It's All About Getting Head

I just made a connection between pouring beer correctly and playing poker well.

Ohhh, yes. Yes, I did.

When you first start drinking and/or pouring beer, you have no idea what you're doing. You know you WANT the beer, and you know that it goes in the cup, and the rest is all just... unknown territory. You don't even KNOW what you don't know, you know so little. You pour and it's nearly all head and if you're a guy you're all, 'heh. head'. And if you're a girl you're all, '*giggle* head'. You don't care that you have a glass full of foam; it's fun, you like it, you get enough in your mouth to feel excited, and you want more.

Poker is the same thing. You start playing, you like it, it's fun, but you have no real idea what you're doing. You might understand how the cards work, what would beat what, and that you want the chips. You might just get lucky enough to win one or two pots, and that is enough of a taste to make you wanting more. The adrenaline rush is awesome, even if you're really not quite sure WHAT just happened.

You might learn enough about pouring beer to tilt your glass. You're going to OVER tilt it, and you will definitely UNDER tilt it, and then, you'll really feel like you 'get it'. You are the master of the beer pour. You have learned that something called 'quality' exists. You might not care about having GOOD beer, but damn if you're not going to try to get AS MUCH beer as you can into your glass. You feel almost like a fucking professional beer pour-er. People WATCH you pour the beer, you're so damn smooth. You never spill any, you barely get ANY head (giggle), except, we all know that a good beer pour-er gets plenty of head. *wink, wink*.

The next step for poker is the same; you maybe have logged in a bunch of hours online, maybe you read a book or two. You finally understand things like POT ODDS. You're going to over-bet and under-bet the pot; you'll scream and curse the poker gods when some 'DONKEY' gets you all in with your A Q SUITED (it was suuuiiiittteeed!!) with his fucking pair of THREES and nothing fucking HITS and you're OUT of a FIFTY DOLLAR BUY IN. But fuck that shit, man. Those people don't even KNOW the TERROR they have brought upon them. You understand THEORY! It's not your fault that these TUNA get lucky. You win more pots, you might even feel like you're 'making' money... You regale people with your knowledge. Everyone loves you, loves to have you a part of their home games, you win those for SURE, because no one else UNDERSTANDS. Once again, you're getting plenty of head because You. Are. A. Poker. Star.

Then, somewhere down the line you realize that pouring a beer just right is NOT all about the LACK of foam. It's about wanting a GOOD beer. I'm not talking about Bud light vs. Heineken. I'm talking about pouring a beer to the BEER'S best. You'll get head, sure, but you'll let all the deliciousness out. It might LOOK like you don't know what you're doing, but you do. You know EXACTLY what you're doing. And the people who know will look at you and give you a little nod, as if to say, 'welcome, oh wondrous beer pour-er'.

Poker is NOT just about POT ODDS. It's not even about your STARTING HAND. It's about what you can make the other person THINK you have. You have to pick your battles; you have to pick your POSITION, but if you're the only one who knows that you have absolutely NOTHING, and everyone else at the table is certain you have the nuts or ALMOST the nuts, who cares what is in your hand? Someone who doesn't quite get it will think you're a total donkey, but those who know, know what it REALLY is. It's balls. Big, honken' BALLS. And a desire to have the best of ALL of it.