Playing Games

My wife has always told me that she finds me very hard to shop for around the holidays. When we were first dating, it was because I was pretty free with my money. If I wanted something, I usually just bought it without planning ahead or consulting a budget. Those days have passed, but apparently, I’m still difficult to shop for. I don’t really need anything and the only real hobby that I have is tabletop gaming.

Because she doesn’t really share the hobby with me, she doesn’t like buying me games or accessories. She doesn’t want to get me something that I don’t want and it’s kind of boring for me to hand her my games wish list (yes, of course I have a games wish list). Last year and this year, I have asked her for an experience as a present for my birthday. I’ve asked her to take care of the kids for a couple days without me so that I can attend a gaming convention in Los Angeles called Strategicon Gateway which takes place right around my birthday and is just an hour drive away.

Yes, I play a game for a living. I understand that it’s a little weird to have a hobby that is very similar to what you do for a living. I tend to avoid the games that have poker hands as a mechanic because I don’t want to deal with the inevitable jibes when I don’t win a game in which the main mechanic so heavily revolves around my profession. I’m sure my friend that I play games with and is a surgeon wouldn’t want to play Operation with us in case he loses. In general though, I love to play games. I love to think about games. When I play poker, I like thinking about my strategies and tactics. The game state changes constantly, causing me to find new tactical approaches to implement my overall strategy. Board games that encourage this approach appeal to me. Games as simple as Splendor where the available resources are constantly changing or as complex as Scythe where the faction and player board you are randomly assigned change every game are enjoyable to me because of this.

While the type of tabletop game that I like to play is often similar theoretically to poker, I can enjoy the tabletop games more because I don’t feel a pressure to perform like I do in poker. Poker has trained me to be a good loser. I have no other option. Every year, I lose somewhere between 30-35 percent of my cash game sessions. Within each session, I lose a large percentage of hands that I play. I was watching my son’s first couple soccer games the last few weeks and he was getting upset because his team was losing. I told him that even though I play a game for a living, I lose very often and it’s because I can be a good loser that I can be good at the game. Any game that has some amount of luck involved will train its players how to win and lose no matter their skill level.

Since almost all tabletop games have some element of luck involved, the best player doesn’t always win. I don’t profess to be the best player in every game I play, but on the occasions that I feel that I played the best and didn’t win, I still have fun if I enjoyed the mechanics of the game. In tabletop games, the vast majority of people that enjoy them as a hobby have this same attitude. That’s what I enjoy about gaming conventions. I have the opportunity to flex my strategic muscles without the added pressure of feeling like my mistakes have a material effect on my life and livelihood. I can enjoy the time with my friends or strangers without feeling like I have to be fully focused at all times.

I started playing poker for a living because it’s a game that I enjoy that I happen to be better at than the general public. It has helped provide me and my family with a nice life. I don’t have to deal with a boss. I set my own hours and if I set them ahead of time and something comes up that I need to take care of, I can decide that I don’t need to go in to work that day. It is also very stressful on a day to day, month to month, and year to year basis. Not knowing exactly how much money I’m going to make over a time frame is difficult for planning and budgeting purposes and the times when I’m going through a downswing make me question if I’m even any good at poker. It’s important for everyone to have an outlet from the stresses of their everyday life. It just so happens that my outlet from playing a stressful game for a living is to play less stressful games and that’s just fine with me. ♠

Gavin Griffin was the first poker player to capture a World Series of Poker, European Poker Tour and World Poker Tour title and has amassed nearly $5 million in lifetime tournament winnings. Griffin is sponsored by HeroPoker.com. You can follow him on Twitter @NHGG