New neighbor - professional poker player - should I never ask to play?
 

OK,

So my new neighbor is one of those guys, who unlike myself seems to do everything at an expert level:

-48 years old in great shape
-31 year old skinny blonde wife (hey mine is just as hot....I'm just sayin....:rolleyes:)
-Firefighter in a squad that does high risk rescues
-Plays poker at the professional level $$$$
-shoots golf in the high 70's
-kite boards and surfs
-used to coach Olympic hockey
-used to tour the world as a guitar tech for various rock artists
-Writes freelance articles on golf, hockey, poker, etc....
- I'm afraid to ask what else he does

Anyways, we are hitting it off well with our mutual love of quality blues and rock music and we both got young sons.

I'm a really crappy poker player, so would it be bad idea to suggest we get together and play with the other neighbors? I would just want to do it for fun, to get the guys together for some laughs and to learn how to be a better player.


For a professional poker player is that like asking Eric Clapton to come by my house and jam with my friends?

If EC came by you wouldn't lose any money.

Kind of like playing with a professional pool player...regular players would bore him...as he took their money.

Wife swap ;) - that'll square you up... (J/K)

I would golf with him first.

Then you'll know if he is full of gradu or not. You can't BS a golf swing.

when you sit down at the table..dig through the deck of cards looking for that information card, listing the various hands of poker, and what beats what.

say something witty like, "phew, i just need to keep things straight..HA! i said just straight..now what beats a straight? (look at card)"

they love that..

seriously, moving away an option?

If he has a day job, he's not a professional poker player. That doesn't mean he's not skilled at the game...

Sounds like a show-off and a braggart. I bet if you tell him you have a Porsche 911SC, he will have a Carrera GT or at least a GT3.

Play poker with the guy for the stories and beer, not for money! Watch out for firefighters-- they have too much time on their hands. Watch your wife too.

You don't "play" poker. If this guy has been in poker tournaments with a significant buy in, he will be listed somewhere. They all know who they are. If he hasn't laid down at least 10K to enter a tournament, he's not a pro.

And if he has, you will have no secrets from him. He can read you like a book, chapter and verse. That is unless he got cleaned out at the first table each time. There are fools. That's what keeps it going.

Coldstart...that's a good one....I actually put my wife on notice that banging the neighbor would be grounds for immediate burial in the backyard. We both had a good laugh.

I hear you about the show off aspect. It kind of gets to my wife. If he's not lying then I figure he is just telling it like it is. I'm going to cut him some slack.

Hanging out with folks who like to live life to the fullest is good. It helps push me out of my comfort zone

How the hell do you know all this info about him? Did he just let it slip or what(?)

He could be someone that likes to pull your leg.

For the 1st year in my new house my neighbors all thought I ran an escort service for gay and lesbian midgets.

A real pro is a full time cash game player. Most tournaments are not won by pros, and winning a tournament doesn't make you a pro. In a tournament, I would rather play a pro than donks. In a cash game rank donkeys will make you alot of money, but you won't find may donkeys playing high dollar cash games. In a small home game I would not sweat it, set a game up you'll learn very quickly if he is what he is.

Google him. If he's legit you will see these articles or references to them online. Let us know what you find out.

d.

I knew a pathological liar once (not saying, or even suggesting, that your neighbor is one). It was weird how he would lie about things that were so demonstrably false - like being on a professional beach volleyball team and then totally sucking at a picnic volleyball game. The lies just spewed forth.

He sounds too good to be true. I have a neighbor like that, to most he seems like he's got everything in a sock, but he has some very not-so-secret weaknesses that make the rest of us stay away from him...

I do porn movies, for extra cash. Most of my spare time is spent volunteering to teach advanced rescue techniques to firefighter instructors. Bullfighting is just a hobby.

And I am the most interesting man in the world...When in Rome the Romans do as I do...

When I play Poker I know when I am beat on a hand. When U play Poker in a Casino the house rake is really tough to beat. To break even in a low limit 4/8 or 1/2 no limit you have to win $20 to $30 an hour.

I have a friend that plays cash and small tournaments...he will play 1/2 NL or 2/4 NL with success and does well with the tournaments..To play successfully is like watching paint dry..as a hobby..U can sit there for 4 hours and NEVER play a hand...I have played for 14 hours at the Wynn to be down $120..figure the $30 an hour to play..I could never get ahead and wanted to scream out of boredom. U would think that after 14 hours there would be a litle rush of cards...BUT NOOOOO


Anyhoooo...Sounds a little too good to be true.

gay porn...?????

Does he drink Dos Equis?