Shelby Nichols Consulting

I recently learned how to play poker, and I have to admit, I really enjoyed it. When I was growing up, I was taught that face cards and the resulting gambling that came from using them was bad for you. Naturally, I wanted to learn all about it. The closest I got to poker as a kid was a game called Tripoli and we played it all the time with poker chips. It wasn’t until recently that I learned how to play Texas Hold’em and found out what poker was all about. All the things I’d learned playing Tripoli certainly helped, but I still had to master the whole two pair, flush, straight, three of a kind, full house, royal flush, etc. And I still have trouble remembering which is better, a flush or a straight? The book Poker for Dummies helped me out a lot. So did a friend of mine. I had to play for a lot of money recently (a million dollars) and went from not knowing anything to playing the game in less than two days. It turned out to be kind of stressful. Now when I play the stakes aren’t quite as high, but I always win. How can I not… when I know what everyone’s cards are? This is a great advantage to me, but it also makes everyone think I’m a cheater. They can’t figure out how I do it, but when I always win, that’s the only explanation they can come up with. So…should I quit winning so much, so people will keep playing with me? Or should I just beat the pants off of them? Of course, the second option is the most fun, but I guess I could always lose a few hands so they feel better about it.