Poker player subculture

I always wondered why gambling was such a huge business in our world. “I’m too mature to gamble, it’s just a waste of money” I would always say, until I got addicted.My brother Alex and his friend josh introduced me into the dreadful scratch tickets.The first scratch ticket I bought I won. I liked it, no I loved it. When my numbers matched with the winning numbers I would receive a sudden rush of excitement. Even if I had only won a dollar the feeling of wining is what I feel for. The two dollars tickets turned into the five dollar tickets which turned into ten dollar tickets and eventually those turned into the twenty dollar tickets which are the highest amount they offer. I feel in love with gambling, from tickets to betting on sport activates. I started playing poker online until my parents bought me a poker set for Christmas. Yea not the best thing to help my addiction, but it was what I wanted. I was introduced to a new set of friends. The ones like me, the gamblers.

Edgar was one of my closest friends. He was a five foot seven chubby Guatemalan, with a short faded hair cut. He usually wore baggy sweat pants and a shirt two sizes up from his normal size. One of our hobbies was playing basket ball. Now of course to make the game interesting we would play for something. Either money or who was going to pay for lunch. He also played poker with me and my other friends.

Ryan was also a good friend. After catching him cheating in a close poker game I lacked trust for him. Our group would always keep a close eye on our wallets and any other valuables when he came around. Ryan was six feet tall. He wore baggy jeans, fitted shirts, and usually a baseball cap. I would have to say Ryan was the worst out of all of us. He would blow his whole weeks pay check in one weekend of gambling. I sometimes felt bad for him, but I couldn’t lend him any money though I needed to save up for poker night.

Every Friday night about ten friends would come over my parent’s house. We would gather in the basement and play poker. The night starts with everyone throwing twenty dollars in the poker case. When everyone paid up we would close and lock the case. The cards were dealt and the game would start! I received pocket aces on the first hand. I quickly raised three blue chips (which was five dollars each chip) everyone called my raise. The flop was dealt Ryan raised ten blue chips. Everyone but i folded. I assumed he was bluffing, so I then called his bet. The last two cards were dealt. I raised a small amount to see were my opponent stood. Ryan paused for a minute. I could see he was deep in thought contemplating about what he would do. Everyone was eager to see what would happen. I flashed my cards to my friend josh who sat right beside me. A smile hit his face. Ryan threw his cards on the table. Excitedly I snatched the pile of chips in the middle of the table and pulled then close to me. The first hand was over and night continued!