Photostory - Becoming a writer through traveling (17) - Poker, gambling, and other evil things

writingamigo (69)in #travel • 8 years ago

Writgamigo had a thing for gambling. He loved to do it and he used to do it occasionally. Good thing is that he had enough brains not to lose his head over it. He learned how to control things and gamble responsibly. His secret was simple:

Just don’t gamble at all

However, sometimes you don’t need cards and dices to show that you’re venturesome. Writingamigo was that guy, who loved to take risks. I mean, he quitted his job and started traveling. Though, things didn’t play out as Writingamigo wanted all the time, he was still happy to take those risks sometimes.

As for gambling, Writingamigo has founded some alternatives to fulfill the need. For instance, walking in a small town San Pedro by the Lake Atitlan, he bumped into a sign saying that you get a free burger if you beat the owner in a chess game. If you don’t – you just buy a burger.

The owner had an impressive 18-1 so far. That added even more excitement. Even though, Writingamigo was not hungry, he wanted to test his chess skills.

He won.

He enjoyed that free burger very much.

So, Writingamigo was super proud of himself that he can still rock in chess, when he learned that there is a poker tournament in a hostel on that same night.

With all the fake confidence, he just knew that he will win the tournament. That is one of the biggest problems that gambling people do. They tend to think that they are better than anyone else in the business.

However, this time Writingamigo actually was. He had pretty badass poker skills from the past. Those skills lead him to heads up against another good player. Funny thing happened then.

Those guys spent like 3 hours playing against each other and determining the winner. They talked about all kinds of stuff, and became friends. So basically, both of them left the table as winners.

However, Writingamigo also earned 50 dollars, which was not much, but enough to feed the ego of his. Yup, he won the tournament.

This was a short story about how Writingamigo proved himself that he would make a great gambler if he gave it a show… But he chose not to, because the risk of becoming a failure was too high, and Writingamigo had other quest in this world.

However, Writingamigo learned that his craving for risk also transmits to his writing. Actually, he understood that everything what he is, is shaping his writing, so he chose to appreciate every bit of himself… and keep improving.

A small note:

Gambling is a strong force. Some people have weakness for it, some don’t. So instead of judging those with problems, just go on and help them to solve it. Everything can be controlled with some will and help from outside. However, judging is never a help.