Responsible Poker?

For those of you that know me, you know that I had made a deal with myself not to step foot in a casino until my family could recover from some financial downfalls. For those of you that do not; here is the deal. In June of last year I was in Vegas when my wife called to tell me that our German Shepherd was sick and at the vets for all kinds of testing; to make a long story short she was diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma a.k.a. “BAD CANCER”. These tests were not on the cheap side; 3 mortgage payments. After getting home I was able to spend a few hours with our “Sadie Girl” until I took the dreaded ride for her to cross over to the Rainbow Bridge. After mourning our loss that weekend (fathers day), my wife noticed a “Nat” at our front door, she said it looked like an ant with wings, my checkbook screamed or it was me not sure which one; FYI ants with wings are TERMITES, hiring an exterminator and replacing our front door, let’s say another 3 mortgage payments. Well things happed in threes right; here comes the next one, 3 weeks later our A/C goes out in July when it is 102 degrees “great” outcome; new A/C 4 mortgage payments; are you keeping track that is 10 mortgage payments in less that 2 months. On top of all that my wife and I had to bail out a family member earlier in the year. With all of this I had to make a tough choice and curtail my poker until I could recover financially.

The deal was that I would only play in my monthly home game that I run, no other poker until I could pay my self back. Well 8 months later I am back and taking me first trip to Atlantic City on Saturday March 15, my budget is lower than it was before, but I am looking forward to playing in a real casino. If you have a passion for poker like myself and my friends you might understand how it felt, but you should also understand that responsibilities come first and foremost.