Presidential Poker Ponderings

Had time for just one $1 Turbo yesterday, which I lost. I played tight in the beginning, but then played a hand I shouldn't have, had a couple of bad beats after that, and then just sort of gave up in the end with an ill advised all-in. I'm still losing a lot more SnGs than I'm moneying in. It feels like I need to make some kind of fundamental change to my game, but I'm not sure what it is.

In other news, I read an interesting article about Barack Obama yesterday and his poker skills. Obama has publicly stated recently that he's a "pretty good" poker player. The writer did some research and interviewed a few of the guys who played regularly with Obama in the past. These players all said that Obama was in fact pretty good, and that his secret to success seemed to be the ability give up on those hands that weren't going to pan out for him, and when he did play a hand, he played it hard and to win. In other words: he played tight and aggressive poker. My kinda guy at the felt.

A fair number of past president's, good and bad, have been poker afficionados. The one that always sticks in my mind is Nixon. Say what you will about his presidency, but you can't argue with his poker skills. It's been widely reported that when he was in the Navy he made a very comfortable second income off his fellow seamen via seven card stud. He then went on to finance his first congressional run with the proceeds from poker. I can't help but be impressed with that fact. You have to be damn good to make that kind of money at poker.

Dunno who I'm going to vote for this time around, but part of me now wants to know if any other candidates play this game. Would they support the legalization of online poker? Do they understand the idea of not chasing a losing hand (Iraq, anyone?)? Do they get the concept of playing the player? ("I stared into Putin's eyes and saw his soul" give me a break). Do they believe in skill or luck? How much bluffing do they do in life? Hell, I want to see VPIP and preflop raise numbers on the candidates before I make my choice! Maybe the best thing we could do is elect an Annette into the oval office. Or not. ;-)

Enough silly ramblings...
All-in for now...
-Bug