Ghosts at the Table!

Why, after 4 years, am I still playing this game, Texas Holdem.

This isn't a question that has arisen from constant losses, boredom or any other negative reason. This is just a general question as to why I continue to play this game, after all you are always dealt just two cards, and there will always be a flop, and there will always be a turn card, and always a river, yet still I can't wait to fire up my laptop and meet the same challenge with a daily renewed vigour.

Well one aspect which enthuses me definitely has to be the draw of the money. That win that will take me much higher up the poker ladder and into a lifestyle I can only dream of is potentially, always just around the corner.

Then there is the challenge!

The challenge to master the game, to reduce the luck factor to such a low level, to read situations so perfect every time that you become practically unbeatable.

The challenge to beat your previous results, to improve on %age of wins in SnG's, to increase the cash rate in multi tournaments or to reduce losses at a particular level.

All these to me were givens, and then I read the book Ghosts at the Table written by Des Wilson.

This is a great piece of work. It opens your eyes and heart as it takes the reader through the 4 ages of poker. Starting in the Wild West with characters such as Wild Bill and Wyatt Earp it progresses through to the river boat gambler, then the Texas Road gambler (TJ Cloutier, Doyle Brunson), on to the Birth of Poker in Vegas and the WSOP culminating in a review of where poker is today.

It truly shows the romance of poker along with the dangerous past that the players of old had to endure just to play this beautiful game. It lists the iconic moments in pokers history and what made the stalwarts of the poker world what they are today. In essence it explains so much of why poker, just a game, mirrors so much of what happens to us in real life.

So if your struggling with drive, and the money doesn't do it for you anymore, or the challenge isn't there then read this book.

Because if you're like me, it will give you one more reason to play this game ... to become one of the legends.

Until next time.

Keep it Tight