Like many of you, I grew up in a house in which playing cards was second nature. My earliest memories are of Go Fish and War. These quickly evolved into various forms of Rummy, Canasta, Pinochle, Spades, Hearts, a local game called Catch-5, Bridge and yes, Poker. My family loved playing cards and didn’t really seem to favor any one game over the other. Looking back, playing cards was the perfect social experience, bringing people together for a fun and competitive activity. I can clearly remember my parents playing in their “card club” one night a week.
I played regularly in high school, in college and for at least a number of years after graduation. Then life intruded. People moved, they got busy with their jobs, marriages and kids. Their priorities changed. Who had time to play cards? After all, a decent poker game needs to be played over at least five or six hours with six or seven people right?
Apart from the intellectual challenge and the money that may be made by playing poker, this game has another attribute and that’s the social aspect of it. Poker is a social game – players sit around a card table and play and talk for hours which strengthen their friendship. Poker offers you a chance to meet new people and make friends while playing your favorite game.
In many TV shows you can see the traditional “boys’ night” where few guys sit around a table and play poker into the small hours of the night, that’s a typical example for a poker game which symbolizes the social aspect of poker – not only do you get a chance to earn few bucks but you can talk and get to know other card players in the same time.