Poker Anorak / Editor / 20 May 2008 /

https://ftrain.blogspot.com/AT the poker table, a conversation is being struck up:

"Where are you from?" she asks.
"New York City."
"New York City! How about that. We're from Arkansas! What do you all think about Mrs. Clinton up there?"

Riding the F-Train is prepared for this small talk. He's been reading up.

Before leaving New York, I read something somewhere... that claimed that most of Arkansas thinks Bill and Hillary Clinton are gods. Never, under any circumstances, should you say anything negative about the Clintons to someone from Arkansas...

"We hate her," the old woman states emphatically.

The conversation gets worse, or better from there on in. The old woman turns out to a rabid bigot. RTFT wants out of the conversation.

The Poker Anorak understands. Making small talk can be poker hell.

Unless you are on the pull - and the aforesaid woman might have been the oldest swinger in town - the best thing is to talk only when betting.

Of course, our man at the baize is in the US, where people feel the need to talk to strangers in lifts. It might be why guns are legal.

Playing poker online means you negotiating a few trolls on the message boards, but they can be managed.

If you want to see how fun the web writers can be, buy Private Eye magazine, wherein the Poker Anorak (in Anorak II guise) is compiling "From The Message Boards".

Avoid chatter.

There can be no winners...

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