Poker: Innocent Hobby or Relationship Killer?
By: Marisa Suescun October 05, 2003

So this is where having a PokerSavvy boyfriend lands me: at a seven-card stud table at a poker room in Reno, to the right of a bearded man eating from a colossal platter of fried fish, and across from a recklessly chain-smoking woman with a shrinking stack and trembling lower lip. I am armed with the knowledge gained from a last-minute lesson on the basics, and the second-largest stack at the table -- a dangerous combination, no doubt -- both provided by Jay, said boyfriend.

Jay has gone off to a Texas hold'em table with the parting words "Go get 'em," a phrase that I have never before heard him utter. But it is when the fish-eating man to my left says to a new dealer, with the mocking tone of one who's exposing dead money, "Take care of the little lady. She's new at this," that it hits me: Poker is a complex, competitive world, and my boyfriend is one of its card-wielding citizens.

What does it mean to be a citizen of the wide world of poker -- or to be involved with one? Is spending one's Friday nights playing poker any different from spending one's Friday nights, say, bowling or playing chess? Should I be supportive of an entertaining hobby or worried about a festering addiction? What, ultimately, distinguishes a healthy poker player's attitude towards gambling from an addict's, and how can the so-called loved ones tell the difference?

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