you really do learn something everyday

in case any of you aren't aware, poker is really popular right now. if you own a television for any other reason than deference to societal norm, you've come across it on the tube. by my count, there's three weekly programs dedicated to the "sport". and trust me, i'm not searching the tv guide looking for more.

i'm typing this from the desk of my atlantic city hotel room because i've made the cross country journey to the world poker tour borgata event. for a while, i supplemented my income playing texas holdem, but that was mostly online, and this is my first major ($10k) event. so despite logging hundreds of hours playing cards, i've spent relatively little time in the company of actual poker players. thank god.

but it hasn't taken me long to figure out something about a large number of the people and how they think. i also think it explains part of what is behind the poker boom.

in reality, any person with half a brain and the patience to sit in a chair for hours at a time can be a winning player. one of the big skills of the game is pattern recognition and doing quick computations in your head -- otherwise known as nerdiness. not nerdiness in the sense of getting stuffed in your locker before homeroom every morning, but real nerdiness of the ab (and bc) calculus variety. these are the people who pick the game up the fastest, and they are flocking to it.

why do you ask? it's because they're thrilled to have something they like to do that would be considered "cool" by girls. now on a friday night, they can play online poker instead of starcraft, earn money and not have to make up something to impress the receptionist at work they have a crush when she asks (rhetorically) how their weekend was.

if you need more convincing, just take a look at the poker groupies running around the borgata this weekend. they approach the various television pros requesting autographs, as obsequious as a trekkie asking spock for one of his ear tips. poker groupies even have their own uniform: cargo shorts and a swag white polo with a stretched out collar.