Hi Nik. You didn't say hi back last time so I'm giving it another shot.
How is it having a girlfriend who plays/gets poker?
The hours have always caused massive problems with relationships in the past for me (with no poker ppl), even though they understand the game / variance sort of.
Hahahaha sorry guys! Hi to ALL my hero's who keep this diary alive, much love.
Well I've actually had 2 girlfriends who've played poker. With mixed results on that front tbh..
Girl #1; We played prob 3/4 nights we spent with each other, she was more of a tournament person and I was knocking it in tournament wise so kinda stayed away. If we were on the same table I'd completely stay out of her way and fold ridic hands to her opens pre, we also couldn't have any banter at the table because she thought I was insulting her so playing with her made me miserable, she rarely played cash so that's where I made my home really and just finished when she busto'd, she was also someone who you could never speak to regarding a hand you/she played, it was just "I play how I want, leave me alone" but if she ever saw some levelling war going on she wouldn't understand at all so it was kind of awkward..
On the upside she had a well paid job so losing didn't phase her that much.. This was also bad though because she'd blow it on roulette/slots if I was still in a tournament which I obv don't like to see people wasting their money, but it's their money and none of my business and I learnt this the hard way (read; after about 10 arguments)
EDIT: Will also add that if I blew her off to play poker one night she'd say;
"Wow you have a really gambling problem"..
Me "Oh, what you up to tonight then?"
"Playing slots on sky poker atm.."
Relationship was gg after things like this happen, while I play poker a lot she just sounds like all of the anti-poker/gambling people I know and it really put me off.
Girl #2; Current gf. Play a lot with her, she loves the game, learning and basically wants to get better. She's a self confessed massive nit but she plays that style well and I'm not going to try and change that, she will talk to me about hands she played and how to play them better and most of the time will take onboard my opinion. I play more standard around her than vs girl 1 because we're on the same tables a lot, however I'd feel so bad about busting her in a tournament/cash so I'd have her buyin ready to give her back at the end of the night because the money means a lot to her and winning a bowl comp for £400 is peanuts to MOST of us but a huge deal for her.
She sometimes joins me on cash tables and I hold my breath every pot she's in, it's awful on the drive home when one has lost and one has won, same results you can console each other but if one of you wins £400 and one loses £75 it's hard, people might say why don't you offset each others losses but we don't play for the same amount of money, I sit with the max usually and she's normally a short stack and how dirty would I feel taking her profit because I've 4b spacked it with KQo!
On the whole though. It's fun and gives me even more time to spend with her whilst enjoying my hobby. On the sleeping pattern etc it's still a real issue, it's not so bad for me as I have to force myself awake for work but for a pro I couldn't imagine how tough it is, I guess it's something we'd have to hope they understand and just try and get some rest the day before you plan something with them.
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