com/wp-images/2007/08/Radio_dynamo.jpg I had a red plastic battery operated radio that we listened to as we walked. That radio once got us into trouble on a snowy February in Dartmoor as the magnet in the speaker affected our compass, a rookie error that put us out a couple of miles searching for a postbox on Rough Tor.   Radio 1 was the station to listen to, the new music was heard first on this station, and alongside Mike Smith the line-up included Simon Bates, Mike Read, Simon Mayo and of course Steve Wright. Whilst at Uni I still enjoyed listening to Simon Mayo's breakfast
Read more