So, here we are, Pokerstars are taking time out from ruling the world of online poker to run a series of events dedicated to the people who grease the wheels of the online poker world. That is, people like me who take the time to write about poker for either very little money, or just for the love of it, and by that I mean Poker Bloggers.
I for one am very happy about this, and it seems to have given me a warm fuzzy feeling inside, and that is nothing to do with the chance to win $5000. Ok, that's a lie, but it's not all about the dollar signs. Its also about the events I get to play, and the possibilities of what I could do with any winnings or prize money.
I'm currently between serious jobs, playing a little poker and writing about it to cover my rent, not always successfully, and having $5000 would let me try and make something like a poker media career.
The ability to travel to some of season 3s UKIPTs with Media Accreditation, and interview some of the elite players in European Poker on a freelance basis would give me the freedom to ask questions you might not normally see in a poker interview. We are so used to seeing the same questions turn up interview after interview, some of us can answer for the poker player before the interviewer has finished. Not that I think the Poker Media is doing a bad job, but as poker is a niche past time, interviews have to be accessible to the casual viewer. Thing is, for the more hardcore viewer, these interviews can be very generic, and actually turn us off from following the mainstream poker media.
I'd love to ask a professional player some more off the wall questions including some of the downsides to playing poker for a living. Things like the odd hours, the live pro living out of a suitcase, the fact that a day's profits can hang on the turn of a card and how that impacts their mental state, and the reliance on poor internet connections. Mainly I want to ask why and how they really don't care, because the life they are leading right now is exactly where they want to be.
Over the last few years I've been making trips to poker events, I've met a lot of poker players, some of whom are famous, but a lot more who are grinding hard, trying to get that one big breakthrough that might propel them to the next level in the industry. The goal for most of these players is to wear a patch, for a poker site to trust their image, to trust them to be an ambassador for their brand.
However, even the players just starting on this journey, along with the players who have been walking this path for years, are generally (with the exception of those lamenting Bad Beat Stories) happy, lively, party animals. You haven't really lived until you have gone drinking with a group of poker players. The feeling of camaraderie you get from something as "basic" as a game played with 52 cards, knowing that Lady Luck has a larger than usual impact on your collective lives, is immense.
Every time I step into a poker event, whether I'm playing, researching something I'm writing, or just meeting up with friends, I get a chill down my spine, and I feel like I do when I walk into my house and into the arms of a loved one. I short, I feel home. Yes that's hackneyed as hell, but it's still the truth, and has more than little impact on my preferred career.
The obvious goal for me is to get a staff gig with a large poker media outlet, but I'm not naive enough to believe the chances are particularly good in this financial climate, but anything that brings me closer to this goal is fine by me, and my Bank Manager will be a very happy man!
All I can do is take my chances where I can, and continue to write about the game and community I love, and hope Lady Luck favours me more away from the tables than she does at them!
If you want to follow more of my poker ramblings and opinions, all my published articles and blogs are posted on my twitter account @Hippy1980, and I do my best to retweet or tweet any major poker news stories as they happen.
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