It is fun to play for money that you can afford to lose, but it is pure hell when you're playing on short money. I've experienced both sides of this.
I feel fortunate in that I'm not addicted to gambling. There are, of course, some action players who are, indeed, addicted to gambling and will bet their last quarter.
We used to have poker games at my house, pot limit. We all knew each other, which made it even more fun. Right next to the poker table was my pool table, and we were all pool players, so sometimes we'd engage in pool action games as well. We got to know each other well, to include the tells. :grin-square:
After a while, it wasn't as much fun seeing my friends lose their rent money or their cab rent, et cetera, going home broke and suffering.
Thereafter, we started to have poker tournaments, where everybody would buy 100 chips for 20 bucks, still pot limit, but it was so much better. We could play multiple tournaments each night. Somebody had a chance to win a nice chunk of cheese and nobody got hurt.
You should never gamble if you can't afford to lose, and you can take that advice to the bank!
