Hot Dogs Vs. Poker

Many years ago when I first began playing poker full time, I at times wrestled over whether what I was doing had any meaning. Most of the time it seemed to be a somewhat silly endeavor. I questioned why I had put in the many hours of study that I had during my four years at the University of Missouri. I wondered how productive a person was who played a card game for a living.

More often than not, I did not dwell on the thought. It was always too easy to look at professional athletes who made enormous sums of money doing the same thing I was doing – playing a game and making a living doing it.

The other day as I was playing my first poker tournament of the new year, I was having flashbacks of my thoughts of days gone by. I had not played for the two months during the holidays, so my mind was wandering.

I began to think of the unbelievable tragedies that have occurred recently, and of all the war and unrest seemingly all over the world. And I thought, here I am with nothing better to do than to try to win a poker tournament.

Now, having been in the business of playing poker for many, many years, I have always thought it was counterproductive to dwell on any thoughts other than poker when poker is your job, so I quickly began focusing on the game.

I did so until I looked up at one of the television screens that was visible from my seat. Bear in mind that it was a Thursday at 1 p.m., so it wasn't exactly prime time. Having just had those recurring thoughts of the silliness of playing poker for a living, I had to laugh out loud at what I saw on the television screen.

They were showing reruns of World's Strongest Man contests. There were two 350-pound ex-NFL linemen carrying two motorcycles, one welded to each side of a bar. It was, of course, a race. When that event finished, two guys wearing belts hooked to chains began pulling semi-trucks. They too had what I would call a less than exciting race.

This, I thought, made playing poker look like the study of nuclear physics.

All of a sudden, I had a brainstorm. I realized the answer to the question we all have been asking ourselves – that question being: How did poker explode and become so popular so quickly, with so many millions of people watching it on TV? The answer became obvious. We the American public, simply put, just have too much idle time on our hands.

I thought, of course, why else would millions of people tune in every week to watch people go to a deserted island, fight and connive with each other, and then vote on who should be asked to "leave the island"?

And how about turning your TV on and seeing five men and one woman line up to see who can eat the most hot dogs. And if that doesn't send you for the Rolaids, they push the envelope further by seeing who can become the cow-brains-eating champion. They stuff their faces, gag, and regurgitate their way to fame and glory, and we watch it.

I thought how noble and civilized playing cards seems when compared to watching a show with a similar theme, only this show called Fear Factor is basically a contest to see who can succeed in eating the most disgusting things known to man.

Maybe not as obnoxious, but just as silly (at least to me), is watching every week to see which guy or girl the handsome or beautiful most eligible bachelor or bachelorette will choose as his or her mate for life. Yeah, sure! I wouldn't want to bet that any of these couples will see their golden wedding anniversary.

And who in his right mind could compare any silliness of poker to that show they call Big Brother, where the house is bugged with cameras and every move of the contestants is televised.

So, the more I thought about it, the more I realized we shouldn't be surprised that millions of people are watching poker being played. It sure beats watching two ex-jocks pulling semis or people gorging themselves with hot dogs.

As glad as we are that poker has become so watchable, let's not get too smug, because who knows what kind of contest someone will think of that will steal some of the millions of people glued to their televisions watching our beloved game.

For what it's worth …