Holiday Tips for Telling Your Family You Play Poker
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If you are headed home for the holidays, there is a good chance your family is going to ask about your life. For those of you who quit your jobs to focus on poker, you may have some explaining to do.
Here are a few tips for breaking the news this holiday season to your family and friends who may not even know poker hand rankings and what beats what.
Host a Thanksgiving Game
There’s a good chance you’re not the only gambler at the party, so why not spread a game after dinner with your closest cousins? It’s a great way to break the news and show off your knowledge of blockers and ranges. Your family could be bored but they may just assume you know what you’re doing and they will leave you alone.
Who knows, your cousin could become the next 2-7 Triple Draw wizard or your aunt may go on to win an Omaha bracelet.
Check out the PokerNews Home Games guide for tips on spreading a game with your friends or family over the holiday season.
Bring a Fancy Dish
Public perception is that gamblers make a lot of money. Your aunt has yet to learn that life in poker comes with business costs like travel and food. They don’t understand variance and you shouldn’t even bother to explain that you haven’t had a deep run since your big score in March.
You can avoid many doubts about your lifestyle if you put a lot of effort into a fancy side dish. Re-plate a local restaurant or create your own using high-quality, gourmet ingredients. An expenditure of around $50 may seem like a lot but it’s cheaper than a Rolex if you want to show a sense of class.
Just promise us you won't go to Allen Kessler for your dish recommendations.
Spoil Them with a Poker Gift
Whether it’s Christmas, a Birthday, an Anniversary, or even Thanksgiving, we could all do with a few gifts and present ideas to help us show the people we love how much we care about them.
Luckily for all you poker lovers out there (or for those who are buying for a poker player), at PokerNews, we’ve come up with the ultimate list of best poker gifts - including budget and premium options.
So, don’t rely on a panic-buying trip to the shops on Christmas Eve. Sit back, relax, and find all your poker gifts here!
Lie To Them
You may want to avoid the hassle altogether and lie to your family about how you’ve been spending most of your time. Maybe they won’t understand the importance of volume, or they’ll be confused by the fact that a guy named “Alaska Jerry” is staking you in $100 dailies.
You can lie but lie carefully. You’ll need a cover story to explain what you’ve been doing for money all this time, but it’s not likely your parents have heard of The Hendon Mob. You can always break the news later with much less disappointment when you end up in PokerNews after a big score.
Avoid Bad Beat Stories
Keep a keen eye on the body language of your family and friends while you are telling a bad beat story. Their eyes glaze over as they glance around the room and look for any way out of the conversation. They don’t care. No one really cares except for Alaska Jerry.
Focus on the more exciting parts of playing poker. Talk about your wins and tell stories from your travels. Your lifestyle will be much more interesting if you avoid using words like “two-outer.” But by no means tell them about your life-changing weekend at Burning Man.
Your uncles are probably more interested in hearing about seven-figure bad beat jackpots, anyway.
Tell Them You Are a PokerNews Live Reporter
If you need a believable excuse for why you hang out in card rooms every day, tell your family that you are a PokerNews live reporter. They will likely be impressed by your journalistic drive and passion for covering a game you are interested in!
And let's be honest: live reporters are among the only ones walking out of tournaments with money in their pockets.
If you don't want to lie to your family, consider actually applying to join the PokerNews live reporting team. Click here to find out more about job opportunities at PokerNews.
Note: With contributions from Matt Hansen
