Happy New Year!

My wish for all is a more successful year than the one just completed; even if you were very successful last year. The exception to this sentiment is if you happen to be sitting at my table.

Moving on. I'm a big believer in Dirty Harry Callahan when he said, "a man's got to know his limitations". It is with that philosophy that I declined to play in the blogger skill game last night. The featured game was 7-card stud high. Despite the age and reverence of this game, I don't have the first clue how to play it well (i.e., basic strategy). Perhaps one day I will break down and read Chip Reese's chapter on the subject in Super System 1. Perhaps that will give me a ground floor education in the tenets of the game. Perhaps it will give me the confidence to play some low stakes stud to employ those tenets. Perhaps I may even get good at it. But that hasn't happened yet, so last night would have been the equivalent of a $13 donation. Or maybe not...

Riggstad and I were chatting on AIM pre-game last night. He asked if I was playing and I indicated I was not. I gave him the reasoning loosely provided above, but I said I may rail for a while, just to see if I can learn a little by watching. I did indeed learn something by watching. I learned that a lack of understanding of how to play the game did not stop everybody. I may not know how to play stud well, but I can sure recognize crappy play when I see it, no matter what the game.

I see people calling bets chasing a jack high flush (that they hit on 7th) and then state that the bets were so small compared to the pot, that they had to see what the better was playing. That was one example that stood out of many more I could describe. And that's why I didn't want to play last night. I knew that I would either have to contend with that sort, or (worse yet) BE that sort.

It may be argued that the purpose of the rotation of games in the blogger skill tournaments is to get people to play other variations, and presumably to improve at them. My counter argument would be that millions of people are playing lots and lots of hold 'em, and I would wager that the vast majority are not getting noticeably better.

The more I play, the more I understand how much more I have to learn. But alas, it is not that way with many people. I feel comfortable playing hold 'em with anyone because I feel I have a base of understanding that can be successful. I may never be the best player in a mtt that I'm in, but I know I'm not the worst. I do not have such a comfort level with other games. Some people may not be bothered by playing virtually blind; indeed they seem to celebrate it. I can not do that. So yes it was only $13, but you will see no donations from me. At least not until I hit the books.