So about 3 weeks ago, I finally convinced one of my long-time friends to come play poker in a home game with my group of regulars. He knew how to play hold'em just from fooling around on Yahoo! poker but never gambled it up for real. It's been so long since I've played a complete beginner that I didn't know how to play him. I only assumed that he would be a calling station since that's what most beginners are. And sure enough, he would be limping every hand and betting the minimum in random spots and calling whenever he caught a piece of the board. But he adjusted pretty quickly and in fact, busted me pretty early on (we play small tournaments). I raised big preflop with AK knowing he would call with anything he thought was decent. The flop came K 8 2 with two hearts. I bet big and another player called and he called. I instantly knew the other player had a flush draw, but my friend could have anything. The turn was a blank and I bet big again. The other player folded and my friend called. At this point, I was putting my friend on a K with a lower kicker, so when the river blanked I shoved hoping I would get everything. He hesistantly called and I instantly felt I was beat. And of course he flipped over K 2. He ended up winning the tournament. He called me after I had left to brag....such beginner's luck.

Ever since then, he's been absolutely addicted to the game. He's playing the freerolls on Stars and looking up the probabilities of hand matchups, and constantly asking me when the next home game is. A few days ago, he handed me $5 and asked if I could transfer $5 to him on Stars. I chose not to because 1) I knew he would go busto within an hour and 2) I wasn't sure if I wanted to lead him into the harsh world of online poker. He continued to play the freerolls and impressed me with a ~200th place finish out of 11,000 entrants in one of them.

Just yesterday, we got to talking about poker on AIM and just for the hell of it I transfered $10 to him on Stars. I explained to him what a sit n go was and decided to watch him as he played a $1 dollar sit n go. He would type what hands he had in AIM and I would give him advice on how to play them. I was telling him not to play A-rag and explaining that those hands are often dominated. Or telling him to fold this or that. One hand, he limped with 10 8 suited and the flop came down 9 8 7. Without asking my advice, he called all the way down with the board turning out to be 9 8 7 3 8 and he sucked out on his opponent's 10 9. On AIM, he was going nuts and telling me he was physically shaking and nervous during that hand. Such noobish tendencies over $1. But he had become chip leader.

I was reminded of how I felt nervous and jittery at my first home game when I first was introduced to the thrill of gambling ( I don't see poker as much of a gamble now). At that moment I decided to let my friend play his own game. Sure, I wanted so badly to tell him to attack obvious weakness, to raise to 3xBB with his playable hands, to fold hands before the river, and most of all that online poker was a soul-crushing, almost hopeless venture filled with river beats and ugly downswings. But he was having fun and he experienced chills each time he would play a pot, knowing money was on the line. He was experiencing the thrill of poker I had lost. I no longer get excited about holding Aces or rivering a flush let alone a $1 sit n go. But he was going nuts each time he was making a big hand (and of course severely overbetting the pot each time). When the blinds got big, I told him to shove anything he thought was decent. I couldn't stop laughing my ass off when his Q 5 sucked out on K J by hitting trip queens and when his K J sucked out on A 7 by rivering two pair. He ended up winning the sit n go and was completely ecstatic. He instantly wanted to transfer his winnings back to me but I refused. I wanted him to enjoy his winning moment (and his winnings). 1st place was a measly $4.50 but winning meant everything.

When he won, I felt something I haven't felt in a long time playing poker - the joy of gamblin' it up and the excitement of taking it down. I felt happier seeing him take down a $1 sit n go than stacking someone myself in the cash games I play at. Damn. I kind of wanted to be a clueless donk again.

Anyway, this story inspired me to start up a blog about poker here, which will hopefully help to rekindle the excitement of poker for me. I very much still enjoy the game, otherwise I wouldn't be playing, but grinding out a profit seems to matter more. And of course, tilt really fucks with the enjoyment of the game. I know I probably won't be able to re-experience the same excitement I had as a beginner but I've come to appreciate the game on a new level and hope that appreciation grows. Thanks for reading and stay tuned.