Poker Players are Beyond White Trash

“Poker players are beyond white trash.” Thank you Joan Rivers for giving me something to write about. I haven’t been following Celebrity Apprentice, but the tirade by Joan Rivers now makes me want to watch the show a bit.

Annie Duke responded that poker players are some of the most awesome people in the world. In some cases, Annie is right. In other cases, Joan is right. It really depends on the type of people that you play with. Any of us that play live poker have seen the different characters that have passed through the game. For every Greg Raymer, there is a Elix Powers. There are great guys and asses alike.

This applies to the home game as well as the casino. There was a great home game that I used to play about ½ hour from my house. I was a winning player and probably made 200 to 300 a month at the game. For the size of the game, $200 to $300 a month was a good win. The game had a bunch of decent guys and girls, but there was one guy that over time became a total jerk, and it was mostly connected with alcohol. Eventually, I had to quit going to the game.

On the flip side, there are a couple of games that I will almost always play in Atlantic City if they are running. The reason isn’t because the game is a good game. In fact, one of the games is one of the biggest rockfests you will ever see. However, the people are great and it’s a lot of fun to play with them. I’m up in the games, but it’s more social time than anything.

Don’t get me wrong. Poker is not a “gentleman’s game” and I don’t really think it ever will truly be. Granted, the game has been cleaned up a lot since the old days when you had to carry a gun to the table as well as your money. However, there are still many bad apples that can give the game a bad name. That’s the reality of poker.

However, in the end, poker players as a whole are not beyond white trash. In fact Ms Rivers, I can almost bet you that if people put you in a lineup, many players would not have a clue whom you are, but could probably point out several of the big name poker players.